Bryson DeChambeau is at a crossroads in his career.
The two-time US Open winner has established himself as one of the greats in the game. But while it looked like he had beaten the allegations that he was not suited to play at Augusta National over the last two years, he once again has questions to answer.
DeChambeau’s poor iron play caught up with him in the final round of last year’s Masters, and that trend continued into 2026 as he disastrously missed the cut at Augusta National. He tripled-bogeyed the final hole in an embarrassing collapse.
He has often been criticized for sticking with his same-length iron philosophy. DeChambeau wants to create repeatability in his swing by keeping all his irons the same length, but that appears to have hampered his wedge play.
But CBS analyst Johnson Wagner has offered DeChambeau a solution that would not require him to abandon his methods completely.
Johnson Wagner offers Bryson DeChambeau a solution to his wedge problem
DeChambeau’s long-shafted wedges are constantly hooking left, which seemed to bemuse him at The Masters. They also cost him dearly at Augusta, as he floundered in bunkers on both days, which saw him miss the cut.
So Wagner has a suggestion for him, which could be the answer to his biggest problem. He said, on The Wagyu Filet Show: “When you look at Bryson and the single-length irons, and you look specifically at Augusta National, and the lies that you get around this golf course.
“Whether it’s nine and the ball is below your feet. If it’s eight and you’re coming up the hill on the par five, and it’s a severe uphill lie. To me, the most telling is hitting into 13 and two off the severe upslope, where the ball is way above your feet.
“And the way he talks about the 10 O’Clock swing and the length of backswing and all this stuff, yeah, you can get away with this for a while around Augusta National, but you have to be an artist, not a scientist.
“And until he figures that out. The poor bunker play on Thursday at 11 and the poor bunker play on Friday on 18 made him miss the cut and have no chance to win The Masters tournament.
“Have a 60-degree that has a shorter shaft that gives you more options out of play. Personally, I think it’s too glaring, and it’s probably why he’s played poorly at The Open Championship except for Portrush, where the wind didn’t blow on the weekend.”
Wagner suggests that DeChambeau put a shorter wedge in his bag for bunker play and pitching, while keeping the rest of his clubs the same length.
The best of both worlds! It likely comes down to whether he is willing to abandon this philosophy, however, as he seems determined to make it work.
Bryson DeChambeau called out-of-control irons ‘weird’
DeChambeau said that his wedges were as good as they have ever been in the build-up to The Masters, so he was as confused as anyone when they fell apart at Augusta.
He didn’t speak to the media after his second-round collapse, but after Thursday’s play at The Masters, he said, “I have to try to hit my irons better.” I drove it left numerous occasions. Did a great job on 18. Wind didn’t hurt it like we thought, and that’s this game. That’s the
golf course.
“You know, everybody has an ability for weird things to happen, and today I just did not have my irons under control, which is weird. It’s been good coming into it, so…”
This should be the wake-up call DeChambeau needs to change something. It’s a huge moment in his career, so let’s see if he recognizes that.
