From Social Pariah To Social Butterfly: The Transformation Of Bryson DeChambeau

The outside the box thinkers are always pushed away at the beginning. Especially in a field that has seen so few of the ones who go against tradition. It also doesn’t help if you’re unapologetic or cold to the ones around you. It gets worse when you skip the tradition of the PGA Tour and against all popular opinion head to LIV Golf. When you add all that together in the golf world it is easy to become a social pariah. Bryson DeChambeau became just that for years in the golf world. Always toeing the line of legality of the rules and its equipment. He was rigid, socially awkward, and had no desire to fit in or be liked. He was only liked by the frat bros who love the long ball, and he was an outcast to his own peers. He was unapproachable and hard to follow or like. Bryson is also extremely smart and his brain never stops, much like the mental elites in different industries who go against the grain to create a better product or a different way of existing. That’s Bryson.

Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little, and Bryson’s game wasn’t impressive in the least when it came to winning or even competing for a few years, and he was becoming more rigid and almost looked at as a bust, AND not likable which is a dangerous combo when you’re building a brand. The game wasn’t fun for him anymore and it showed to not only other professional golfers, but to the fans that really pay attention. He needed to compromise a little bit. His team knew it and he knew it. So, they went on a journey for the next few years to almost unlock a part of his personality that no one saw or even knew existed. Now we are all starting to see it, and it is opening eyes to even the toughest critics, and Bryson “give or takers” like myself, that this guy is not only, not that bad, but he is becoming a favorite to the masses.

He’s having fun and interacting with the fans in a positive way. He’s including the kids in every way possible, even during a round. There is one thing fans ask for from athletes whether it is right to do or not, and that is access. Fans want access to your personality, to your life, and to the way you get ready to do something less than 1% of people can do. It’s like window shopping for us to a life we couldn’t fathom, but we almost get to live through you because you’ve allowed us to get close to that feeling. His YouTube channel has shown us his fun side, his goofy side, the side we thought didn’t exist. He’s standing up for kids and laughing and joking. He isn’t a robot, he has morals, and a want to be great. He’s starting to say the right thing, do the right thing, and accomplish the one thing that brings the people to your brand’s doorstep…he’s winning. DeChambeau couldn’t sniff a victory on the LIV Tour, but he’s come back to PGA events and taken us all by storm this year and it is a delight to see as he was this year’s US Open Champion.

I’ve always been anti-Bryson, but I’m also not so rigid myself that I can’t see the transformation and appreciate the effort, the work, the skill, and the want to meet us in the middle to further grow the game we love. It isn’t jumping on a bandwagon for me. It’s hard to tell if you like something or someone until they show you themselves. Bryson is starting to show us who he really is and who he really wants to be, and that Bryson I’m in on. As a fan of the game, he is becoming one of the most important components of it as the Tiger era is gone, and we’ve been waiting for the next must see TV golfer show up. Well, he’s here. He’s giving us the long ball we’ve always loved; but now he’s giving us the fun loving, fired up, approachable, showman we’ve been waiting for. I’ll admit it 100% every time I’m wrong, and I was DEAD wrong on Bryson DeChambeau. He has become a great role model, great for growing the game, great for the game itself, a winner, and he’s now one of the most likable guys in the game. It really has been cool watching the transformation, and reminding me that your original thought on someone isn’t always right, or the end all be all of who they are. Let’s remember to allow people to grow and not be so small to dismiss it because you are scared to be wrong about someone because of pure ego. If you don’t like Bryson now, it says more about you than it does about him.