Bryson DeChambeau is famous for his high levels and intensity of practice. He practices as often as he possibly can, and when he does practice, he practices like the world is running out of golf balls.
Any golfer reading this will understand what a ‘range breakthrough’ feels like, but one might have imagined that they are long gone for a player who has reached the levels DeChambeau has. The returns on improvement on the range diminish significantly after so many hours spent on the range.
DeChambeau posted a video onto his YouTube page last week contradicting the theory that he is past the point of making significant changes to his swing based on a practice session. His video, titled “One Of My Biggest Discoveries Yet…” Shows the former US Open champion next to his range partner, who declares DeChambeau’s swing discovery as a ‘Eureka’ moment in the evolution of Bryson DeChambeau’s golf swing.
This video is the latest in a long line of behind-the-scenes footage that DeChambeau has shared via his official YouTube account. Bryson and his good friend and World Long Driver Martin Borgmeier were having an evening practice session in a Dallas driving range. In the early part of the video, DeChambeau was as he typically is in these vlogs. Chatty, analytical and tinkering. It becomes apparent that he is struggling with a consistent right miss during the practice session, a problem that DeChambeau has been plagued by in tournament play for at least the last year.
After the video cuts to Bryson hitting a drive, he says to Borgmeier, “Yup, was it. Oh my god,” he says. “I just figured something out in my golf swing.”
Bryson explained that the shift is about his wrist position at impact. During his downswing, the force that his trail arm generated forced the clubface to open, leading to the right miss.
“So what I found was, when this forearm applies force internally, it’s going to make the club open,” DeChambeau said. “So, I want to feel like I’m going [further out] and stopping and allowing the hands to go through, so I can create this in-to-out path and also close the face.”
A few more attempts in, and DeChambeau’s excitement is at an even greater level. He was hitting tight draw after tight draw, and even his misses maintained a tight dispersion.
“That was a heel miss, and it still drew,” Bryson says at one point.
A few more near-perfect drives and DeChambeau called Chris Como, his swing coach, to share his good news.
“Hey, I’m sorry to call you so late,” Bryson said. “I got something. If it’s more in the palm, it allows the club to turn over. I’m telling you, I can feel it.”
At the Hero World Challenge, DeChambeau finished T14 in a field of 20, so the recent discovery on the range hasn’t paid dividends yet, but if DeChambeau’s reaction in the video is anything to go by. He certainly believes he has found a new level to his game.
“That’s something I never, ever, ever thought about. I swear this is opening up a new world for me,” he said. “I think I’ve unlocked the last piece of the puzzle.”
Tiger Woods has taken an interest in DeChambeau’s speed drills and scientific approach to the game and discussed his thoughts from the commentary booth at the Hero World Challenge.
“Like I told [DeChambeau] personally, what he’s doing is historic,” Woods said. “Long-drive players aren’t players on Tour. Back when I was younger, I was the second-longest driver to John Daly, but neither one of us could have competed against the long-drive guys. The disparity was just too great. But for him to take the leap to become a US Open champion and a player on Tour and to do what he’s done, the hard work that goes into it. People have no idea the lifting and the commitment it takes to transform his body and go down that rabbit hole like that and to do what he’s doing; it’s truly remarkable. And he didn’t lose his game; he’s gotten better with it.”
Another player Woods heaped praise on from his commentary role was Collin Morikawa.
“[Morikawa’s] 24 years old, he won two major championships (2020 PGA and 2021 Open), he doesn’t really do anything wrong,” Woods said. “He doesn’t really have wild misses; he’s super, super consistent, unbelievable iron player.”