Bryson DeChambeau has grand visions for golf’s future and his role in helping shape it.
The two-time major champion was once considered one of golf’s “villains,” but he became a fan favorite last season during a brilliant major season that included winning the U.S. Open and finishing second at the PGA Championship.
DeChambeau has found a loyal fanbase on YouTube as he attempts to help grow the game of golf and make it more accessible.
The 31-year-old’s plans go far beyond his YouTube platform, though. DeChambeau recently sat down for an interview with Joe Pompliano and explained his big vision to get more people into golf.
“Making it economically viable and more accessible are two massive things,” DeChambeau said. “I’ve got a strategy right now that I’m implementing that people have heard. It’s a strategy that essentially brings people from off the street, to the driving range, to lessons and then to the golf course. It’s a full three-step process, essentially. Getting them to the driving range, getting them lessons and then getting them on the golf course.
“You have to have it at one place. At a community center, where it is easily accessible and easily affordable. That’s kind of the model. It’s easy to say. It’s difficult to do with the bureaucracy that’s involved in our systems right now. In California, we are doing a ‘mega-project.’ It has been in the works for a couple years now, and we’re at the place where we are getting permits. We have acquired massive amounts of land in my hometown, and it is a three-phase process to build a whole community and increase the size of where I grew up by 30 percent. It’s a full-scale plan fully throughout [with] county, state, state assemblyman, city officials, mayor.”
DeChambeau hopes that his plan, should it come to fruition, will attract more people to golf and lead to a population increase in California’s central valley, notably his hometown of Clovis, Calif.
“You build a community around a multisport complex center,” he said. “It’s going to take 12-15 months to get the permits approved for the full scope. It’s over 200 acres of land that we have right now. It’s going to be a multisports complex center — driving range, golf course, residential, community center, the whole thing.”
DeChambeau says that the “conditional use permit” he’s working on getting would allow this complex to initially be for students at the Clovis Unified School District, where DeChambeau attended growing up.
DeChambeau reportedly received a $125 million contract from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league in 2022. He credits that wealth and the opportunity to expand his reach beyond tournament golf for being able to hopefully complete his “mega-project.”
“A lot of the reason why I have been able to do this is because of LIV,” DeChambeau said. “They gave me the economic viability to do these things and the platform to be able to do it. Going on YouTube and promoting that and growing that and then ultimately growing The Crushers on YouTube.”
He told Pompliano that he hopes the popularity of LIV Golf and The Crushers will grow to the point where they can build “academies and golf courses” worldwide to bring more people into the game.
DeChambeau and LIV Golf will begin their season under the lights in Saudi Arabia in two weeks, but the two-time U.S. Open champion will continue to push his “mega-project” forward while prepping to peak for the major season.
