Why Bryson DeChambeau once experimented by putting his golf balls in a hot tub

Bryson DeChambeau has never been afraid to zig when everyone else zags. Some of his noteworthy innovations include a stint with sidesaddle putting, spritzing his range balls to simulate dewy conditions, and using a 48-inch driver.

However, one of the wackiest experiments DeChambeau ever tried didn’t happen in front of cameras streaming his trials to the masses, but rather at Sage Valley as he prepped for the Masters.

As DeChambeau’s former caddie Tim Tucker explained on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar, heading into the Masters the two were concerned about the high spin rate the eight-time PGA Tour winner had been producing heading into the year’s first major. So, they got to work experimenting.

“We were like, ‘Hey, let’s put some golf balls in the hot tub, and then let’s put some in the freezer,’” Tucker said.

Then, they recorded the internal temperature of the balls and tried to see if it had any effect on the spin rate. The experiment didn’t yield any noteworthy results, so no more balls went into the hot tub. But it’s a great example of the outside-the-box nature of DeChambeau’s process.

“It doesn’t matter what tournament it is,” Tucker said. “He will experiment any time with any thing.”

Check out the entire interview with Tucker below as he discusses all the information DeChambeau needs to hit a shot, what he regrets about his split from the 2020 U.S. Open champ and more.

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF.com, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and is the staff’s self-appointed development tour “expert.”