Bryson DeChambeau hits the driver in the latest episode of 'Warming Up'.
Darren Riehl
One of the most remarkable things about the world's top golfers is that they think about playing – and practice – in very different ways. Take Scottie Scheffler, who won the Players, the Masters and this year [checks schedule] basically everything else. When Scottie is home during the off weeks it feels like he's playing games against other Dallas locals almost every day.
But Bryson DeChambeau? He rarely plays. Unless she's at a competition or filming a video for her wildly popular YouTube channel, she's usually at home by herself, working on what she likes to refer to as “repetitive motion.”
Last week DeChambeau became US Open champion for the second time. He also finished second at the PGA Championship and T6 at the Masters. The beauty of golf? There is more than one way to do it.
Before the start of major tournament season, DeChambeau joined our team to record an episode of “Warming Up,” (on YouTube here) where he walked me through his pre-round preparation and revealed some secrets about how he thinks about practice and tournament golf. .
Here are 10 things I learned from the session:
1. He does not work before the cycle.
If our lineup session had come the Sunday of the big game, what would DeChambeau have done up front? Little surprising, it turns out.
“I'm up. I'm not really doing much,” she said.
Unlike other pros, who spend hours doing a fitness trailer before their round, DeChambeau prefers to do the post-workout. He will arrive at the gym around 6 or 7pm, depending on his schedule. But before a round he relies on “active movement” to warm up, which is a good way to start with chip shots and go up from there.
2. You are working on a clock system.
DeChambeau thinks of his arms and hands as the hour hand on a clock; that's one of the ways he makes his swing multiply. You also build from small to large swings. As he starts with contact and gets a feel for the day he's going to take a half-swing, he brings the club back to what feels like 9 o'clock (it ends up moving forward a bit) and then 3 o'clock.
Finally he works his way up to 10 o'clock – hands shoulder high, about 75 percent – then 10:30, then full, which is like 11 o'clock.
3. You have a simple way of thinking about contact.
If DeChambeau doesn't hit it right? You go back to the basics.
“It's very simple: ball, divot,” he said. That's what he focuses on: proper communication. But if the contact is drawn, the easiest thing to fix is to place his ball. “If I hit it small, I usually raise my level a little bit. If I touch it, I will restore it to my condition just a little bit.”
That's all!
“It's very simple, nothing crazy. I don't try to make things too complicated, which is very different for me,” he said.
4. He doesn't change his ball flight.
A lot of pros I've talked to enjoy working the ball in different places based on the shape of the hole or the location of the flag. Not DeChambeau.
“I try not to. I want to be a champion for others,” he said. “There's so much field, so much grass out there that I can hit the same shot over and over and be okay with that.”
For DeChambeau that “same shot” is a bit sketchy. He estimates an average bend of 10-12 yards; the edge may be four or five yards while the driver is about 20 yards.
5. His most frequent misses are episodes, but contact with him does not depress him.
I took a little turf on the face after hitting a heavy short iron. That's his most common miss, he said: the episode. But a few fat shots on the range don't bother him. Missing left and right, on the other hand?
“When it starts bending in one direction, that's when I get more stressed. That's where you'll see me hitting golf balls for a long time,” he said.
We have seen a a lot of those marathon distance times over the years. Now I better understand one reason why.
6. He “never” plays golf at home.
This was interesting. Although DeChambeau will use grass every day — not turf, he said, which can interfere with attack angles, etc. — he rarely hits the course.
“Never,” she said. “It's rare. I'll go out and play three holes every once in a while to make sure nothing goes wrong. But I focus on being able to repeat the movement consistently. To see if I can do it over and over again after the same image. That's all that matters to me.”
I pointed out that while this makes some intuitive sense, it is very different from the approach of almost every other senior professional I have spoken to.
“I know, it's wild. I think they like to try to shoot low scores. But my thought process is like, low scores will come from consistent and repetitive shots. And if I can hit the shot more often than other players I feel like I will do better than other players.”
7. Still, you think it's important to play golf to be a golfer.
If you're looking to emulate DeChambeau's method, this bit is important: He's not suggesting you skip the course entirely. Not until you reach the top small percentage of golf talent and the ability to score under pressure.
“You need to play enough rounds of golf where you can go for the reds [forward tees]go to the blues [back tees], go to any tee spot and hit a good par,” he said. “Blues are underclass. Reds are always close to 60. And when you do that, you're able to strategize on the course for any situation that happens.”
Why so many tee boxes? From advanced players you will be forced to press the driver on the tightest holes, you will hit wedges into par-3s and you will play par-5s like par-4s. Back girls, meanwhile, will need long irons on the par-3s and check it out on the tough par-4s. If you can get to that point, says DeChambeau, you can turn your focus to distance.
“And later on when you're fit enough and you're playing enough tournament golf that you're comfortable under pressure? Then repeating the movement more than anyone else is the main answer to improvement,” he said.
“I could be completely wrong. Everyone is different, obviously. But that's my path to success – and I love it. It's delicious. Compared to wasting four hours of my day, shooting 65 and going, what does that mean? Nothing. That's why many people gamble, but I'm not a gambler.”
My guess is that you are missing out. Then again, he's the US Open champion, so his instincts you might want to trust.
8. You will “balance” the different parts of the group.
Do you want to find the center of the club face? It doesn't hurt to check some parts, just to see where they are. He swings one inside-out and tries to get it off the toe. It makes a shrill sound, connects slowly and falls into the air. He later hits one on the heel that spits weak and right.
“So I start trying to hit it in different parts of the face to gauge my brain where the rest of the club is,” he said. “What are you crazy, people say, 'what are you talking about?' I'm like, bro, I just want to know.”
He deals with different points of contact and different gun situations every day, he said. But it will only be a few shots and then he will be back in that painting he is trying to avoid.
9. You think conditions can affect carry yardage more than you might think.
DeChambeau's 5-wood flies 285, he said. His 3-wood flies 310. His driver? In addition. But changes in conditions as simple as temperature can change those numbers by as much as five percent — which translates to 15 or more yards in these distances.
There's a reason DeChambeau is involved with salt balls and protractors and spray bottles and such: He knows the little things make a big difference.
10. You take it “one shot at a time” to the next level.
DeChambeau says he tries to ignore the situation entirely. He tries to completely ignore the golf course. Hey, he's not really focused on the golf ball.
“Here's the funny thing. A lot of people said, oh, I'm watching the golf ball and focusing on hitting the ball,” he said. “But I can't even see the golf ball when I hit the shot. I literally feel what my body is doing and I just repeat that feeling all the time. On the side I still see it, but I don't focus on it.
“Growing up I would hit golf balls with my eyes closed for a long time just trying to get the movement. Repetitive motion, motion, motion. That's all I'm focused on. And it was very beneficial because I could go inside whenever I was nervous and focus on making the proposal and not worry about the situation.”
11. …and there's more!
The good news is that these 10 are from the first part of the video. DeChambeau talks about food, regrets and growing up. He hits one “hard” just for fun. He takes us to No. 16 at Augusta National. He quotes Vince Lombardi and Ben Hogan. Good news: You can watch more below.
Source link
