Bryson again doing those things that only Bryson can do.
In the middle of prep for The Open Championship—golf’s oldest and most tradition-heavy major—Bryson DeChambeau showed up to Royal Portrush doing something only he could get away with: testing a non-conforming golf ball.
The moment came courtesy of Smylie Kaufman’s Instagram, where a clip from “The Smylie Show” showed Bryson on the range, casually hitting shots with a Polara Ultimate Straight—a ball that’s 100% illegal under USGA and R&A rules. In the background, you can hear Kaufman and Bryson’s playing partner Laurie Canter laughing like they’d just walked in on someone sneaking candy into a diet camp. It was pure Bryson.
The Polara ball, for those who don’t know, is basically engineered cheat code. Its dimple pattern is designed to correct flight mid-air, minimizing hooks and slices by up to 75%. Translation: you could have a grooved-over driver swing and this thing would still fly straight.
Now, whether Bryson was seriously considering gaming it (he wasn’t) or just doing some offbeat field research is anyone’s guess. But if you’ve followed DeChambeau at all, you know it’s never just for laughs. This is a guy who doesn’t just push the boundaries—he reverse-engineers them, tests the margins, then builds a launch monitor on top of them.
It also tracks with his recent struggles trying to find a golf ball that matches his swing. Earlier this year, Bryson switched from the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash to the standard Pro V1x, citing too much spin and inconsistency with partial shots, especially in softer conditions.
“It seems to be flying the most consistent for me,” he said at the time. “I’ve got a little more spin to control the ball better on those greens... but we still haven’t solved the wet vs. dry conditions problem.”
That’s classic Bryson—deep in the weeds, trying to solve equations no one else in the field is even working on. So while testing a self-correcting golf ball during Open Championship week might seem like a sideshow to some, for him it could very well be part of a bigger experiment.
Was it just a moment of levity? Maybe. But knowing Bryson, it was likely a data-gathering mission. Even if he can’t use the Polara in tournament play, testing its side-spin resistance might give him ideas for what’s possible—or at least for what’s missing in conforming tech.
Either way, it was a total Bryson move. Equal parts mad scientist and showman. One minute he’s pumping drives at 200+ mph ball speed, the next he’s laughing on the range with a golf ball that wouldn’t fly on any tour. Except maybe LIV, if they’re feeling spicy.
And that’s the fun of it—DeChambeau continues to be one of the few players in the game who genuinely keeps us guessing. Legal or not, relevant or ridiculous, he’s always chasing something. Sometimes it’s distance. Sometimes it’s spin. And sometimes it’s just a straight-up laugh.
