AUGUSTA, Ga. – It doesn’t have a 48-inch shaft, but Bryson DeChambeau has a new toy in his Masters bag.
After flirting with the idea of using a longer driver in November last year, DeChambeau finally stayed with his regular model and tied for 34th place at Augusta National. This time, with five months to play, the world number 5 will start a new club: a prototype Cobra pilot that he says will help improve the consistency of off-center strikes at high speeds.
DeChambeau told GolfChannel.com about the driver last month at the WGC-Workday Championship. “Nobody knows how to play a ball speed of 200 mph and he just hit it wrong; sometimes they don’t react the way you think they should, ”he said at the time. Although he did not provide much information about his new club, DeChambeau said on Tuesday that the figures so far are very encouraging.
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“You just know it’s been a few years and I’m really excited about that,” he said. “If it helps me perform at a higher level, I’m not sure, because it’s golf and you never know what’s going on. Certainly, what we saw in the range and what we saw last week in practice, has some extraordinary benefits. ”
His swing coach, Chris Como, posted a photo on social media earlier this week, which showed DeChambeau a ball speed of 350 meters and a speed of 210 mph. There was also a viral clip of him swinging maniacally in the training area of the tournament, to the delight of former master champion Vijay Singh, who watched nearby.
With his new equipment and Augusta National playing harder and faster than during the Fall Masters, DeChambeau said he intends to pull some unique lines off the tee:
• Over the trees on the right side of no. 1
• Go down the hill on 2
• Green driving on 3
• The flight of the bunkers, even in the wind, on 5
• Over the trees on the left side of 9
• Carrying trees on the right side of 11
DeChambeau already leads the PGA Tour in driving distance, averaging 320.8 years, and surpasses the races won: statistics on the tee (1,144). However, he acknowledges that his success here – he never finished in the top 20 – will eventually reach his approach game.
“Looking at the opportunities, it’s not just the hair 5’s, but especially the hair 4’s for me and how can I attack the hair 4’s to give me the best opportunity to make a lot of birds there” , he said.