Technology on the PGA Tour has become commonplace on the course, on the range, in the fitness trailer and beyond. Perhaps no one has more embraced the advantages that technology can provide than back-to-back FedEx Cup Playoff event champion Bryson DeChambeau.
DeChambeau will have played in 57 events around the world over the past two years. Currently, the world No. 7 is in the midst of a series of seven events in 9 weeks that will culminate with his first Ryder Cup appearance, so the question needed to be asked: is he worried about overworking himself to the detriment of his play?
In typical DeChambeau fashion, there was a very technical and scientific answer to a relatively straightforward question.
“Well, it’s going to come through having a response mechanism, something that tells you you’ve overworked scientifically, and I’m serious,” DeChambeau said. “What’s been so key for me is (Muscle Activation Techniques creator) Greg Roskopf, what he’s done with my body to be able to help me perform at a higher level even also tied in with neuroscience, these guys have been able to tell me, registering my brain waves, ‘hey, you’re overworked, man. You need a rest.’
“We can measure that before the round, after the round, anytime we want.”
How, exactly, can that be measured? Get your textbooks out.
“EEG, electrical current sort of thing. They put a copper little thing that measures the frequencies that’s being emitted from different parts of the brain and based on the frequency that’s being emitted what wave — you know you can go from zero to 36 hertz based on the type of frequency and the amount of energy or the amplitude, if you want to say, that’s being emitted in different ranges at different times.
“You can have a parasympathetic response or sympathetic response. This is a lot. Sorry for whoever is typing this or recording this. But I’m trying to get myself more into a parasympathetic response, which is more of a restful state. Sympathetic stress is a stress state. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish
“Throughout the whole day, I’m always in a restless state, not a stress state. I don’t know if that makes sense. That’s how you measure it though, through an EEG machine and some other things.”
So, to answer the question, no, Bryson is not worried about overworking himself because he has his fingers on the pulse — or wave — of how his body is reacting to what he’s putting it through on a daily basis.
