Bryson DeChambeau has not only been an investor in LA Golf since its early days, but is instrumental … More in the company’s research and design process.
LA Golf
LA Golf has launched a new driver co-designed by two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, a process that started with a “blank sheet” and ended with a concept that promises to drastically help address one of the most common problems for the majority of golfers.
The first-ever driver from LA Golf features what’s called Face ID technology and introduces a fitting system that matches both the club face and the club shaft to a golfer’s swing speed. DeChambeau was the genesis of the idea to make the curve of the club face – the bulge and roll – proportionate to how fast a golfer can swing the club.
The result is side spin on shots hit off the toe and heel, the bane of most recreational golfers, is cut almost in half. In layman’s terms, less side spin means a slice turns into a fade and a hook becomes a draw. It doesn’t matter if a weekend warrior can’t bomb a driver like DeChambeau.
“This curvature face concept really works for every swing speed, whether you have an 85 mile-an-hour swing or a 125-mile-per-hour swing,” said LA Golf founder and CEO Reed Dickens. “This isn’t just like we made a minor tweak to the drivers that are out there. This is a structural and design philosophic change.”
LA Golf has launched its first ever driver, with Face ID technology that Bryson DeChambeau helped … More design
LA Golf
Dickens said DeChambeau’s “journey for repeatability” led him to the concept, which he honed with LA Golf Chief Design Officer Jeff Meyer. DeChambeau has been a founding investor of LA Golf since the company’s early days and used the company’s shafts in all 14 of his clubs during his first U.S. Open victory in 2020.
“I have been on a decade long journey to solve for every possible variable with my equipment,” DeChambeau says. “Jeff Meyer is the most creative engineer I have ever worked with, and Reed is a proven disruptor and risk taker. That is a rare combination in the golf space, and the driver is the result of that dynamic.”
Online Assessment
The new driver is available on LA Golf’s website, where a series of questions allows consumers to get a club that’s fully assembled (the company manufactures both the clubheads and club shafts) to match their swing speed. Golfers will have to know their swing speed, while also providing their handicap index, and answering questions about ball flight trajectory, tempo and transition, the general curvature of their tee shots with a driver, and the flex of the shaft in their current driver.
Dickens says the online assessment is just as accurate as a fitting, but notes that the company will have locations around the country for a standard club fitting.
The underside of one of DeChambeau’s LA Golf drivers.
LA Golf
There are five Face ID options, among them the “13-12” engineered for players with slower swing speeds and designed for high launch and maximum forgiveness, as well as the “12-11” built for mid-range swing speed players to increase carry distance and optimize side spin to straighten those off-center hits.
LA Golf’s foray into the driver market retails for about $650, but it’s important to recognize that price also includes the premium shafts upon which the upstart brand initially built its reputation.
L.A.B. Comparisons?
When prompted, Dickens says he does see some similarities to the approach taken by another upstart equipment brand: L.A.B. Golf, which in recent years has enjoyed surging popularity and gained a massive following (in the pro and recreational ranks) because of the performance of its no-torque putters.
“I think this driver will be the number one driver in golf in three to four years,” said Dickens, who isn’t shy about positioning his brand as anti-establishment in the equipment space. “The only reason it will take that long is that it will take us that long to ramp up inventory and distribution and tell the story. Really the challenge for us is putting it in people’s hands. That’s been the key to L.A.B.’s success. When you put it in people’s hands they have a high conversion. When we put this product in people’s hands regardless of handicap, it has a very high conversion rate.”
LA Golf founder and CEO Reed Dickens, left, with Chief Design Officer Jeff Meyer, middle, and Bryson … More DeChambeau, right.
LA Golf
If Dickens sounds overly confident about challenging the status quo in a sport that embraces tradition and traditional brands, it’s because he’s done it before, albeit in another industry. A former White House Assistant Press Secretary under George W. Bush, Dickens formerly founded Marucci Sports, a company that disrupted a baseball bat industry dominated by names like Louisville Slugger, Easton and Rawlings.
“It’s the same lessons and playbook, it just takes longer in golf,” said Dickens. “Adoption is slower and it’s way more capital intensive.”
With the launch of its Face ID driver, LA Golf just might be positioning itself to follow the successful roadmap of L.A.B. Golf, which has grown from an online-only challenger brand to an established innovator with tour validation.
So, can LA Golf disrupt the driver market the way L.A.B. Golf has with putters? And is DeChambeau, who has developed a reputation as a mad scientist of sorts when it comes to his meticulous preparation and data-centric approach, the one to lead the charge with an unconventional name in the game?
“Bryson gets kind of labeled as this contrarian guy when all he’s really doing is following the data,” said Dickens. “His journey for repeatability led him to this discovery.”
