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19th Hole

‘My first-hand experience with Bryson DeChambeau’

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In our forums, our members have been responding to a fascinating post from GolfWRXer ‘Soloman1’, who has recounted his first-hand experience with Bryson DeChambeau. The post details his short time with Bryson during his second year on Tour in a thread that has gripped our readers.

From Soloman1:

“Oh no, not another Bryson thread!? Yes, another Bryson thread. But this one’s a little different. 

I want to talk from a first-hand experience with him and not third, fourth, or no-hand experiences or random feelings that I do or don’t like the guy because of (fill in the blank).

Quick background: He was an earlier adopter of my 3D motion system because it was portable and gives objective data, not myths of feelings about the swing. Why guess when you can measure tilts, rotations, body angles, wrist angles, swing planes, etc.?

Bryson had won one tournament and was struggling a little at the beginning of his second year on tour. Plenty of tour pros used it in the office or around the country – lot’s of names that you’d know and others you may not know. They all get the same time and energy.

I was asked to go to Dallas to spend a couple of days with Bryson in the summer. I had just gotten back from an extended trip to Asia and was worn out. My wife had died six weeks before; I had to empty a house full of memories in Tokyo, where we lived for decades. Bryson and others didn’t know this, so it had no influence on how he treated me.

First of all, Bryson was unfailingly polite. Some of you may be disappointed by that. He was polite the several other times we met at tournament sites. The golf course is his world, like all professionals, so on course and off course can be very different. You may not be the same person in your work environment either.

Is he driven? Of course, as all tour pros are, but I would say more than the average pro. He had spent time playing some practice rounds with Tiger, the ultimate driven professional, so he knew first hand what being driven looks and sounds like from the best in the world. There are plenty of guys (and women pros) who can be unpleasant to be around because of their ego, but Bryson wasn’t anywhere near some of them. Now, on the other hand, I’ll tell you who is really a… Just kidding. I’m not going to tell.

In most all cases, the player doesn’t want to know or need to know the gory details of the mechanics that are being looked at carefully. Their coach will translate it into a feeling and a few words that the player needs to hear, based on their experience with the player. Bryson wants the details and drives the ship.

OK, so Bryson started being interested in wrist movements. He was hitting irons on the range and not very well. He was frustrated and had been that way for half of the year. He couldn’t cure the lefts he had, and that is trouble city. I have to give him credit. He listened to what I said after only 2 minutes after I showed up. He had been there for hours. I moved one part of his body, and that one thought for him. The next ball and the rest after were perfect, and he was like a kid with a grin who just hit a ball flush for the first time. He just needed to hear a different voice, and I give him credit for listening.

One of my favorite ideas in engineering, business and golf is that you can’t hear a good idea if you aren’t listening.

The next day was raining, so we were indoors. He was still asking a lot about wrist angles, and he was working on driver and woods. Now, this was before bulking up and speed-distance quest. Even early on tour, Bryson was one of the longest guys out there, and that is a fact. He had a “Fairway Finder” driver swing that he used a lot. His distance stats were affected by that, but trust me, he could flat bomb it even then when he chose to. Of course, today is a different beast. He’s just trying to find the way for him to be as good as he can be.

He was getting frustrated again because his launch monitor numbers for his 3-wood didn’t match the ball flight. He was +4 path and -2 face to path, but the ball was starting a little right and dropping right from the top instead of a little push draw. Well, he decided that the balls were wet because they were brought in from the range, and this was the cause of his angst and shot shape going awry.

Again, I have to give him credit. He did listen, but he didn’t believe me.

The reason was obvious, but I had to prove it. He had to be hitting it a little on the heel, but he wasn’t having any of that. We put a sticker on the face, and sure enough, there it was. Now he accepted it. But I told him that I didn’t think it was a good idea to change anything in his setup or make him try to manipulate the swing until I saw what his pressure trace from my other product.

He resisted again but got him to do it, and Voila, he had a move that was a little too much toward his toes near impact. I asked him not to change anything but try to make more of a lateral move with pressure.

His next ball was not only that little push draw on target; he gained 20 yards (yes, 20 yards) of carry. Boom, mic drop. I was done. I’m kidding.

He’s an athlete. Sure, he works hard and is intense when things don’t go perfectly. Is that a fault? It can be if you start to think you know everything and you did it all by yourself.

He won The Memorial two weeks later. He won three tournaments within three months.

The only negative thing I have to say is that I think it was ungracious to not reply to my simple text of congratulations after The Memorial. Maybe the politeness only applies in person? I think a better man would have said thanks, that maybe I’d helped him a little since he’d been hitting it poorly for six months, but I’ve never heard a word from him.

Don’t worry; I don’t need counseling… haha. I’m old fashioned, so I still think expressing a little gratitude is something people of substance do. He didn’t figure it out all by himself, and everything going wrong is not always something else or someone else.

I just thought I’d give a first-person account of my short experience.”

Here are a few posts from our members reacting to the thread, but make sure to have your say at the link below.

  • Roejye: “Thank you for the story. I guess I’m weird in that I don’t really have an opinion on him. I really liked hearing about how polite he was and how he was willing to take input from others. I think it would have been nice of him to send a response after he won the memorial, but his phone could very well have been blowing up after it.”
  • straightshot7: “Good story and well written. Thanks for sharing. I wouldn’t worry about the lack of text back. I have some close friends who can’t respond to a text to save their lives. I don’t understand it, but I don’t think it’s malicious. Maybe he’ll get back to you later. Either way, you got a cool experience, right?”
  • TexasTurf: “I understand the negative feelings that people have towards him from watching on TV. I felt the same way before I met him. I can’t get into details, but as I have said before, he is the nicest professional golfer I have ever met. I’m an introvert, he is definitely an extrovert. But he goes way out of his way to show his appreciation for the people who are involved in his success.”

Entire Thread: “My first-hand experience with Bryson DeChambeau

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at gianni@golfwrx.com.

19th Hole

‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

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An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.

However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.

Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.

Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”

Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.

Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.

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19th Hole

How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

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Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.

Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.

Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.

Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.

“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course.  Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”

According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.

“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”

Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.

Check out Young’s winning WITB here.

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19th Hole

Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

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Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.

Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.

The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.

Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”

“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”

Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.

However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.

“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”

Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.

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