Bryson DeChambeau has put considerable effort into growing his brand both on and off the competitive golf course, with his popular YouTube channel playing a significant role in expanding his fan base.
DeChambeau enjoys discussing his YouTube channel, his thought process behind developing it, and his belief that it has a long-term place in the golf ecosystem. With DeChambeau pioneering the YouTube trail, other professional golfers have started channels of their own, including Tommy Fleetwood and Phil Mickelson.
On Tuesday, at his 2025 U.S. Open pre-tournament press conference, DeChambeau was asked if any players had sought his advice on starting and growing a YouTube channel. He said only a few had, with Mickelson being the most deeply engaged.
“Phil. Phil Mickelson has been one of the only ones to do that,” DeChambeau said. “Jon Rahm has talked to me a little about it. He’s busy with his family, and I completely respect that, with admiration for it. Phil has been extremely interested. He sees it as a viable option for commercialisation, the future, inspiration, education, and entertainment. He did a short game series in the past. He understands what teaching means to the public. So, he’s been one who’s talked to me a lot about that, and it’s been fun to help a little. Now he has Grant Horvat, and it’s been great to assist him a bit.”
DeChambeau and Mickelson have exchanged knowledge in their areas of expertise, with Mickelson offering DeChambeau short-game tips and the two-time U.S. Open champion sharing insights on growing a YouTube channel.
“It’s amusing because he’s taught me a lot about the short game, so we exchange ideas in that way,” DeChambeau said. “He teaches me a few things about bunkers and wedges, and I’m like, ‘Alright, here’s something we do for our channel that makes it a bit more interesting.’ It’s fun stuff.”
So, what advice has DeChambeau given the 54-year-old Mickelson to help his channel succeed?
DeChambeau shared three key pillars with his LIV Golf colleague, including one that is not typically recommended by those creating content online.
“First, I said, you can be yourself,” DeChambeau explained. “You have that creative control to be yourself, and I think that’s what’s so wonderful about it. You hire the right team around you that understands you, and it frees you up to be yourself. Second, you can create the content you want to do. Anything you want to do, you can do it.”
Then came the surprise.
“Third, listen to the people in the comments section,” DeChambeau said. “Go through, read them all, see what they want from you. Those are the things we focus on most. That’s why we’ve grown our channel, and I say ‘our’ because it’s a team effort. I’ve got a team behind me. We’ve grown our channel to over 2 million followers now and couldn’t be more grateful. It’s literally by listening to the comments section, by looking at the comments and seeing what they want.”
Bryson reads the comments. Who would have thought?
As for other professionals’ views on YouTube golf, Rory McIlroy said at the Players Championship that it’s not for him. Xander Schauffele quickly dismissed the idea of starting his own channel on Monday.
However, Schauffele and Collin Morikawa both used YouTube to prepare for the challenge at Oakmont, with the latter watching DeChambeau’s latest video—which has 2.8 million views as of this writing—to get a sense of what he was facing.
“I did watch a bit of Bryson’s video,” Morikawa said. “I think there was another video on Twitter that had a flyover that I watched. But it’s so hard—like, I watch it and then I almost try to forget about it because it’s nice to have a general sense of what it’s like, but when you actually step onto the first hole or the 17th and 18th, your perspective and how I process a golf course completely changes. It might have looked one way on a screen, but then you’re there and you think, ‘Oh, how I would shape this hole, how I would play this hole, is completely different.’”
There’s no word on whether Morikawa left any pointers for DeChambeau in the comments section.
This article originated on Golf.com
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