Bryson DeChambeau turns transformation doubters into believers

LAS VEGAS – You got to hand it to Bryson DeChambeau. He put his money where his mouth is.

One year ago, DeChambeau looked a small throng of journalists in the eye as he was getting set to leave the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and vowed he would transform his body to a level not seen before.

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“I’m going to come back next year and look like a different person. You're going to see some pretty big changes in my body, which is going to be a good thing. Going to be hitting it a lot further,” DeChambeau said after finishing T4 in his title defense at TPC Summerlin.

At the time the comments brought with it plenty of eyerolls. A sense of – here goes crazy Bryson again – was most certainly permeating through some of the golf world. But the doubters are – at least right now – eating their words.

Because “hitting it a lot further” is an understatement. And he’s combined raw power with some pretty impressive accuracy – at least enough to win the Rocket Mortgage Challenge by three and the U.S. Open by six.

At the end of the 2018-19 season DeChambeau boasted a Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee mark of +0.421 and a driving distance average of 302.5 yards. A year later he put up a season where his SG: Off-the-Tee led the TOUR at +1.039 and led driving distance at 322.1 yards.

“You’ve seen what I looked like compared to what I am now. Hopefully it's an inspiration to a lot of people that if you really put your mind to it you can change yourself and change yourself for the better,” DeChambeau said of the last 12 months.

“There will obviously be people that doubt what I do. That's totally fine. That's fuel for my fire. I appreciate that because it makes me think of how I can get better quicker to show people… Einstein was always called a crazy man or somebody that was defying what was actually possible until he started to prove or people started it prove his theories correct. Then everybody started to love them.”

DeChambeau pointed out some of his peers are already making adjustments. In fact two-time FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy posted a screenshot of his launch monitor last weekend with a 186 mph ball speed and 340 yards of carry.

“I think it was a tremendous compliment with Rory posting his speed numbers. It's super cool, and I can't wait to battle against him with those numbers,” DeChambeau said. “It's going to be great for the game of golf and everybody in general. Hopefully for the next generation that comes up it will be some inspiration, too.”

Exactly one year to the day from his comments, on Tuesday evening at the TPC Summerlin range, DeChambeau had to move 40 yards behind his playing competitors on the range. He is now some 40 pounds heavier and noticeably bulked up compared to his frame a year ago.

And he was hitting the ball into a residential area where thankfully some TOUR equipment trucks were parked to take the brunt instead of some houses.

“I watched Happy Gilmore a little while ago and just re-inspired me to try and hit it as far as possible,” he quipped Wednesday.

Even after moving back on the range DeChambeau was threatening those in the trucks. It immediately evoked thoughts of Adam Sandler’s character hitting balls from his grandmothers lawn into the distance and smashing into a house some 400 yards away. When the movers don’t believe what they saw he replicates it, knocking a person out of the second story window he just broke.

DeChambeau thankfully wasn’t injuring any innocent bystanders. But he was intimidating his fellow competitors who could see and hear the massive drives whistling over their heads. He’s already won at this course but now he will attack it from all new places. He says he can potentially go after four of the par 4’s off the tee and of course easily reach all of the par 5s in two.

“There will be holes where I'm going to try and drive them, get it up as close to the green as possible,” he confirmed right before heading out for his Pro-am on Wednesday. “It's just fun having a 7-iron go 220. That's unique. And 4-iron, 265. There will be holes where I had to hit 3-wood and now I'm hitting 4-iron off the tees.

“At the same point in time it's about putting, chipping, wedging. You still got to do everything else really well. So if I play well, ball strike it well, and putt well, I think I'll have a good chance again. Love this golf course.”

DeChambeau was already a multiple time winner on the TOUR and a former U.S. Amateur champion. He didn’t need to make change, certainly not drastic change, if he didn’t want to. But his personality demands he chase perfection even though cerebrally he knows it’s unattainable. Getting closer to it though is not.

Prior to the transformation he hadn’t contended well at majors. Now at just 27, he is a seven-time TOUR winner with a U.S. Open trophy in his house. The PGA Championship in August was his first top 10 in a major (T4) and his performance at Winged Foot last month to win by six was potentially a game-changer for the sport in general.

It was there after his win he flouted the next move – using a 48-inch driver to bring even more distance into play. He immediately set to work on testing and while he is not ready to unveil it in his first event since the U.S. Open triumph, it is likely to come out at the Masters in November.

DeChambeau won’t play again after this week until the Masters, instead opting to work on his swing speed and the potential new set up that he says if made correctly will “have the same launch and spin characteristics” as his current shorter driver. “But I think because it's going so much farther it'll have a little higher apex… it'll look like a missile coming off the face. It'll be going pretty fast.”

He plans on training hard in Dallas for the month prior, “practicing every day, working out every day, and doing a lot of speed training” to get up towards a 200 mph average.

So just how much farther can this new driver go? “I will not disclose that right now. I don't want to ruffle any feathers,” DeChambeau said. “I won't unveil that until Augusta… (But) I'm looking forward to seeing what that can do for the golf course and what opportunities it will present for me.

“(Testing) is going well... There are speed improvements, speed gains, and it's exciting. It really is something crazy that I never thought was even possible. The numbers that it's producing are staggering, way more than what I'm doing right now.”

Indeed the entire year long transformation has been staggering. And with DeChambeau you can count on the fact there will always be more to come.