Dean Burmester is a 36-year-old South African family from a sports family.
If he could rely on his wiki page, Dean’s father Mark played for Zimbabwe’s national cricket team. One of his cousins, Ryan, is the best spearfish on the side of Tiger Woods. His mother, Michelle, holds a record for women’s courses at Royal Harare GC in northwest Zimbabwe. Maybe as of 2022.
Dean got it his His mother’s talent. If you found the way to this article, you probably already know that he is also a golfer and a very talented person. Burmester won 15 championships on the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour in Africa. He competed in 12 major titles (if you count as 13 this week) and ruled nine out of them. Currently, he ranks fourth on Louis Oosthuzien’s LIV team The Stingers.
If none of these impress you, this will: burly can hit 1 iron too. like, real Try one. Now, to be fair, 1 irons are not their past switch blades. They are becoming more and more forgiving (you can read all about their evolution in this excellent work by my colleague Jack Hirsh). but still. 1 Iron! With a clear distance, today’s professional professionals can tear their long iron apart, for example, why bother one?
Burmester is one of the longest hitters in the game, and he asked the question directly after an even average of 71 in the open championship (three birdies, one eagle), but he was asked about his game strength, which produced this answer:
“For me, it’s a long iron. I really like hitting my 1 and 2 irons from the tee. When I started linking the golf ball, I started rubbing my hands together. I was really excited. Yes, it’s my huge power.”
This response caught my colleague Sean Zak’s ears (yes, another colleague shouted, but it was necessary!), who asked a great follow-up – “Why are you rubbing your hands together?” – and there were several 1-iron-related queries afterwards.
“I just think it works in my hands,” Bermester said. “I can hit the 1-iron at over 300 yards for 300 yards, and no one else can do that. When the fairway is hard and bursting, I feel like I have a big advantage here. It becomes easy to use.
Burmester estimated he hit the “Six and Seven” 1 time in the first round of the wet and winds, sprinkling in occasional (and rare) 2 iron. Deuce was his top club in the tough first hole, where Burmester shot a few drops of water from his tee, under 250 yards to the right side of the fairway. Overall, nine out of 14 fairways in the first round (only 7 players hit) while leading by 328.2 yards.
Burmester, who plays Srixon Z For II Irons, said that he lost confidence in his 3 wood about five to six years ago, which led him to start tinkering with 1 iron. His club trainer built him at the Dunhill Links event in Scotland, and he said he completed his seventh time that week. He said he also had success with the club in the 2022 Open Championship – “The fairway was so baked out, I didn’t even play the driver” – and he never looked back since.
