Xander Schauffele has won seven times on the PGA Tour. He has top-10 finishes in all four of the majors. At 29, he has firmly established himself among the game’s elite.
But can he play golf…blindfolded?
At the request of one of his sponsors, Hyland, Schaufelle found out, playing a par-3 donning a sleep mask.
The rules in the Hyland X Vision Challenge: First, Schaufelle would play the hole blindfolded and unassisted. Then he would try it again still in the dark but with the counsel of his caddie, Austin, and father Stefan (who’s also his swing coach).
As the video below shows, the struggle was real for Schaufelle on his first attempt without any help.
First tee shot: out of bounds. Second tee shot: bunker. Next shot: bunker again. When he finally did get on the green, Schaufelle looked like a 25-handicapper, racing his putts past the hole with little touch. He eventually made a 9.
But then came the second experiment: playing the hole with help.
Carefully listening to both his caddie and coach/dad, Schauffele stepped up to the tee and … nearly holed out, sticking his tee shot within a 6 feet of the pin.
While Schauffele could tell by the reactions that the shot was close, he shared his disappointment from the tee box, saying, “Not gonna lie, it’s kind of sucky. I couldn’t see anything.”
Walking toward the green, Schauffele shared his thoughts on what made his aided attempt much more successful: “Well, I knew where I was aiming, and I knew that my club face was good, and that I was set up correctly. Probably [hit it] better than with my eyes open, because we’re normally not allowed anyone checking where we’re aiming.”
No surprise, Schauffele also drained his birdie putt.
Amazing what you can accomplish with a little help from your friends.