Yesterday, 27-year-old golfer Jason Day won his first major championship at Whistling Straights in Wisconsin. Actually, he didn't just win—he obliterated the course, posting a major record 20-under par score. As a result of his victory, Jason moved up to the number three player in the world, behind 26-year-old Rory McIlroy and 22-year old Jordan Spieth. And down the list at eighth is 26-year-old flat brim-cap-wearing Ricky Fowler. At first glance, it's the fact that these guys are all extremely young that connects them as the new leaders of the game. But look closer, and it's that all of them are freakin' ripped that's the true sign of the times.

Since the game of golf was invented by a few farmers in Scotland back in 1457, the idea that lifting weights could actually help a person control the precise way a metal stick moving upwards of 100 miles per hour hits a tiny plastic ball just didn't exist. It's true that in his prime 77-year-old Gary Player preached some bit of fitness as a part of a well-rounded game, but he was an anomaly. Then his rival Jack Nicklaus went on to win a record 18 majors in his career without likely ever doing a sit-up or bench-press.

With the results to prove that fitness leads to wins, this new generation of planking, squatting, deadlifting golfers have finally erased the stigma that golf is just for fat old men.

Then, of course, came Tiger. When he first turned pro in 1996, he stood 6'1" and weighed only about 150 lbs wet. But it was the way he didn't just hit the golf ball, but attacked it with each shot was unlike anything most people had ever seen. His limbs looked limber, long, and powerful, and his sheer physicality allowed him to hit shots no one else could even imagine. (Just look at him strike a 6-iron 213 yards out of a bunker with a swing that would break the average golfer's pelvis.) Within a few years, he had bulked up to the 185 lb frame he has today, along the way winning 14 majors and proving that if you want to be the best golfer in the world, you better hit the weight room after a 18 holes instead of the 19th hole bar.

Tiger's decline has been discussed at length, but what is seldom mentioned is how he influenced this young crop of players (Spieth was just three when Tiger won the Masters in 1997) to treat their bodies with the same level of respect usually reserved for athletes that sprint, jump, and hit as a part of their respective sport. The fact that these guys consider themselves athletes at all is evidence of a seismic shift in the landscape. Ultimately, these young guns took a page out of Tiger's book and literally beat him at his own game, putting as much effort into their core as they do into their chip shots. Though golf may still be considered a leisure sport, the sheer power Rory McIlroy exhibits when driving a ball 350 yards off the tee looks like anything but a walk in the park. (Or, you know, 436 yards.) With the results to prove that fitness leads to wins, this new generation of planking, squatting, deadlifting golfers have finally erased the stigma that golf is just for fat old men. As his name implies, Jason's historic win has marked the dawn of a new day.

Jake Woolf is a writer who has covered men’s style for over ten years and has contributed to GQ since 2014. A graduate of Parsons The New School for Design (good school, long name), he also has bylines at Robb Report, HighSnobiety, Pitchfork, and the defunct #menswear website Four Pins... Read moreWriterXRelated Stories for GQGolfGolf