Cameron Champ at AT&T

[Jackhammer993]

Had a chance to watch 18 holes live of Cameron Champ playing Spyglass and the hype is real. Champ had a very solid driving day today with only 1 driver ending up in trouble which was on his 18th hole of the day which is the 9th at Spyglass. His drives were long and straight and ahead of the other pro in the group from 50-75 yards and possibly even more. I’ve seen Norman and Woods on numerous occasions and was as impressed if not more with many of Champs drives. He was able to go at every par 5 with an iron and in one case I believe he hit a 9 iron.

Unfortunately the rest of Champs game was just not measuring up. I watched his round on PGA Gold in Phoenix and noticed many of the same issues today that I did in Phoenix. First his short iron and wedge game is below average. Everytime he had a short shot into the greens he barely hit the green or completely missed. He was 0/2 on Sand saves and I cannot remember him making a putt of more than 3 feet although I missed parts of 3 different holes.

I would venture to say I’ve never seen a pro inside the top 100 in the world rankings that was so deficient in so many aspects of the game. His putting both on long and short putts just seemed to be way off in distance and line. His chips and pitches seemed amateurish in quality and excecution and I’ve already detailed the short irons.

With all that being said I really hope he can improve on these areas and become a force in the game but it’s going to take a year or more to fix some of these issues not weeks or months.

Champ seems like a great guy. He interacted with his amateur partner in an unforced manner and seemed to be enjoying the day. His dad was also in the gallery and shared that Champ use to swing like Justin Thomas with a little jump in his swing and that the dad never played golf growing up only baseball.

I will root for Champ in every tournament but he really does need to make drastic improvement in most parts of his game.

[drgolfaholic]

He needs to dump Foley and hook up with Butch to dial in the wedge game. Just ask DJ.

[BeerPerHole]

Hey Jackhammer, thanks for sharing. I've noticed the same deficiencies in his game. I'm a big fan because Champ is from our town. The head pro at my club gave Cameron some lessons back when Cam was about 10. If Champ can tune his short game he'll be a household name. I've heard he's a nice young man. I've donated to the local program for special needs young golfers that benefits his sister and my son...autism. I'm a Cam booster for sure.

[TheMoneyShot]

He needs to dump Foley and hook up with Butch to dial in the wedge game. Just ask DJ.

 

Bingo!

[Jagpilotohio]

I’ve wtached him play quite a bit. His putting is normally superb. It’s not an issue.. His Wedge play definitely needs some attention though.

[PowderedToastMan]

I’ve wtached him play quite a bit. His putting is normally superb. It’s not an issue.. His Wedge play definitely needs some attention though.

It’s because Foley encourages so much shaft lean with irons and wedges. It’s an inconsistent and crappy way to find consistency with yardages with wedges. Rose seems to be the guy in Foley’s stable who decreased his shaft lean and found enormous success with distance control.

 

Champ is the last guy in the world that needs excessive shaft lean. He is, however, someone who desperately needs a controlled dead hands wedge swing. He will figure it out though.

[Big Cat 3]

He needs to dump Foley and hook up with Butch to dial in the wedge game. Just ask DJ.

matter of time

[lowheel]

When you rotate as hard as he does it (his wedge game) will be inconsistent bordering on streaky,He is still learning to take some off and take some hands out of the shots. When he dials those in to at least be slightly more consistent he can do damage. For now hes streaky but with that kind of power skys the limit

[Josh L.]

Doesn't help that the greens at Spyglass are tiny. He's young I'm sure he'll get it dialed in.

[Hankshank]

Sounds pretty much as when Big John broke through.

[Golfnutgalen]

I posted this before and will shamelessly do so again, Cameron and DJ's first seasons on tour:

 

 

Cameron Champ 2019 (age 23) 1 win in 9 events so far

 

SG off the Tee: 5th

SG Approach: 111th

SG Putting: 28th

SG Around Green: 206th

 

 

Dustin Johnson 2008 (age 23-24) 1 win in 30 events

 

SG off the Tee: 45th

SG Approach: 159th

SG Putting: 163rd

SG Around Green: 147th

 

 

No question Cameron needs to improve his approach shots and shortgame if he wants to win with any consistency, but he is honestly better off than DJ was when he first came on tour, well except for his lousy short game. Dustin's iron game improved enormously in just 4 years (13th in approach shots in 2012), but his chipping and putting have only come around in the last 3 years or so. Not saying Cameron will reach #1 in the world like DJ did, but the potential is certainly there.

