Professional golfers are better than amateur golfers at literally everything—that’s why they’re professional golfers—but they’re especially good at distance control.
But exactly how good are they?
That was what we wanted to find out, and served as the inspiration behind our new Golf Digest Grid, which we launched on YouTube this week. Over the coming months we’ll be rolling through some of the best players on the planet, starting with 2024 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
The goal of The Golf Digest Grid Challenge is to hit a shot into each of the 10 sections in the fewest number of attempts. You can see how Bryson did by watching the video below—and keep scrolling for some helpful tips he offered along the way.
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1. They don’t commit to going hard
We rarely get perfect yardages in golf. Usually we’re in-between clubs. When you are, is it better to hit the lesser club, and swing hard? Or take the too-much club, and swing easy? Every golfer has their own personal preference, but Bryson found that swinging harder with less club is often more reliable:
“I prefer leaning on clubs. I prefer trying to exert as much energy as possible when I’m between clubs, because I feel like no matter what, I have a ceiling on how far it can go. I don’t want to try to finagle stuff. I could accidentally hit it too hard and miss long; too short or miss long. It’s less predictable.”
2. They don’t check in on their stock numbers
A few times a year, try to take stock of your yardages. Ideally, this is done in a simulator, but you can do it on a driving range too: How far are the flags on the range, and what club are you hitting to each? It can be tedious, but really dialing-in how far you hit your clubs will help more than you think. It’s why Bryson is so detailed about it.
“During tournament days I’ll go through my whole set and hit three or four balls each as hard as I can to see where my body’s at for the day. It can change a lot from week to week, day to day, so I like to know the stock I’m working with each day.”
3. They prioritize swinging fast over centre contact
How fast you swing the club matters, and yes, it can vary from swing to swing. Things like the length of your backswing matter, too. But the *most* important quality when it comes to distance control is quality of contact. If swinging a little softer means more centre contact, it’s a trade probably worth making—and you may end up hitting it longer, too.
“Centeredness of contact is huge. It’s so, so important, especially for amateur golfers. If you just barely thin it or barely hit it high in the face, it can change it by 15 to 20 yards very easily. Learning how to hit it out of the centre is priority one.”
4. They don’t understand spin basics
Every time you hit a golf ball it comes off the clubface with backspin, but the amount varies depending on where on the clubface you hit it (again, why center contact is such a high priority). Pros think about this a lot, and Bryson says amateur golfers should understand the basics:
- Shots hit on the toe or high on the clubface tend to spin less, and can travel farther because of it.
- Shots hit low on the clubface or on the heel tend to spin more, which can make the ball go higher and shorter.
“I hit one with 7,400 RPM [Revolutions per minute], then another one 8,000. So it was 600 RPMs accounted for that eight yards and it’s just like a fraction of a distance of the center. That’s the difference between a tap-in and a 40-footer.”
Take note, and once again, you can watch the full video here:
