Four changes we’re seeing with DeChambeau
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Bryson DeChambeau’s Round 2 highlights from Charles Schwab
FORT WORTH, Texas – Time to talk changes for Bryson DeChambeau – currently tied for second after 36 holes at the Charles Schwab Challenge -- since the last time we saw him play three months ago. First …
THE WEIGHT. He’s between 235-240 pounds right now, thanks to his added muscle and the fact that he hasn’t been playing competitive golf in so long. He figures he’ll drop down to 230 in the next few weeks now that the TOUR has resumed its 2019-20 schedule.
But hitting a specific number on the scale is not really part of his process in becoming stronger.
“My ultimate goal is to get as strong as I can, and I don't know what that weight is,” he said Friday after his second consecutive 65 left him at 10 under, tied with Jordan Spieth and one shot behind leader Harold Varner III. “I'm just going to keep proportionally making everything stronger and applying some force and speed to the golf swing to see what it can handle.”
In case you’re wondering, when DeChambeau left SMU after winning the NCAA individual championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year, he weighed just under 200 pounds.
The additional bulk, of course, has forced changes to …
HIS APPAREL. He’s gone up two sizes.
“I was a medium starting last year, at the end of last year actually, and now I'm in an extra large,” he said. “It's a little big fit on me depending on the style of shirt, but I love it. It feels comfortable. My back honestly in this XL fits perfect.
“So I have had to change some stuff. Puma has been really nice to give me some clothing so don't really have to worry too much about that.”
Apparel size isn’t the only thing he’s had to adjust. Consider …
CLUB LOFT. He’s producing so much spin now that he needed to make some drastic loft revisions.
Like with his driver, which is 5-1/2 degrees.
And he’s looking at a 3-wood at around 10 degrees.
And his 4-iron is 17-1/2 degrees. All his irons, in fact, have been delofted.
“I produce 4,000 spin,” he said. “It's just that speed and deflection and all that. It's crazy stuff that I would have never expected to happen, but I've had to make adjustments because loft is irrelevant, it's really about your launch angle and spin right coming off of the ball, and the ball speed.
“Pretty much that's all that matters.”
Still, he has to take all that into consideration with his …
COURSE STRATEGY. Especially at Colonial, a tight, old-school shot-maker’s course that has never been a big-hitter’s favorite layout.
DeChambeau is making his fifth career start in the Charles Schwab Challenge, but he’s getting to places this year that he never previously encountered.
For example, the 390-yard par-4 sixth. There are two bunkers on the left side of the fairway, and one on the right.
In his last six trips to the hole, DeChambeau has played short of those bunkers, his drives between 256-266 yards.
On Thursday, he split the bunkers with a 297-yard drive. On Friday, he blasted a 330-yard drive over the right-hand bunker, setting up a 76-yard shot that finished inside 9 feet for a birdie.
“I can just drive it all the way up past those bunkers and have a nice little flip wedge in there,” DeChambeau explained. “15, fly it over the bunkers, have a nice little flip wedge in there. 14, I had 100 yards in today.
“I mean, it's just stuff that is so beneficial when you get out here. You've got those bunkers and hazards in the way and I wanted to make those obsolete.”
On Friday, he finished his round with a 335-drive at the 18th that came dangerously close to flirting with the water on the left side near the green. It wasn’t the stroke he wanted; he pulled the drive. But with his added muscle, he has to worry about such things now.
“That's something I'm going to have to be cautious of tomorrow depending on the wind,” he said. “If it's pumping into the wind, I wouldn't get it there, but if there's no wind, I've got to make sure I stay right and draw it around the lake.”
Oh, such problems, being so long off the tee that trouble comes into play. It’s a new world for DeChambeau; this weekend, it could be an extremely profitable one.