Until Bryson DeChambeau came along, there wasn’t quite such a focus on ball speed. Yes, it was mentioned from time to time, but it was really only when the American started to pound the ball insane distances and take aim at the green on par 5s off the tee, as he famously did at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2021, that everyone begun to take more notice of this number.
That was a couple of years ago, when the American was on something of a crusade to make professional golf little more than a drive, pitch and putt contest.
