The PGA Tour’s longest driver advances through first-day round play at Professional Long Drivers Association’s top event in Mesquite.
How far can Bryson DeChambeau take the long ball? Maybe longer than many considered possible for a legit PGA Tour player, as he repeatedly blew past 400 yards Tuesday at the Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championship.
Fresh off the United States’ victory Sunday in the Ryder Cup, where DeChambeau flexed by driving the green on the par-4 opener in his singles match en route to accumulating a 2-0-1 record at Whistling Straits, the PGA Tour’s longest hitter showed even more power at the Professional Long Drivers Association’s World Championship.
DeChambeau, who received a special invitation to the World Championship in Mesquite, Nevada, advanced out of the first round of group qualifying with a longest blast of 412 yards. With each competitor swinging away in five sets of six balls each, DeChambeau finished second in his group to advance.
Despite some criticism on social media about this being a publicity stunt, DeChambeau showed Tuesday that he’s legit against the long-ball game’s best. Most players in the event didn’t sniff 400 yards Tuesday.
Sixteen players made up each of five groups of qualifying hopefuls, with 12 players advancing to Wednesday’s rounds of competition. Those 60 players will combine with four more from a round-robin to make up Wednesday’s 64-man field, which will compete in four groups to try to make it to Thursday and eventually Friday’s final round.
With his 30 total shots spread across five sets, DeChambeau hit five balls past 400 yards, with the longest of 412 coming in his fourth set. His shortest drive that counted went 355, and 21 of his shots found the grid that players must hit for the shot to count.
DeChambeau led the PGA Tour in the recently completed 2021 season with a 323.7-yard driving average. His longest drive on Tour in that season was 414 yards. His average measured clubhead speed on drives was 132.25 mph, but he has said he can go faster in training when he doesn’t have to worry about where the ball might land. The top players in elite long-drive competitions frequently surpass 140 mph in clubhead speed.
DeChambeau’s most impressive drive of 2021 might have come at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he cleared a lake with a 377-yard tee shot on the par-5 sixth hole at Bay Hill.
And all those stats came with a driver made for Tour use. It’s likely he’s using a maxed-out driver at 48 inches long for the World Championship, where balls off the landing grid don’t lead to double bogeys. Details on his long-drive clubs were not yet available.
In DeChambeau’s group of 16 players Tuesday, only four other players managed to send a ball past 400 yards, with Josh Cassaday leading the way with a 417-yard blast. DeChambeau managed to hit four of the group’s 11 total balls that traveled more than 400 yards in finishing second in the points for the group, trailing in points only Scottie Pearman, whose longest shot went 413 yards.
With the final two groups still swinging away and the day’s results not complete, Zack Holton had the longest drive of the day, a 419-yarder in a different group than DeChambeau. Kyle Berkshire, the defending champion after winning the event in 2019 and the 2020 competition having been canceled because of COVID-19, hit a shot of 409 yards in the first set and had 24 balls left at the time of this report.
Bryson DeChambeau will compete in a long-drive competition just a few days after the Ryder Cup.
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.”
Photo by Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
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.
Kyle Berkshire shares some tips, tricks and fundamentals that have helped him reach the No. 1 ranking on the World Long Drive Tour.
Kyle Berkshire currently sits atop the rankings of the World Long Drive competitors, and he’s hoping he can use his booming tee shots to reach the PGA Tour.
Berkshire spent the first two years of his college career playing for the University of North Texas. He had always been a powerful hitter, but he was tempted to try his luck in the long drive world by a coach of his. He ended up winning his first long drive qualifier and went on to qualify for major long drive tournaments quickly.
Berkshire transferred to the University of Central Florida to be closer to his sponsors at the time. “I didn’t really have a plan after that current phase, but I kept building on it and getting better and it kind of turned into a nice career,” Berkshire admits.
He was the winner of the 2019 World Long Drive Championship and is confident that he will hold on to his ranking going into the 2021 season.
He shares some tips, tricks and fundamentals that have helped him reach the number one ranking in the world on my latest episode of the “WHY YOU SUCK AT GOLF!” podcast with Averee Dovsek.
In 2021, Berkshire plans to compete in a bodybuilding competition and take his strengths to new heights. He expects for his clubhead speed to get faster as he begins to get leaner with his dieting.
His longest recorded competition drive is 492 yards and with his increasing clubhead speed, he has no reservations that he will beat that swinging 156 mph.
Berkshire has spent some time working with Bryson DeChambeau and helping him bring his long drive talent into play on the PGA Tour. He admits that heckling him in their lengthy practice sessions has produced the best results out of DeChambeau.
“You have to put your mind in an uncomfortable spot to achieve extreme results. The mind likes comfort, so what we are doing is pushing the limits of what’s possible and with that comes discomfort,” he said. “You have to marry that feeling on the inside to produce results on the outside.”
In 2021, in addition to his bodybuilding and long drive training, he plans to sharpen his game up to land a spot on the PGA Tour.
“The obvious one would be to put it up, but I don’t actually like that one, because the weight on the top of my head from my hair kind of throws off my swing a little bit. To be clear, it certainly is a handicap, but I have an emotional attachment to my hair at this point.”
