Bryson DeChambeau is not only one of the most talented players in golf but also the most entertaining. Here’s what you should know about him.
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PINEHURST, NC – Bryson DeChambeau has long been one of the game’s top performers, but he’s proven over the last several majors that he’s one of the best players in the world (second at the PGA Championship and T6 at the Masters.)
DeChambeau, 30, now leads the 2024 US Open with 18 holes to play as he looks for a second career major title. You may already know that he won the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot, and you may also know that he left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022.
But since this website exists to inform not only the avid golfer but also the occasional fan who may only sing the majors, we are here to educate the golfing world about the man who leads our national championship, who may be one of the best. unique characters throughout golf. So let’s get to know him, shall we?
20 things you (probably) didn’t know about Bryson DeChambeau
1. He uses his right hand but can write his name back with him on the left the hand. (Try that; please.)
2. DeChambeau, who played college golf at SMU, was just the fifth player ever to win an individual NCAA title and a US Freshman championship in the same year.
3. Because of his college success, everyone wanted a piece of DeChambeau. When he turned pro and signed with Cobra Puma Golf at age 22, Cobra’s VP of R&D Tom Olsavsky called it “a lottery to hire Bryson.”
4. “The Golfing Machine,” by Homer Kelley, played a big role in DeChambeau’s life. The book was published in 1969 – 24 years before DeChambeau was born – and when he was 15, DeChambeau borrowed a copy from tennis coach Mike Schy. That’s where DeChambeau learned about custom-made replacement planes and using the stroke without variation. It also led him to think about single-length flexible instruments (see below).
5. Uses single-length irons, all of which are cut to a standard 6-iron length. They also have the same weight. The goal here is that all swings are the same and in the same plane. (You can read more about them here.) Cobra, one of DeChambeau’s biggest sponsors, also sells One-Length Iron sets.
6. He names his golf clubs. Check them out below.
7. His YouTube channel has almost 700,000 subscribers. The most viewed video is the nine-hole vs. Phil Mickelson, which was published about 10 months ago. It has been viewed 2.7 million times.
8. During the broadcast of the final round of the 2020 US Open, analyst Paul Azinger said that DeChambeau’s parents said he understood algebra at the age of 6.
9. When the Rules of Golf were updated in 2019, DeChambeau was one of the first professionals to accept the flagstick installation. “It depends on the COR, the coefficient of restitution of the flagstick,” he told GOLF.com in November. 2018, before the law goes into effect. “At the US Opens, I’ll take it out, and every other Tour event, if it’s fiberglass, I’ll leave it in and hit that ball on the flagstick if I need to.” However, he no longer keeps the flagstick regularly.
10. Speaking of putting, he tried side-saddle putting for a few months in 2016, which involved facing the hole and using a pendulum stroke with the putter. There was controversy surrounding it and the USGA eventually deemed his putter noncompliant.
11. At the end of the 2019 season, DeChambeau vowed to take out the ball to hit the ball even farther. He went from about 195 pounds to over 240 (and said he was downing seven protein shakes a day). He has since lost weight and now says he has a better understanding of what foods are good for him.
12. At the 2024 Masters, the mark was on DeChambeau’s fairway on the par-5 13th hole. So he picked it up and moved it. (Seriously.)
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13. The crowd helped DeChambeau, who was already a long driver of the golf ball, get even longer. In 2021-2022, DeChambeau competed in the World Long Drive championships. And surprisingly, he did well. He came second in one competition, and some say his presence even saved the circuit.
14. He always wore a Ben Hogan-inspired flat cap during the tournament rounds.
15. DeChambeau went to LIV golf in 2022 with a contract reportedly worth between $100-125 million guaranteed (LIV did not disclose the amount).
16. At LIV he is the captain of the Crushers team which is a symbol that you will see him wearing on hats, shirts and more when he is on the golf course. Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri are other players on the Crushers roster.
17. You just stopped in the middle of the cycle to make sure the child gets the intended reminder. At the PGA Championship last month, DeChambeau tossed the ball to a young fan, but when it was grabbed by an older spectator, he ran into it.
18. DeChambeau was involved in a long-running feud with Brooks Koepka, which at times seemed contrived and at times overly aggressive and intense. At one point DeChambeau even kicked out fans for criticizing him (calling him “Brooksy,” which Koepka encouraged). They finally (sort of) settled their differences by facing off in the edition of The Match on Thanksgiving 2021. The match itself left a lot to be desired, and little happened in the Koepka vs. DeChambeau since then.
19. Where is his driver? Six degrees.
20. He puts his golf balls in Epsom salt. We’ll let him explain.
“We’re actually floating the golf balls in the solution to make sure the golf ball doesn’t come out right,” he said Saturday night at Pinehurst. “There was a big thing back then where golf balls were out of shape, because of the manufacturing process. There is always a mistake, especially if it is round and there are dimples on the edges. You can’t get it right in the middle. So what I’m doing is finding out exactly how unbalanced it is, how out of balance it is. The heavy slide floats on the ground, and we mark the top with a dot to make sure it keeps rolling on itself. It works like a mortar. If there is too much weight on one side, you can put it at 90 degrees when you mud on the right or mud on the left. I use mud as a weight reference there. It will fly differently and fly inconsistently. For most golf balls we get, it’s not that big of a deal. I try to be as accurate as possible, and it’s one more step I take to make sure my golf ball flies as straight as it can because I’m not that good at hitting it straight.”
Did you get that? OK good.
