Thirteen days ago, Bryson DeChambeau published a 40-second video to his social channels.
The reigning U.S. Open champion was standing in his driveway in shorts, a T-shirt and a Crushers (his LIV team) hat turned backward. By his feet was a hitting mat pinned down by dumb bells. Behind him, two stories of floor-to-ceiling glass that is the façade of his gleaming Dallas-area home. Out of the picture, on the far side of the house: an artificial green in DeChambeau’s backyard. A hole cut a few paces off the front edge of that green was the target for the shotmaking challenge DeChambeau was about to explain to his audience.
“This is Day 1 of trying to make a hole-in-one over my house,” he says in the video. “And because it’s Day 1, I only get one ball.”
The implication: If DeChambeau did not hole that shot — it looks to be approximately 100 yards — he’d come back on Day 2 for two more attempts, and on Day 3 for three more swipes, and so on. Alas, DeChambeau did not jar that first try, though he did come close, his ball landing a couple of feet in front of the hole before stopping about 18 inches past it.
His stunt would live to see another day.
And another. And another. And well, as of Sunday, DeChambeau still has not made an ace. He is now 0-for-91, albeit with more than a handful of shots that looked destined to drop before stopping just short of the hole or veering just right or left of it.
If DeChambeau’s swing has failed him, though, the internet has not. His now 13-part series has cumulatively driven more than 50 million views on Instagram, with millions of more eyes finding the videos on TikTok, YouTube and X. Among those following along is the comedian Bert Kreischer, who on Day 10 wrote in the comments, “Im way too invested – I’m now rooting for you to not get a hole in one so this doesn’t stop.” Added another commenter, “Day 10 of asking you to hit it straight into a window.” That’s an unlikely result; DeChambeau is far too skilled. But the mere prospect of a bladed shot undoubtedly is part of the videos’ allure.
So, too, are all the agonizingly close misses.
According to the National Hole in One Registry, the odds of a professional golfer making a hole-in-one are roughly 3,000 to 1. But that stat isn’t particularly useful in this instance given DeChambeau is hitting the same shot over and over and from a distance much shorter than the length of most par-3s that pro golfers are accustomed to playing. Golf stats whiz Lou Stagner, who said he is “hooked” on DeChambeau’s quest, estimated on X that DeChambeau’s odds of holing out on any given driveway swing are about 1 in 175. Assuming those odds, Stagner computed that DeChambeau’s chances of making an ace by Day 10 were 27 percent; by Day 15, 49.7 percent; and by Day 30, 93 percent. Predictably, bookies also have set lines. On Thursday, Oddschecker handicapped the chances of DeChambeau holing a shot before Thanksgiving at -150, or 60 percent, and the odds of him breaking a window at +160, or 38.5 percent.
Whatever DeChambeau’s chances, his latest made-for-virality escapade is yet more evidence that no player is more successfully bridging the gap between “Pro Golfer” and “YouTube Golfer” than the 31-year-old DeChambeau. One week, he might be smashing drives on the LIV tour or locking horns with Rory McIlroy at the U.S. Open, the next he might be blasting tee balls through cardboard or watching a Space X launch with Donald Trump and JD Vance. Speaking of the President-elect, DeChambeau’s attempt at breaking 50 with Trump as his sidekick has now garnered more than 13 million views on YouTube.
Ace chases aren’t a new idea. The DP World Tour’s excellent social-media team has been orchestrating them for years, challenging its players to make a hole-in-one with 500 swings or fewer. Earlier this year Barstool Sports personality “Jersey Jerry” spun up his own ace chase when he hopped on a simulator and pledged not to leave before he jarred a tee shot, live-streaming every hook, slice and top. After 37 hours and 2,627 swings, the internet rejoiced when Jerry mercifully achieved his goal.
DeChambeau’s challenge is something different, though, because (1) he has a finite number of attempts in each installment, and (2) with the metronome-like consistency of his mechanics, every swing could be the one. DeChambeau’s seventh swing on Day 13 certainly looked to be. That try landed just short of the hole before rattling the stick and bouncing in and out of the cup.
”Are you kidding me?” DeChambeau said, clenching his hands behind his head. “Oh my god, how does that happen?”
Day 14 drops later tonight. Perhaps one of DeChambeau’s tee shots finally will, too.
