You won’t believe how much time this major champion spends on the driving range

Xander Schauffele’s warm-up routine has blown our mind – and it drives his caddie crazy

One of the biggest revelations to come out of the first major championship of the year was how long certain pros spend on the driving range. Bryson DeChambeau practically lives there and got through 1,029 balls at Augusta National, which was 756 more than Xander Schauffele managed that week.

We originally put that huge disparity down to Schauffele’s comeback from injury, but there’s actually another reason behind it – and it might make you reassess how you structure your warm-up routine from now on.

Speaking on Callaway’s Elyte Talk show ahead of his PGA Championship defence, Schauffele revealed that he never spends longer than 15 minutes on the range before his round. Sometimes he doesn’t even have time to hit his driver, which is when his caddie Austin Kaiser usually gives him the hurry up.

“Kais always gives me crap [because] I’ll get to the range with like 12 minutes to warm up,” said Schauffele. “If he’s here, he’d say eight minutes. But it’s probably 12 to 14 minutes on average. By the time I get to the driver, he’s like, ‘We’ve got to go.’ [And] I’ve hit one driver and we’re going to go to a golf course that’s like 8,000 yards. But I’m not sitting there hitting more than seven drivers typically before I go out, it’s not something I do.”

For context, Schauffele got through 35 balls before every round at the Masters, which is pretty good going in such a short space of time. The fact that he finished up on the range, rather than on the practice green like everyone else, was perhaps the most eye-catching thing about it, but there’s a strategy behind that, too. And he says it’s been part of his routine for as long as he can remember.

“I don’t want to hit and for my next shot to be 45 minutes after I’ve hit my last golf ball,” he told host Roger Steele. “I’d rather putt, chip, hit and then if I have time, I can go back and hit a couple of putts if I like. For the most part, I feel like I’ve got good feel.”

Winning two major championships last year would suggest he might be onto something. Just try telling his caddie that.