This next generation of golfers and golf leaders is already comfortable addressing the status quo in golf. Add distance to that list.
Golf is a game built on tradition. It’s a sport defined by respect and rules of etiquette that span attire, behavior and care for the course. During a culture-shifting year like 2020, these norms were challenged.
Clubs like Augusta National and professional golfers like Cameron Champ promoted diversity and initiated conversations about making the sport visually represent the United States, but these actions only mark the beginning of a cultural and demographic shift that is overdue.
That’s where the next generation steps in.
This next generation of golfers and golf leaders is already comfortable addressing the status quo in golf. Members of Generation Z, born from the late 1990s through the mid-2010s, are already thinking about how the sport is changing and how they want the game they love to be perceived by future generations.
While all under the age of 30, their insights and experiences speak of where the sport is headed in the areas of distance, traditional fashion and most importantly, diversity.
This is part two of a three-part series analyzing Gen Z’s perception of the changing landscape of golf.
Distance, Bryson and the LPGA
An often-used word in the 2020 season: Distance. Another very popular word: Bryson.
You might have heard, but this year Bryson DeChambeau transformed his body and his game, adding 20 pounds before the Tour’s COVID-19 break in March and another 20 before the June restart. The 2015 U.S. Amateur winner spent two to three hours per day lifting in the gym and consumed 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day to achieve an athletic build unlike anyone in golf.
The plan was questioned for its effectiveness, but the distance DeChambeau achieved proves its brilliance.
In the 2018-19 season, DeChambeau ranked 24th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (.421) and 34th in driving distance (302.5 yards). In the 2019-20 season, he rose to first on the Tour in each category.
Bryson DeChambeau tees off on the ninth hole during the second round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. (Photo: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)
So far, DeChambeau, who had five Tour titles before his transformation, has been unrepentant of his experimentation and results. That’s what Josh Koch, 2018 and 2019 World Long Drive Championship qualifier and speed and distance coach, loves most about DeChambeau being the face of the distance debate.
“I think when guys get to the top level a lot of times there’s a level of complacency and rightfully so,” Koch said. “A lot of guys are afraid to kind of mess up what got them there and I don’t blame them. There is some truth to that. But his fearlessness of trying to keep pushing the bar and he’s not afraid to mess up or fail. I think that’s the thing I love the most about it: the fearlessness.”
After his 40-pound weight gain, DeChambeau won his first major in September at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. During his post-round interview, the 27-year-old recognized a few people who inspired him to work to achieve the impressive distance he has this year: World Long Drive competitors Kyle Berkshire, currently No. 1 in the world; Justin James, No. 4; and Koch.
“They all inspired me to try to go harder at (gaining speed and distance),” DeChambeau said of the World Long Drive competitors in September. “They’re the ones breaking the barriers. I can see what is possible so that inspires me to keep pushing the limits.”
Koch is impressed with how DeChambeau has trained his body, gained speed and produced results. But even more, Koch loves what DeChambeau is doing for the sport – loves that DeChambeau’s hard work, sense of adventure and creativity are making the game fun.
It can be intoxicating, especially for young players.
“It’s the sex appeal of golf. It really is,” Koch said. “No matter where you’re at, this is the crazy thing, I don’t feel like anyone really ever feels like they’re fast enough. I’ve never heard someone say they wouldn’t mind gaining a few more miles per hour of speed. With where the stigma was going, it’s like where is the ceiling going to be at? … I think that’s in part to this Bryson Effect and basically, the millennials growing up who are chasing because the reality is speed is longevity. Not only does it keep you more competitive now but it also keeps you playing the game longer.”
In 2019-20, DeChambeau averaged a Tour-best 322.1 yards off the tee. The Tour average was 296.4 yards. In his three appearances this season, which includes two majors, the distance of his average drive jumped to 337.8 yards. In the 2020 season, Cameron Champ was runner-up in distance (322.0) followed by Ryan Brehm (315.3), Rory McIlroy (314.0) and Grayson Murray (313.8), respectively.
While DeChambeau has dominated the distance conversation, it’s a topic on the LPGA, too. Rookie Bianca Pagdanganan led the tour in distance (283.071), with Maria Fassi a close second (282.173). The 23-year-old Pagdanganan is not a protein-shake pounder like DeChambeau. Imagine what she could do if she pulled a Bryson.
Distance is proving to be a big differentiator on the LPGA. All of the top 10 in distance are under 30 years old and only three in the top 20 are 30 or older.
Ryan Ruffels of Australia hits off the 18th tee in the third round of the Utah Championship. (Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Ryan Ruffels, who currently plays on the PGA Latinoamerica Tour and was 13th on the Korn Ferry Tour in distance last season (318.3), said he’s always played long so emphasizing distance was a part of his game before DeChambeau’s transformation took it to a new level. However, he saw firsthand how important distance is becoming in the LPGA when he caddied for younger sister Gabi, a senior at USC, at the Pelican Women’s Championship in November.
