Bryson DeChambeau is now using the ‘side-saddle’ putting technique: video

The side-saddle putting technique may be back in vogue after Bryson DeChambeau brings it to tournament golf.

You may know American golfer Bryson DeChambeau because of the unusual set of golf clubs he plays with on the PGA Tour. Now he’s adapted something else into his game that is also slightly unusual, the side-saddle putting technique.

DeChambeau is a physics graduate and always looking for ways to improve the consistency in his game. It’s the main reason he opted for irons that all have the same shaft length and he was more than happy to chat about them when he was in Australia last year.

There were a some reports indicating that DeChambeau may use the side-saddle putting technique this week at the Franklin Templeton Shootout event – a fun team event hosted by Greg Norman, with no FedEx Cup points at stake.

And it seems the rumours were true with DeChambeau using the side-saddle technique to good effect – he and partner Lexi Thompson combined for a score of 10-under par.

Alan Schupak has a great piece on DeChambeau’s thinking behind using the ‘side-saddle’ technique – which Sam Snead first started using after the ‘straddle’ technique was banned.

When he describes the benefits of looking at the hole with both eyes and swinging his right arm in a pendulum motion, he makes it sound simple.”It’s more bio-mechanically efficient,” he said. “I take it back with a certain amount of energy with a certain acceleration profile that lets it go a certain distance.

“Still, as recently as Saturday, he had second thoughts whether to put the stroke on public display. Ultimately, DeChambeau decided the Shootout’s low-key affair was the perfect place to experiment before he commits to using it at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Time will tell if DeChambeau takes the technique into the big tournaments next year. For now it seems to be working pretty well.

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