Speaks four languages: Dutch, Spanish, French and English. French is his main language. Grandmother is Spanish so spoke French and Spanish at home. Attended a Dutch-speaking school.

Teammates at Illinois included future PGA TOUR winners Brian Campbell (three seasons -- 2012-15) and Nick Hardy (two seasons -- 2014-16).

In June 2019, set a Guinness World Record for the fastest hole of golf by an individual, as he played the 10th hole (measuring 500 yards) at Real Club de Golf Guadalmina in Marbella, Spain in 1 minute, 29 seconds. Detry's time broke the previous record of 1 minute, 33 seconds. The record was captured and posted to YouTube by the DP World Tour.

Starred for four seasons at University of Illinois (2012-16), where he won five times individually, with the crown jewel being medalist honors at the 2016 Big Ten Conference Championship. Also garnered All-America Second Team honors as a junior and senior (2015 and 2016).

Named the 2015 Big Ten Player of the Year, and earned the 2015 Les Bolstad Award as the conference's scoring average leader (70.76, a single-season school record which stood for one year).

Joined a notable list of University of Illinois golfers to earn Big Ten Player of the Year recognition in 2015. The list of past winners from Illinois include Steve Stricker (1988 and 1989), Thomas Pieters (2013), Brian Campbell (2014), and Nick Hardy (2018).

As a freshman at Illinois, named the 2013 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and helped Illinois to a runner-up finish at the 2013 NCAA Championship, the highest finish in program history. In the semifinals, despite Detry losing his match, Illinois upset top-ranked University of California-Berkeley, which was led by individual national champion Max Homa, Michael Kim, and Brandon Hagy. Illinois lost in the championship round to a University of Alabama team led by Justin Thomas and Trey Mullinax.

Capped his stellar junior season at Illinois, highlighted by his winning of 2015 Big Ten Player of the Year and Les Bolstad Awards, with a T3 at the 2015 NCAA Championships; he only finished one stroke behind runner-up C.T. Pan of Washington, and two strokes behind medalist Bryson DeChambeau of Southern Methodist University.

By earning medalist honors at the 2016 Big Ten Championship, extended an incredible run of conference medalists for the Illinois program which eventually reached nine in a row. The sequence was: Luke Guthrie (2011 and 2012), Thomas Pieters (2013), Charlie Danielson (2014), Nick Hardy (2015 and 2018), Detry (2016), Dylan Meyer (2017), and Adrien Dumont de Chassart (2019).

Also helped Illinois win three Big Ten Championships (2013, 2015, 2016) and concluded his career ranked second in program history in career scoring average (71.72).

Played on a number of international teams through the years, including the 2010 and 2014 Eisenhower Trophy (represented Belgium), and the 2014 and 2015 Arnold Palmer Cups (represented Europe). Also played four European Boys Team Championships (represented Belgium), winning in 2010 and competing in 2008, 2009, and 2011.

Represented Europe at the 2010 Junior Ryder Cup, contested at Gleneagles Resort in Scotland. Detry defeated Denny McCarthy in singles, but Europe fell to a United States team headlined by Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Earned his first significant junior golf victory as a 16-year-old at the 2009 Dutch Junior Open. Detry also went on to win the 2011 National Match Play Championship in Belgium, as well as the 2013 Belgian International Amateur Championship.