“I told my sister, she’s got a tremendous opportunity to dominate on the LPGA tour because there’s starting to be a few here and there,” Ruffels said. “Obviously Lexi (Thompson), Maria Fassi and people who are starting to bomb it and have some success. If you can be one of those people on the LPGA tour, I think there’s a tremendous opportunity to dominate because I don’t think anyone’s really quite done it yet to the level that let’s say Tiger did it in the early 2000s and Bryson’s doing it now but they just separate themselves completely in that category.”
While Hailey Borja, a sophomore on the University of Michigan’s women’s golf team, and Ruffels agreed that women typically hit the ball straighter than men, the emphasis on distance could propel the women’s game to a place it has never been. Ruffels would obviously like that person to be his sister, who won the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur and was runner-up at that event in 2020, but thinks the star who could change the women’s game is just on the horizon.
Borja said she’s primarily focused on hitting the ball straight rather than hitting bombs, but the conversation of gaining more distance is a common one among college golfers.
“It’s definitely being thought about,” she said. “I am one of the more average-to-shorter hitters so me and my coaches have definitely been working on strength and conditioning for me as well as getting my club speed up so I can hit the ball farther.”
Koch, Ruffels and DeChambeau are all unsure about where the game is headed, but they recognize Pandora’s Box has been opened. And they’re not afraid.
Young golfers see the results of DeChambeau and top LPGA stars, and with access to the same technology like TrackMan, pressure plates, biomechanists and trainers, young golfers are willing and able to copy those gains.
“Now that golf’s being viewed as an athletic sport and there are more athletes playing, the reality is if you get more athletes swinging the club, they’re going to be able to swing it faster and then someone else is going to be able to do it,” Koch said. “I think there are a lot of factors … definitely the biggest one is just a testament to where coaching and the technology available has evolved to people under 30.”
The year began with the release of the Distance Insights Report, a joint effort by the USGA and R&A. In a 102-page document which includes data and information from 56 different projects, golf’s governing bodies determined distance is playing an excessive role in the game and causing the sport to go in an unsustainable direction. Those conversations about the future of the game will continue into 2021.
When asked how DeChambeau’s gains impact the tradition of the game, Koch noted golf has been challenged with the approach of a new young star before, and he made the sport better. Woods, who began playing professional events in 1992, long before Borja or Ruffels were alive, ushered in an era of entertainment in golf resulting in the highest annual increase in rounds played in the U.S. (63 million) in 1997, when Woods won his first Masters title. DeChambeau is proving to be a similarly impactful player in that he has changed the narrative for what a player needs to do to be successful.
Tiger Woods celebrates after sinking a 4 feet putt to win the 1997 Masters. (Photo: Stephen Munday /Allsport)
“We’re always going to be trying to get stronger, fitter and more athletic, and Tiger inspired this whole generation to do this and we’re going to keep going after it,” DeChambeau said after the U.S. Open. “I don’t think it’s going to stop. Will they reign it back? I’m sure. I’m sure something might happen. I don’t know what it will be, I just know it’s always going to be an advantage.”
What the governing bodies do, or don’t do, in terms of rolling back the performance of golf balls or dialing back the distance of drivers remains to be seen. These questions were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, but the USGA and R&A are expected to release the next phase of their report in late 2021, at the earliest. Any changes that result could not realistically take effect for years.
Koch knows the increased focus on distance is now part of the game. DeChambeau proved this new strategy is possible, and more than that, it’s fun.
“As the game gets younger it has to keep appealing to different demographics. It’s like anything, unfortunately, stuff changes and gravitates over time,” Koch said. “Right now it’s exciting. As far as the purists go, they should, in my opinion, want what’s best for the game and what’s best for the game is that distance and that debate is creating some excitement around the game …
“At the end of the day, if there’s that buzz it’s going to get people watching. If it gets people watching that, essentially it’s going to grow the game for future generations.”
O’Neill, who is a 43-year-old transgender woman, shared her story of chasing her dream to compete in World Long Drive Association events.
She began her transition from male to female at age 34 in 2010. Deciding to transition was not easy, O’Neill writes. “I was prepared to lose my family, my friends, my career, but what I knew was I was not going to lose my life.”
O’Neill underwent facial feminization surgery and then spent hundreds of hours on electrolysis for hair removal, voice therapy and breast augmentation before having sexual reassignment surgery.
After recovering from her surgeries, O’Neill began playing softball to connect with the LGBTQ community. While she found support and encouragement from her softball teammates and competitors, it is golf that has provided a new passion.
The World Long Drive Association and Golf Channel have a policy in place for transgender athletes and O’Neill has met the conditions of the rules. “A competitor who has had gender reassignment must have had a gonadectomy no less than two years prior to the registration deadline for the specific WLDA event.”
O’Neill has received approval to compete in 2020, a Golf Channel spokesman confirmed.
O’Neill says she has been welcomed by many fellow competitors in World Long Drive, and she aspires to be a role model for other transgender athletes who compete at a professional level.
If she makes it through qualifying at a tour event, O’Neill will be well on her way to inspiring others – not only those within the LGBTQ community – who have followed her journey.
