Bryson DeChambeau’s analytical mind has served him well as a professional golfer. From his single-plane swing and use of single-length irons to his short-lived attempt at side-saddle putting and his admission that he administers Epsom salt baths to his golf balls, DeChambeau has always been interested in using science and physics to his advantage on the golf course.
DeChambeau’s fans remain ravenous for his insights. Exhibit A: a YouTube video featuring his ball-marking method that has been viewed five million times since it was posted last June. What’s so interesting? As you might expect, it’s loaded with purpose.
The video, posted by @RickShielsPGA, shows DeChambeau explaining why he marks his golf ball with a line — but the location of the line will vary from ball to ball because of the variance in dimple pattern.
“Everybody thinks I’m crazy for this, by the way,” DeChambeau says. “Disclaimer: People are gonna go, there’s no way this affects the putt. Essentially what I’m doing is I’m trying to get two dimples in line with each other, and I’m hitting that part of the edge, so I’m putting it this way.”
Once DeChambeau gets a starting point with the two dimples in a row, he then uses a ball-marking stencil to draw a straight line across the ball, with those initial dimples as a guide.
“Because the golf balls have gotten so firm, the faces have gotten firm, that’s why a lot of people use face inserts to soften it, but I can’t control speed with that,” DeChambeau says. “You actually want to hit this top edge, because it only affects the launch. It turns it over more, makes it have a little bit more backspin.”
The line you draw should be your alignment foundation, DeChambeau says, but emphasizes that this method is really only beneficial for putts of five feet or less, which makes sense, because that’s when starting a putt online is of peak importance.
“Over five feet, you can hit anywhere on the ball and it doesn’t matter,” DeChambeau said.
Can it work for you? There’s only one way to know. Give DeChambeau’s method a try during your next round and see if it makes a difference.
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