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Bryson DeChambeau of the United States reacts after he putts on the 18th green during the final round of the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo\/STR)<\/p>\n
STR\/AP<\/p>\n
Imagine running a public golf course and out of the blue receiving a phone call that one of the world\u2019s biggest names in the sport, two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, wants to attempt to break the course record\u00a0\u2014 and video it for millions of YouTube views.<\/p>\n
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A half-dozen courses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have received that call and months later continue to rake in extra business thanks to the attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is free advertising we could have never afforded to buy,\u2019\u2019 said Bert Walker, head professional at Prairie Lakes Golf Course in Grand Prairie.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI knew Bryson had a big following on YouTube,” said Walker, “but I had no idea how many. Our video alone has 5.3 million views. A lot of people that watch the video want to come out and see how well they can play the course that Bryson played. We\u2019ve even had people from Europe play here for just that reason.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The power of DeChambeau\u2019s influence on his YouTube videos is real. The total number of views for his seven record-setting attempts, including a try at one private club (Hackberry Creek in Irving), is 30.3 million.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in California, the 31-year-old resident of Grapevine migrated to North Texas to attend SMU, where he majored in physics and won the NCAA individual golf championship in 2015. He became the third player to win the U.S. Amateur, the NCAA individual title and the U.S. Open, the others being Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. The Open wins came in 2020 and 2024, the crowning achievement among his nine PGA Tour titles.<\/p>\n
In 2023,\u00a0DeChambeau joined LIV and with that tour\u2019s reduced schedule, there was more time to spend in front of a video camera.<\/p>\n
DeChambeau\u2019s idea of reinventing his public image took root in 2020. Nicknamed \u201cThe Scientist\u2019\u2019 for his technical approach to golf, DeChambeau studied and eventually decided to embrace YouTube. In an Internet world where success is measured by views and followers, The Scientist has been nothing short of a sensation with 2.68 million subscribers.<\/p>\n
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With the future of LIV uncertain, there has been speculation that his YouTube side hustle\u00a0could be a career backup.<\/p>\n
Taking shots at course records is only one of many themes for DeChambeau\u2019s videos. In others, he and a celebrity partner try to break 50 from the front tees playing a two-man scramble. His partners have run the gamut from NFL quarterbacks (Tony Romo, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford) to colorful golfers (John Daly, Phil Mickelson) to President Donald\u00a0Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cBryson has done a great job rebranding himself,\u2019\u2019 said Waterchase Golf Club general manager Jason Heitschmidt. “At one time he had a sort of a pretentious air and seemed quirky. But the videos show a different side that people can identify with.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
It was at Waterchase on May 10, 2025, that DeChambeau achieved his only outright course record in seven area attempts so far. He tied the record at three courses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got the call from out of the blue at the last minute and accepting turned out to be a really good decision on our part,\u2019\u2019 Heitschmidt said. “We blocked out some time for him to play the front nine. They ran into some traffic on the second nine, but nobody had any apprehension letting\u00a0Bryson go through. He and his crew were very gracious, and Bryson stayed around and signed autographs after he finished.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
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DeChambeau\u2019s score of 10-under 62 broke the competition-setup record by two strokes, ending with a chip-in for eagle.<\/p>\n
One of the two unofficial scores of 62 at Waterchase belonged to Scottie Scheffler in his high school days at Highland Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have one conspiracy theorist that isn\u2019t sure about the spot where Bryson\u2019s drive ended on No. 8,\u2019\u2019 Heitschmidt said of the severe dogleg. “He wants to see him come back and duplicate it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Golfers have long speculated on the score a top professional would shoot on their home courses.<\/p>\n
Inside the Riverside Golf Club clubhouse the scorecard from DeChambeau\u2019s course record-equaling 64 is on display along with an autographed flag. It is a popular backdrop for selfies.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was awesome to watch,\u2019\u2019 said Riverside general manager Warren Costanzo. “Considering he was playing the course for the first time basically blind, it was really impressive.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Costanzo cannot quantify the number of extra rounds generated from the video, but he is certain it has been a drawing card.<\/p>\n
The visit took place last May. \u201cBryson\u2019s people were looking at two courses and were going to go with whichever responded first,\u2019\u2019 Costanzo said.<\/p>\n
The only course change for the day was double-cutting the Riverside greens, increasing the speed in the 13-14 range on the Stimpmeter, more in line with what DeChambeau would see in a professional tournament.<\/p>\n
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DeChambeau\u2019s visit to Coyote Ridge Golf Club in Carrollton in August 2024 took place one day before Jim Sanders became the club\u2019s general manager. But Sanders has seen the positive results.<\/p>\n
\u201cParticularly the younger golfers ask questions about Bryson\u2019s visit, and it is the younger generation we\u2019re trying to reach to grow the game,\u2019\u2019 Sanders said. “The experience gave us name recognition outside the D-FW area. We\u2019ve definitely received more interest and additional play.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
What stood out to Southern Oaks director of golf Corey Clarkin about DeChambeau\u2019s December round happened after Bryson finished off a 64 to tie the course record. All the production team had left.<\/p>\n
\u201cBryson asked me if it was OK to practice,\u2019\u2019 Clarkin said. “He stayed for two and a half hours interacting with people on the driving range and the putting green, just super generous with his time. Nobody was filming that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Clarkin, before setting up the course, informed DeChambeau Southern Oaks could play as long as 7,300 yards, but figured a shorter setup would be better for a run at the course record.<\/p>\n
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\u201cBryson told me, ‘no, the longer the better,’\u2019\u2019\u00a0Clarkin said. “I\u2019d never heard that from anybody else.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The one shot that stands out in Clarkin\u2019s mind is DeChambeau\u2019s mammoth drive on the 521-yard, par-5 No. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere Bryson hit it would take two shots from just about anybody else.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
DeChambeau\u2019s 63 from the tips is now recognized as Southern Oaks\u2019 official course-record round.<\/p>\n
Although his score of 65 fell two shots shy of the Tour 18-Dallas record, the course\u2019s theme of modeling famous holes in the U.S. appealed to DeChambeau.<\/p>\n
His play left an impression on Doug Wortman, director of golf at the Flower Mound course.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way Bryson attacks the golf course is just different,\u2019\u2019 Wortman said. “The lines he takes most golfers could not even imagine. It is something to see.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Riverside\u2019s Costanzo echoed the thoughts of many participating area course pros and general managers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBryson is great for golf. He brings people to the game. We hope he does a revenge tour and comes back.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
DeChambeau\u2019s local course-record attempts<\/p>\n
More Texas Golf content<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryson DeChambeau of the United States reacts after he putts on the 18th green during the final round…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[753,623,624,892,893],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-article","tag-texas","tag-texas-golf","tag-tp-bryson-dechambeau","tag-tp-pga-frisco","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117320905097204715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}