Bryson DeChambeau is no stranger to the long ball. He led the PGA Tour in driving distance the last two seasons, which comes at no surprise after seeing the transformation his body has gone through.
He’s taking it to the next level later this month, as he plans on participating in the Professional Long Drivers Association World Championship in Mesquite, Nevada, on Sept. 28.
If the date seems familiar to you, it’s because that’s just two days after the 43rd Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, where DeChambeau will represent Team USA.
He’s currently practicing at Bobby Peterson’s One Stop Power Shop (that just can’t be a real place), a popular training facility for the world’s longest drivers. His sessions consist of “two-a-days,” which are two 90 minute speed development blocks.
“My hands are wrecked from it,” DeChambeau said during a recent interview with Golf.com. “People don’t realize how difficult long drive really is.”
You have to love hearing one of the automatic qualifiers for the U.S. Ryder Cup team will arrive in Wisconsin with bloody, calloused hands.
DeChambeau, however, doesn’t sound all that concerned about how he’s spending his time leading up to the biggest golf event of the year.
“I do it every week. Is it daunting? Hell yeah. At first, when I was trying to do it last year, it was very scary,” DeChambeau said. “But now that I’ve been through it and experienced the worst pains from it, and the most relaxed state of it where I’m not doing any speed training, I know how to kind of balance it — for the most part. Why not go hard at life and do both?”
We’ll have to wait and see if these training sessions affect DeChambeau in any way come the first day of the Ryder Cup on September 24. With all the nerves he’ll sure to be feeling, plus his calloused mitts, let’s hope he can hold onto the club.