When it comes to distance from the tee, few voices are more authoritative in the world of golf than Bryson DeChambeau. Not only because of how far he hits, but because it wasn’t always that way. He has achieved it through training and research. Trial and error. Today, minutes after winning the LIV Golf in Korea, his first victory of the year, he was asked for some advice for young people who want to hit further. DeChambeau didn’t just brush it off with some obvious remark; instead, he designed a specific plan.
“The first thing is to enjoy the game. If you have fun, you can move on to the next stage: improving. How do you improve? Train aiming to get 1% better every day. Every day go out on the course thinking: ‘How can I improve by 1%?’ That’s the next step. And if they want to take their game further — no pun intended, or maybe so — and want to hit further, they need to do speed training, but always under the supervision of a fitness coach or a physiotherapist to keep them healthy. I would say that at 15 or 16 years old they can start this training. Start gently: 30 to 50 balls with the driver as hard as you can, three times a week. Then, gradually increase to 75 or 100 balls weekly. Do this for a month. This way, you can easily gain between 5 and 9 miles per hour in speed. Then, after gaining speed, you have to work a lot on the wedge game to be ready to compete. That would be the plan I would recommend, but I insist: the first thing is to enjoy. You have to love this game,” he assures.
Regarding the victory in Korea, Bryson confessed that he started very nervous on the first holes. The key was in holes 8 and 9. “I was quite nervous on the first nine holes, I don’t know why. That putt I made on the 8th was great, and on the 9th I made two putts. After the 9th hole, I don’t know what happened to me, I just said: ‘You know what? Play like a kid again,’ and I started doing that on the last nine,” he explains. He finished six under par from the 10th to the 18th.
DeChambeau acknowledges that competing for victory in a head-to-head with a teammate has a rather strange component. “It’s a strange dynamic. It’s like Formula 1. You support your teammate as much as you can. When he makes a birdie, you say: ‘Great birdie, great.’ Also, we were fighting for the lead in the team standings. I felt proud every time he made a birdie. I was happy for him. But the competitor inside me said: ‘Okay, I have to match him.’ There were moments when I felt like I was falling behind. He kept going and going. It was a good battle. I don’t know, it was fun. Charles is a tough competitor and we had a good time.”
Finally, his mind is already on the PGA Championship. “My goal is to win every tournament I enter. Scottie is in great form. Joaquín Niemann, too. Jon Rahm is playing well. There’s a lot of talent in the PGA Championship. We’re going to fight for it. I’m happy to have achieved this victory, but there’s still a lot of work to do this year. There are three Majors left, and I’m focused on that along with the rest of the LIV events, giving my best in each one.” He also revealed that if the team makes a profit at the end of the year, they share it among the players.
