For someone clearly as smart as Bryson DeChambeau, it is a surprise that he has allowed the same problem to seemingly cost him in two major championships in a row.
Bryson DeChambeau could have easily gone into his preparations for the US Open having won the first two majors of the year. Unfortunately, a disappointing Sunday at The Masters put paid to his hopes of winning a first green jacket.
Meanwhile, he was unable to keep up with Scottie Scheffler at Quail Hollow at the PGA Championship.
Speaking at The Masters, it was suggested that DeChambeau will become a real problem for his rivals if he can improve his iron game.
Trevor Immelman offers Bryson DeChambeau advice which ‘might sound crazy’ after the PGA Championship
And it was striking that he finished just over five shots back of Scheffler when it came to strokes gained approach at Quail Hollow.
The margin between the two players, of course, was five shots.
DeChambeau will surely not head to Oakmont without making some significant changes to his game. But it seems that some feel that he will need to consider some drastic decisions in the weeks ahead.
Speaking on Fried Egg Golf, Trevor Immelman suggested that DeChambeau would benefit from completely overhauling his iron game.
“He had a great interview with Amanda post-round, and kudos to him and Jon Rahm for that matter after, in a certain sense, getting their hearts ripped out, taking the time to go and do that. And he mentioned with as high as what he hits it and as much spin as he gets on the ball, that’s the part that he has to figure out,” he said.
“Absolutely, he needs to be able to learn a shot to where he can take some spin off and bring the flight down. And maybe even have two swings, that might sound crazy, I’m still baking this idea, so take it easy on my mentions, but he’s got the driver swing, which is awesome. The guy is out there, he leads driving distance for the week at 331. He’s hitting 50 percent of the fairways. The driver swing is so dialled when you consider ball speed of over 190, it is so hard to manage accuracy when you’re at that speed. And when you add major championship pressure to that, how he keeps it on the golf course with the driver blows my mind.
“So he’s got that swing, and him and Rory are the two greatest drivers in my mind. You can kind of throw Scottie in there, but it’s different because his is more a combo of better than average speed and more accuracy. The other two are more impressive because they have much more power. But he may have to build a second swing, an iron swing, a controlled swing. And if he does that, Bryson, with as sharp as the rest of his game is, he was 31st around the green, he was 22nd in putting, if he finds a way to control those irons, we’re going to have some unbelievable showdowns between the best players in the world.”
What Bryson DeChambeau has suggested he’s planning to change after the PGA Championship
Worryingly for fans of DeChambeau, it appears that he is looking elsewhere as he tries to address the issues he has had in recent months.
Speaking after his final round, the 31-year-old suggested that he is seeking answers with both the golf ball and his wedges.
“What I really think needs to happen, being pretty transparent here, is just get a golf ball that flies a little straighter. Everybody talks about how straight the golf ball flies. Well, upwards of 190 like Rory and myself, it’s actually quite difficult to control the golf ball,” he said.
“The ball sidespins quite a bit and it gets hit by the wind quite a bit because our golf balls are just longer in the air. So I’m looking at ways of how to rectify that so that my wedges can be even tighter so it can fly straighter.
“I feel like there are times where I hit wedges and it just overcurves, depending how high and how much time it is in the air and how much spin is on the ball.
“So I think that’s really what I’m going to be looking at now along with some equipment stuff to just make myself a little more precise the next time so we don’t have what happened this week happen.”
DeChambeau was criticised for mentioning a new golf ball, with Paul McGinley insisting that he was not buying those comments.
Perhaps the Crushers captain is keeping some of his cards close to his chest before he gets to Oakmont. Certainly, plenty will not be surprised if DeChambeau is up there once again at the next major.
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