Stories · Even the greats
Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst: recover from a bad drive
By The First 9 Team ·
On the 72nd hole of the 2024 U.S. Open, Bryson DeChambeau hooked his drive into the sandy native area at Pinehurst No. 2. He didn’t panic. He got the ball moving forward into a front bunker, splashed it out from about 55 yards to roughly four feet and made the putt to win by one. The beginner lesson: a bad drive doesn’t have to become a bad hole. Get it back in play, then let your short game do the work.
Even the greats: Sunday at Pinehurst, 2024
DeChambeau started the final round with a three-shot lead and wasn’t sharp off the tee. He hit only 5 of 14 fairways that day. On the back nine he made a bogey on the 12th after another wayward drive and three-putted the 15th, and for a while he trailed Rory McIlroy.
What kept him in it was his short game. On the 8th he pitched from 96 feet to 11 feet and saved par. Two years earlier, by his own account, his game had been in a tough spot. “Golf swing wasn’t doing well. Ball striking was terrible,” he said at Pinehurst. “I had some great friends and great people around me tell me, ‘Keep going, keep pushing.’” A month before Pinehurst he’d finished second at the PGA Championship. “PGA really stung,” he said.
Then came the 18th. Leading by one with McIlroy already finished, he needed a par to win. He hooked his tee shot left into the native area, leaving an awkward lie. From there, his second shot finished in a front bunker, about 55 yards from the hole, a distance most golfers find very hard from sand. He blasted it out to about four feet and holed the putt for par and his second U.S. Open title. “That bunker shot was the shot of my life,” he said.
Your first-nine lesson: out, closer, in
Every beginner hits drives into places they didn’t plan to go. You have permission to stop chasing the perfect next shot and take the simple one:
- Step one: get it back in play. From trees, tall grass or a bad lie, chip it out to the short grass, even sideways. That’s a smart shot, not a weak one.
- Step two: get it closer. Your 52° or 56° wedge with an easy swing is a great way to reach the green or the front of it.
- From a bunker, just get it out. Use your 56°, swing through the sand and aim for anywhere on the green. Close is a bonus.
- Then putt it in. A bogey after a wild drive is a good hole. Write it down and enjoy the walk.
Our how to hit out of a bunker guide keeps sand shots simple. Our chipping vs pitching for beginners guide shows which easy shot to use near the green.
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Related guides
- How to hit out of a bunker
- Chipping vs pitching for beginners
- Golf hazards for beginners
- Double bogey explained
- More “even the greats” stories
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Sources
- USGA, “DeChambeau Survives Challenging Sunday at Pinehurst to Claim 2nd U.S. Open Title”
- PGA TOUR, “Wire to Wire: Dramatic finish caps off 124th U.S. Open”
- Golf Digest, “U.S. Open 2024: Bryson DeChambeau called it ‘the bunker shot of my life’”
- USGA, Fast Facts for the 2025 U.S. Open (2024 recap)
Facts are taken from the official and news sources above. Players are named with respect; no player photos or video are used on this page.