We enter the Thanksgiving period and for my golf game, not much to be thankful for.  I’ve been diagnosed with a degenerating arthritic left hip, which makes golf an untenable experience.  I’m playing anyway but have had to move up to the forward tees as the body is not able to complete the turn from right to left for normal power and ball flight.  I’ll continue to fight through all of this and do the best that I can have as there is a foundation that at least enables me to play decently.

I’m still pretty negative on the state of professional golf as there is no progress in dealing with the schism between the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour.  Both sides are dug in as the Saudi’s continue their “sportswashing efforts.”  The professional golf fan is not buying into it as the PGA Tour continues to dominate the space but there is also no agreement pending that will reconcile the competition of professional golf.  Through of all of this there is a beacon of light who is shining through both sides and is bringing genuine joy to the game.

The beacon is Bryson DeChambeau who despite defecting to the LIV Tour, is bridging both tours with his refreshing approach of golf innovation, skill, accomplishment and general good humor to the entire game.  Bryson brings significant credibility to the game as he is emerging as a leader demonstrating joy and accomplishment through a number of activities.  His two US Open victories have given him the platform to develop a unique leadership style that simply generates joy and respect for the game.  Some of the biggest names in professional golf have taken polarized stands on the tour schism with a continuing salvo of puts and takes that takes a professional game and renders the discussions into soap opera type commentary chock a block with drama.  Those discussions have added no value to the debate or potential solutions at unifying the tours.  Instead they have created divisions and generated additional rancor that diminishes the game at the professional level.  DeChambeau has ignored all of this nonsense sticking to the game its basic form.  He has innovated his own club design as all of his  clubs have the same shaft length.  He simply seems to enjoy himself in generating some fun with junior and amateur players–this past summer he grabbed a set of hickory clubs for a competition.  He continues to be effusive about the game and stays away from all the nonsense as if he has years in diplomacy.  His rounds of golf with the legendary Commander in Cheat are first rate staying focused on the positive aspects of his game without any political commentary or overtones whatsoever.  Bryson has the confidence in his game to do just about anything with it as he remains one, if not the longest, drivers of the golf ball.

The latest antic of fun is Bryson on You Tube videos hitting golf balls over the top of his home to the green in his backyard with the objective of holing the shot.  He has his assistant reporting the results of these high flying iron shots crossing the roof onto the green below as he knocks so many of them within inches of going in the hole.  You can imagine the rest of us trying this antic and breaking a host of windows in the home–it is just fun and he absolutely believes he eventually will get that hole out into his back yard green and there is no doubt that he will.

Bryson is great for the game as he behaves as a kid in a candy store with all the confidence and skill to pull off virtually any shot.  If he doesn’t pull off the shot, he simply shrugs his shoulders and decides to try it again and again until he succeeds.  It seems that the game of golf is pure and unassuming for Bryson, he is simply having fun and it encourages all the rest of us. There are the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffle and others who are at the top of the world of professional golf but none of them play with the unassuming joy and natural talent that Bryson has been able to generate throughout his career.