Bryson DeChambeau’s radical transformation of his body and game has been one of the most polarizing problems of the summer. How crazy has DeChambeau been off the tee? Note that during the five PGA Tour events since the coronavirus closed for three months, DeChambeau has reached 29 units at least 350 yards, by far the most players. In fact, it’s more than the next two players combined. That’s almost the same number of drives of at least 350 yards that he had all last season (30).
DeChambeau wasn’t always that far off the tee. He’s averaging 323 yards per drive this season, more than 20 yards (+20.5) from 302.5. He is on his way to being the first player since 2005 to increase his driving distance by 20 yards during one season. The next largest increase belongs to Tiger Woods, who increased his driving distance by 14.2 yards from 2004 to 2005.
The massive distance has left DeChambeau just 149.2 yards from the hole on average for his approach shots this season. That’s on the way to beating Bubba Watson (149.8 in the 2014-15 season) by the shortest distance in a single season since 2005.
Another way to look at it: DeChambeau units have covered over 67% of course yards this season. That (again) is on track to pass the Bubba Watson mark from 2014-15.
When it comes to face-to-face comparisons with Woods, DeChambeau is already well on his way to doing something Tiger never did: lead the PGA Tour in driving distance. Woods finished second in driving distance in four different seasons, but never led the field. However, relative to his peers, Woods’ 2005 maximum driving distance season was slightly better when comparing distances to the PGA Tour average. In 2005, Tiger had 27.7 yards more off the tee than the average player; DeChambeau is currently 27.1 yards longer than the PGA Tour average so far this season.
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