[Terry Gold]

I posted this before and will shamelessly do so again, Cameron and DJ's first seasons on tour:

 

 

Cameron Champ 2019 (age 23) 1 win in 9 events so far

 

SG off the Tee: 5th

SG Approach: 111th

SG Putting: 28th

SG Around Green: 206th

 

 

Dustin Johnson 2008 (age 23-24) 1 win in 30 events

 

SG off the Tee: 45th

SG Approach: 159th

SG Putting: 163rd

SG Around Green: 147th

 

 

No question Cameron needs to improve his approach shots and shortgame if he wants to win with any consistency, but he is honestly better off than DJ was when he first came on tour, well except for his lousy short game. Dustin's iron game improved enormously in just 4 years (13th in approach shots in 2012), but his chipping and putting have only come around in the last 3 years or so. Not saying Cameron will reach #1 in the world like DJ did, but the potential is certainly there.

 

You can't cherry pick the same apples twice.

[exitlowandleft]

Champ puts an enormous amount of backspin on his short irons and wedges because of his speed...the greens in Monterey this week are soft because of all the recent storms..he’s not the only one out here fighting that this week..he’ll be fine in the long run...no one in the game with more raw talent

[Man_O_War]

also sounds like you watched him play in the pro-am? and not the 1st round?

[Jackhammer993]

also sounds like you watched him play in the pro-am? and not the 1st round?

[Jackhammer993]

Not sure what you mean? It was the first round at Spyglass Hill.

[Jackhammer993]

Eagle by Champ on 2 at Pebble. Hoping he has a great day.

[dlygrisse]

I've wtached him play quite a bit. His putting is normally superb. It's not an issue.. His Wedge play definitely needs some attention though.

It's because Foley encourages so much shaft lean with irons and wedges. It's an inconsistent and crappy way to find consistency with yardages with wedges. Rose seems to be the guy in Foley's stable who decreased his shaft lean and found enormous success with distance control.

 

Champ is the last guy in the world that needs excessive shaft lean. He is, however, someone who desperately needs a controlled dead hands wedge swing. He will figure it out though.

 

Yep. When Tiger was with Foley it almost destroyed his wedge game. Shaft lean was out of control with all shots. Too much of a "good thing"

[OutBackHack]

He needs to dump Foley and hook up with Butch to dial in the wedge game. Just ask DJ.

 

Bingo!

 

He's been on tour since September (including 6 weeks off after RSM) and has made $1.4 Million.

[kekoa]

So I guess distance isn't everything? Heavy debate going on about this topic in the junior forum.

 

Awesome insight.- thanks!

[Jackhammer993]

Another Eagle on 6 for ChAmp, now if he can just finish off the round

[PostandGhost]

Cameron Champ and the fascination around him reminds me a lot of the Hank Kuehne days. Maybe it's the Ping driver.

[Jackhammer993]

For me it’s just watching someone who does something so much better than anyone else. His 320+ yard drives are almost double the next closest pro. He definitely has deficiencies in the other parts of his game but being only 23 there’s a lot of time to improve those areas.

[BrianMcG]

also sounds like you watched him play in the pro-am? and not the 1st round?

 

Lol. The whole tournament is a “Pro-Am”.

[Golfnutgalen]

Another Eagle on 6 for ChAmp, now if he can just finish off the round

 

Looks like he's really good (at least today) with longer approach shots. Both Eagles were from great iron shots to inside 11 feet from about 215 yards. Most times he's hitting shots from inside 150 and not getting it done.

 

Cameron is long obviously, but on a wet course at sea level his distances seem a lot more reasonable. Longest drive today was 313 and he has hit 4 drivers so far.

[farmer]

CC has some short iron issues, and some short game deficiencies. He also has that thing that cannot be learned or taught, and that is raw length. He can learn and be taught to overcome the short game problems.