AUGUSTA, Ga. – Bryson DeChambeau spent much of Tuesday morning at Augusta National Golf Club’s tournament practice area dialing in his driver. With a red Sharpie in hand, DeChambeau marked the bottoms of each head, indicating whether it spun too much, or missed left, or hung out to the right.
DeChambeau said later during his press conference that he was “super close” to finding the right driver for this week’s Masters.
“For my speeds, it’s just so tedious, and they have to be so precisely measured and defined,” DeChambeau said. “It’s tough; the manufacturing process is not easy. It’s one of those where for speeds of my caliber, it has to be super precise. So, I’m testing different heads to see how it reacts, how I feel, how it feels in my hands. I’m swinging it really good right now, so I’m just trying to get the most precise thing in my hand for this week.”
But DeChambeau wasn’t done with his range time.
After playing a late nine on Augusta National’s second nine, DeChambeau headed back for more practice. According to reporter Amanda Balionis, DeChambeau hit balls “way after” anyone else on Tuesday evening.
When DeChambeau had finished, his ball count was 393, most in the field for the day, including 153 balls in that post-round session. (This data, of course, is now tracked by the tournament.)
Here were the other top ball counts from Tuesday:
- Max Homa – 247
- Jose Maria Olazabal – 236
- J.T. Poston – 183
- Patrick Cantlay – 166
- J.J. Spaun – 161
“I just felt like I wasn’t fully there with my iron play and needed to be a little bit more precise, so came out here and hit some golf balls, hit however many I hit; I don’t know how many I hit, but it was a lot,” DeChambeau said on Wednesday morning. “Got some stuff dialed in a figured out, so that’s what makes me comfortable is once I get that golf swing in a certain feel and I feel like I can control that draw.”
