And one of the very specific ways in which he is fundamentally different is his post-round range sessions.
Sometimes that process takes minutes and sometimes it takes more than an hour but he insists it’s the best way to resolve swing issues as they arise.
A scoreboard illuminated the right side of the range, which meant you could see DeChambeau’s face.
“Yeah, I couldn’t see very well, and it obviously being very dark, they shut the lights off, which is fine,” he said.
DeChambeau hit it better on Friday, scored better and came in with a round of two-under 69, four better than Thursday, to plant himself solidly in contention at even par heading to the weekend.
But one of the reasons he’s so good at golf is because he has such great feel — the sort of feel you can only develop from hitting range balls until you can’t see where they’re going.
Dethier is a 2014 graduate of Williams College, where he majored in English, and he’s the author of 18 in America, which details the year he spent as an 18-year-old living from his car and playing a round of golf in every state.