And YouTube is where we can find him this week, on the channel of YouTube golf sensation Grant Horvat, and the game is stroke play between the two, but on this condition: Horvat’s phone, via Siri, will pick DeChambeau’s clubs for every shot. For our story here, we’ll focus on the tee balls. On the par-4 1st, at Maridoe Golf Club in Texas, DeChambeau is forced to hit pitching wedge. On the par-3 2nd, he’s forced to 7-iron. On the par-4 3rd, he’s forced to hit 5-wood. On the 591-yard, par-5 4th, DeChambeau’s forced to hit putter.
Onto to our next noun.
Putter off tee. This club is saved for the greens, or wacky moments with your friends. But an agreement’s an agreement.
Said DeChambeau on the tee box: “What if I hit my putter farther than you hit your driver?”
Said Horvat: “Oh, that would be bad. I feel like you could. There’s a chance, if you hit that low fade. Are you going to go at it hard? Could you break your putter?”
Said DeChambeau: “Oh yeah. But you know what: Whatever.”
Said Horvat: “Is that the one you won the U.S. Open with?”
Said DeChambeau: “Nope, thank goodness.”
Horvat hit first. He went left. DeChambeau was next.
Said Horvat: “Oh boy, this is what I’ve been waiting for.”
Standing over his ball, DeChambeau took one waggle and one practice swing. He took a step back. He returned to his ball. He took three more waggles. He hit.
A low-ish shot. Down the middle. Deep.
Said Horvat: “There is no way that just happened.”
DeChambeau laughed.
Said Horvat: “You stripped that thing. Oh my goodness. That was sick. You actually might have outdrove me. You might have outdrove me.”
DeChambeau kissed his putter.
Said DeChambeau: “I think it’s bent.”
Onto to our next noun.
282 yards. DeChambeau and Horvat drove to their tee shots. Did DeChambeau outdrive Horvat? Maybe. They get closer. Horvat bested him, by a few yards. But DeChambeau wanted a yardage check. He looked at a monitor.
Said DeChambeau: “270.”
Said Horvat: “You hit a putter 270?”
Said DeChambeau: “Yeah, it was like 270. Oh my gosh. No, it says 282 actually. That’s where it’s from. I just hit that thing 280.”
On shot two on the hole, DeChambeau was notably forced to hit driver.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.