Latest news with #Polara
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Bryson DeChambeau explains why he practised with illegal golf ball at Royal Portrush - and backs Donald Trump to make The Open great again
It was in the middle of a discussion about Donald Trump and throwing golf clubs that Bryson DeChambeau slipped on his lab coat, started talking about his balls, and became the Mad Scientist all over again. DeChambeau had just walked off the 18th green at Royal Portrush after an astonishing second round of six-under par, just a day after a seven-over horror show left him looking certain to miss the cut, ready to snap his clubs and, as he put it, just wanting to go home. It was at this point that an eagle-eyed reporter asked the two-time Major champion, now set for an unexpected weekend on the links, why he used a different golf ball during his practice rounds to the one he hit over the opening two loops. DeChambeau was trying a prototype ball – the Polara Ultimate Straight – which, as the name suggests, stops it from veering off course. So much so, in fact, that it's illegal in competition. You can buy a dozen off Amazon for about £40. The question took physics major DeChambeau by surprise and then the science lesson began. 'I was just – you are so good at asking questions,' he said with the air of a man rumbled by his wife after hiding the biscuits. 'Look, I'm working with somebody that's going to get me a ball that works better for my speeds. I need help out here. I hit it way too high. 'I've tried to lower my flight but I compress down on the ball really hard and the thing just... I spin it like crazy, and then on my wedges I don't spin it. It launches high with no spin. 'I need a golf ball that on wedges can click on the face more consistently. I get a lot of slipping on the face just because of how vertical I am and how much loft I have, and it just rolls up the face and launches with no spin most of the time on my shots, so getting something that comes off at a more consistent trajectory in adverse conditions is really the goal.' 'I'm working on a few things that'll help get that launch down while controlling the spin so it's more predictable out of my wedge shots. 'I was seeing if there was a more stable ball in windy conditions early in the week. It's just not ready to be released, unfortunately.' Not that it caused many problems on Friday as DeChambeau made seven birdies, including four of the last seven holes, to post an astonishing round of 65. This was the same DeChambeau who spent to the start of this week saying how he wanted to design a gigantic wind tunnel full of fans to prepare for conquering the links. By the end of his chat, he had backed Donald Trump to make the Open great again if it returns to the US President's course at Turnberry. R&A chiefs revealed earlier this week they held a 'really good discussion' with Trump's family over whether their course could stage its first Open since 2009 and the improvements that would need to be made. DeChambeau famously played a round with the golf-obsessed President for the two-time major champion's YouTube channel in a video that racked up 15million views and believes the President would make an Open at Turnberry a special event. 'Oh, yeah, I think he would,' said DeChambeau when asked by Mail Sport after his round. 'He'd still probably respect the R&A and what they're trying to accomplish. 'I can't speak on his behalf, but what I can say is knowing him, he'll do his best of a job as he possibly can, and I know they won't let him down.'
USA Today
18-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Bryson DeChambeau testing prototype golf ball to reduce curve, increase wedge spin
Bryson DeChambeau is testing a prototype ball that he claims flies straighter and spins more with wedges — but it's not ready yet. Bryson DeChambeau's quest for golf equipment that suits his unique swing and game continued this week at Royal Portrush in the days leading up to the 153rd British Open. This time, however, the equipment in question wasn't a driver, a set of 3D-printed irons or a golf shaft stiff enough to do pull-ups on. This time, Bryson was testing golf balls. 'I'm working with somebody that's going to get me a ball that works better for my speeds,' he said Friday after signing his card for a 65 that earned him tee times for the weekend. 'Hopefully there's some more improvements to be made there. That's something I hope to complete in the next year.' For all of DeChambeau's obsession with power, the prototype ball he tested during practice rounds before the tournament doesn't aim to enhance his driver distance. His primary concern, he said, is finding a ball that flies straighter off the tee but spins more with his wedges. 'I compress down on it really hard and the thing just — I spin it like crazy (off the tee), and then on my wedges I don't spin it,' DeChambeau said. 'Launches high with no spin.' DeChambeau feels that his current ball — the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash — slides up the face of his wedges too easily, leading to unpredictability on approach shots and around the green. On Friday, he didn't identify the manufacturer of the prototype ball, but NBC Sports on-course analyst Smylie Kaufman helped fill in the details on his Instagram page. During one of DeChambeau's practice rounds, Kaufman spotted the American and chatted with him briefly. Kaufman said DeChambeau received prototype balls last week in Spain from Polara Golf and that he had just one with him at Portrush during the practice round. 'He's on a mission to find a ball that is going to curve less,' Kaufman said. What kind of golf ball is Bryson DeChambeau using? Polara is best known for selling the Ultimate Straight, a ball it claims reduces hooks and slices by up to 75 percent, thanks to a unique dimple pattern that reduces drag and sidespin. However, that ball is explicitly designed for amateur golfers and has a compression rating of 85. The Pro V1x Left Dash has a compression of around 102, making it significantly firmer and more suited to deliver the ball speeds fast-swinging pros want. If Polara were to create a firmer version of the Ultimate Straight ball, it would also need to put a different cover on it for DeChambeau. The current model has an ionomer cover, while the spinniest tour balls use urethane. If DeChambeau wants his high-lofted wedges to grab the ball and spin it more effectively, he'll need the softest cover available. DeChambeau said the version he tested isn't ready for competitive play and that the manufacturer — without naming it — is working to produce more. 'They can't make enough as quickly as they'd like,' he said. He expects to have an updated prototype to test within weeks, with a more finalized version targeted for September. And when that day comes, it won't just be a ball designed for links golf or the Open Championship. 'It might be for everything,' DeChambeau said. 'Most likely for everything. I need a golf ball that on wedges can click on the face more consistently. I get a lot of slipping on the face just because of how vertical I am and how much loft I have, and it just rolls up the face and launches with no spin most of the time.' For a player always looking for every edge — and never afraid to chase an unconventional solution — that's one more variable he's determined to control.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg's voices
Audio-enabled traffic control crosswalk buttons across Silicon Valley were hacked over the weekend to include audio snippets imitating the voices of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Videos taken by locals in Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Redwood City in California show the crosswalk buttons were playing AI-generated speech designed to sound like the two billionaires. "It's normal to feel uncomfortable or even violated as we forcefully insert AI into every facet of your conscious experience," said one crosswalk button, which was hacked to sound like Zuckerberg. "I just want to assure you, you don't need to worry because there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it." One crosswalk button that was hacked to sound like Musk said: "I guess they say money can't buy happiness… I guess that's true. God knows I've tried. But it can buy a Cybertruck and that's pretty sick, right?" 'F—k, I'm so alone,' the Musk voice adds. It's not clear why the sidewalk buttons were hacked, or by whom, but signs point to possible hacktivism. Palo Alto Online, one of the first outlets to report the hack, cited a Redwood City official as saying the city was "actively working to investigate and resolve the issue as quickly as possible." According to the outlet, the tamperings may have happened on Friday. Audio-enabled crosswalk buttons are widely used across the United States to allow those with visual impairments or accessibility needs to hear custom audio messages that play for pedestrians to know when it is safe to cross a street. In a video from 2024, physical penetration specialist and security researcher Deviant Ollam explains how audio-enabled crosswalk buttons can be manipulated often by way of default-set passwords that have not been changed. Polara, the company that makes the audio-enabled crosswalk buttons, did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by TechCrunch on Monday. Sign in to access your portfolio
