Greg Bodine opened as much as the Par-3 Podcast in regards to the gross sales pitch he acquired from Bryson DeChambeau.
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If Bryson DeChambeau weren’t a showman, he would possibly properly be a salesman.
In some ways, the present U.S. Open champ already is a salesman — a vendor of golf to the golfless, the golf-ambivalent, and the golf-adjacent. Between his YouTube channel and his time contained in the ropes, Bryson has proven us his talent for crafting — and delivering — his pitches with spectacular precision. Usually, you’re rooting alongside earlier than you even notice you’re being propositioned.
This high quality is what makes it so humorous, then, to listen to the story of how Bryson discovered his technique to maybe essentially the most impactful piece of his latest resurgence: caddie Greg Bodine. As Bodine tells it, Bryson approached to get him on the bag throughout a profession low, and, properly, he didn’t precisely discuss up the gig.
Throughout a latest look on The Par-3 Podcast, Bodine talked by way of the trail that led him from Tony Finau’s bag to Bryson DeChambeau’s — a journey that started with a bizarrely uninteresting gross sales pitch.
The actual Bryson DeChambeau emerged after the U.S. Open cameras went off
Bodine says the decision first got here forward of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. After an unsightly first season with LIV, Bryson had gone by way of a transformative offseason that included shedding 18 kilos in 24 days as a part of a newly restricted eating regimen. The issue, although, was that he had come out the opposite aspect of it wanting … largely the identical. His LIV finishes weren’t bettering, and his golf swing felt a great distance faraway from the participant who tormented the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
“I went into the Bryson factor — he was enjoying actually poorly,” Bodine stated. “He even stated — and I respect him and his agent for this — he was like, ‘dude, I’m misplaced, I don’t know what I’m doing with my recreation.’ I feel he even used the phrases ‘all-time low’ and stuff, however, he stated, ‘I promise you I’m grinding as arduous as I ever have. You already know what sort of participant I’m and you understand what sort of employee I’m.’”
Bryson was in search of a change, and Bodine represented way more than a bib shift. Bodine exudes a quiet cool that runs counter to Bryson’s number-crunching depth, and the caddie’s laid-back latitude ran antithetical to the type-A obsessives DeChambeau had lengthy employed on the bag. However the search of latest vibes reduce each methods. Bodine and his spouse had simply lived by way of the unimaginable heartbreak of a miscarriage, and he was tired of returning to a PGA Tour caddying life that concerned too many lengthy hours and too few journeys house.
“LIV was fascinating, however I couldn’t do the PGA Tour factor anymore,” Bodine stated. “I’d had good gamers ask me to caddie for them on the PGA Tour, however I used to be similar to I can’t do 30 plus weeks once more with the whole lot happening with my household.”
The 2 golfers noticed very various things in each other, however they shared a typical spirit. Finally, Bodine determined to check the waters.
“He took an opportunity on me, too. I’d by no means caddied for him earlier than, and he’d seen me within the teams I used to be paired with him, and so we each had been in a very fascinating spot in our lives,” Bodine stated. “I didn’t know if I might go on the market for every week or two and I’d hate each second of it, or I didn’t know if I’d be caddying for Bryson when he was 45.”
They lasted by way of these first few weeks, after which once more by way of the yr that adopted. After which DeChambeau’s recreation began to return on-line, and the golfer-caddie tandem bonded into one thing way more than that.
When DeChambeau gained the U.S. Open in June, Bodine was among the many first individuals he thanked in his post-round presser. He thanked him when the cameras had been off, too — sending the U.S. Open trophy to be with Bodine again house in Seattle for a couple of weeks. It was a small gesture from DeChambeau, positive, however a telling one for the caddie who proved so instrumental within the turnaround. Fortunately, the sentiments are mutual.
“Clearly wanting again 14-15 months in the past, it’s gone rather well,” Bodine stated. “He began to play rather well, he bought this gear that modified his life. He’s gained a handful of LIV occasions, and clearly the U.S. Open went rather well. I’m grateful that door opened and I walked by way of it.”
You’ll be able to take heed to his complete interview with the Par-3 Podcast right here.
