Bryson DeChambeau completed his chipping challenge.
Instagram | @BrysonDeChambeau
Even the incredible part sometimes needs a challenge.
At least, that’s what we’ve learned over the past two weeks as the king of golf content Bryson DeChambeau embarked on a 16-day journey to drain a chip shot from a jacket on his way to a hole in his home run about 100 yards away.
However, the most interesting part of the challenge was what came next between the putting carpet and the green: the stunning, all-glass entrance DeChambeau’s sprawling, multi-million dollar complex in Dallas.
For much of the past two weeks, golf content consumers have watched as DeChambeau has theatrically hit ball after ball onto the green, an experience complete with shot trackers. two observant, and a series of frightening near misses.
Finally, on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, he broke through. On the 16th, shooting 14 of 16, DeChambeau hit a ball straight up in the air and watched it land near the pins and drop right in. The resulting celebration, captured in the video below, is worth watching.
Of course, there’s more than a Brysonian buzz to the video performance. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say his YouTube personality was more prevalent in the series than his pro golf persona. But maybe that’s the point.
DeChambeau’s 2024 has seen him expand his presence within the sport to levels never seen before, raising his professional profile with a win at the US Open in Juneand his personal profile reaching almost anywhere within the YouTube golf space. The chip shot effort represents just the latest piece of this puzzle, using some of the challenge-focused methods that are so popular within YouTube’s algorithm.
It is difficult to call any of them a serious following, especially considering that there is no inherent monetization opportunity for posting on Instagram for 16 days straight. But DeChambeau, to his credit, seems to understand that being part of the conversation is far more important to a player’s bottom line than simply acting in pursuit of growing his bank account.
This week, we’re talking about a chip challenge. And next week, Bryson will be asking himself the same question in his Instagram comments section on Thursday morning:
What’s next?
