The Fosbury Flop of Golf

We’re in the midst of a revolution.

A moment in time where we’ll look back and see this as a tipping point in sport.

I’m not talking about the USGA allowing the flagstick to be left in the hole while putting. No, that pales in comparison.

I’m referring to Bryson Dechambeau. The Fosbury Flop of Golf.

Not long ago high-jumpers from amateurs to professionals were using a technique called The Western Roll or Straddle, whereby the athlete swing his trail leg over the bar, face down and “rolls” over the bar or in the case of the straddle, separates his legs and hurdles over the bar facing forward.

But in 1963 an unheralded athlete named Dick Fosbury (who at 6’ 4” still couldn’t make his High School basketball team) began experimenting with a new approach to the sport.

Early on not much was made of the kid from Portland, Oregon. Fosbury struggled with the complex coordinated sequence involved in the Straddle method and believed there was a better way to high jump.

“I knew I had to change my body position and that’s what started first the revolution, and over the next two years, the evolution.”

Fosbury’s High School coaches implored him to abandon his newfound style. That is until he finished second in the state his junior year…