The thought first occurs to you in the first ten minutes of Bryson DeChambeau Rest 50 alongside Steph Curry.
At first, it’s just a kernel of an idea. But then it becomes more than that: A SENSEand before long, a very real question.
Why bother doing anything else?
that it’s the Bryson Effect, as best I can describe it. He’s not completely revolutionizing the game through a mass of muscle or a law of physics as much as through the power of YouTube. It sounds trite, but the truth is indisputable: Bryson has gone from golf superstar to Internet hero, the rare person who can command the attention of both Mr. and Mrs. Nicklaus. AND God the beast. With 2.5 million subscribers and a steady stream of access to celebrities and viral stars, Bryson’s channel has blossomed into the kind of place where fans of all backgrounds can access golf without fear of pretense or upset.
So how did he do it? I hit the sofa – erm, the books — for a week and took a look at the things that make Bryson a viral megastar and found some common themes.
1. Authenticity
I can feel your eyes rolling already. In the eyes of some golf fans (and for good reason), Bryson is not the YouTube star he projects himself to be and spends many of his golf hours outside of the heavily edited YouTube bubble (and WITHIN heavily edited bubble of golf television) whining or frustrating or brawling with his Ryder Cup opponents.
But DeChambeau has told us time and time again that YouTube is where he feels he can be his silliest self. While this may not show in the pained expressions that often find their way into his photographs, it does BEN it manifests itself in the videos that end up on his channel.
When the cameras are rolling on his YouTube videos, Bryson shows a side of himself we don’t usually see on the golf course—someone who shares anecdotes from his time around the greats, who approaches his celebrity guests with curiosity and candor, and who isn’t afraid to laugh at himself. His vibe is unashamedly goofy and deliberately hyperbolic, and while this seems like a joke, I find it consistent with the person I’ve seen when the cameras are off.
While Bryson can be a fierce — and sometimes overly intense — tournament competitor, that side of him rarely finds its way into his videos. Instead, his clips look a lot more like the offspring of a sports-obsessed 15-year-old than the fever dream of a cold, calculating businessman.
2. Production value
Bryson isn’t the only pro golfer to enter the world of YouTube these past few years, but he’s one of the few pros who’s legitimately committed to the quality and consistency of his production setup.
His footage uses a series of high-fidelity cameras shot at close intervals and edited with better graphics. At Steph Curry Rest 50sharp eyes capture how Bryson waited until his car stopped driving to engage in conversation with Curry, providing a steadier camera shot and clearer audio, while drones and a host of flashers combine to ensure no big moment is missed. No, it’s not quite Citizen Kanebut it’s impressive nonetheless.
The truth is that these things are not that complicated to pull off, but so many YouTube-presenting brands fail at the simple things, delivering high-effort videos that disappear into a sloppy algorithm within seconds of release. If Bryson’s videos fail to perform, it’s never for lack of technical knowledge, and given that the man at the center of this production is one of the best professional players alive, I give him credit.
3. Algorithmic understanding
I’m not sure if credit for this goes to Bryson himself, but it sure is someone in its orbit understands the real business of YouTube, where videos are ranked based on the amount of attention they attract.
Bryson’s franchises feature a clear, understandable hook, a great thumbnail, and a first-minute edit that combine to entice viewers to keep watching (Rest 50 being the best example of these traits). As the size of his YouTube output has grown, so has the scale of his videos, which now feature (relatively) slick product integration and hours-plus runtimes, helping to boost the “Average Watch Time” metric that decides whether videos perform or fail.
4. Famous access!
This is where having a deep Rolodex helps. Bryson has quickly stumbled upon the truly great skill of wildly successful content creators: His insides comes to him.
Thanks to his golfing fame and the benefits of YouTube, the job of providing high quality guests and high entertainment has been dramatically eased. Celebrities like Steph Curry will join the show knowing they’ll also get something out of the effort, whether it’s YouTube subscribers, golf invites, sponsorships, or some combination of the three.
5. Golf skill
There’s something to be said about the sense of suspended belief you get as you watch one of the great players of this generation try to break 50 in a two-man scrimmage from up front. Whether DeChambeau performs or fails, he’s the center of the show—and the overall sense of endless possibility serves as a dose of lighter fluid for each of his videos.
Is his golfing ability enough to make him interesting regardless what Bryson does? No, and that’s why so many other golf pro types have failed where he has succeeded. But Bryson’s ability to do all of the above, combined with his golf goodness, makes his golf goodness hard to ignore.
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