Golf coaching usually sticks to the textbook approach. Then there is Bryson DeChambeau, who always prefers to tear that script. Ask U.S. Amateur and 2025 Walker Cup standout Mason Howell, who still quotes DeChambeau’s pep talk. Bryson’s lessons aren’t comfortable, but they work. Even as a captain on the losing side at the Walker Cup, his blunt, out-of-the-box coaching stuck with players. And now he’s offered a piece of advice most amateurs simply don’t follow.

“If an amateur golfer’s prepping for their club championship, I would say the best thing to do is not to always play from the fairway. Go hit shots out of the rough, go hit shots out of bunkers, go hit shots around the greens. You see that all the time with pros. One thing that amateurs don’t do is hit shots out of the rough on the golf course in the practice round. That’s a big tip!” said DeChambeau while practicing.

For most amateurs, the rough or a bunker is actually a place of panic. When a ball is stuck in the rough, thick grass, and moisture gets between the clubface and the ball. So many other problems appear. The ball shouldn’t move when you do the shadow practice, and then comes the club selection and several other technicalities. And even if you somehow pass that test, then come the most dangerous parts: Bunkers. These are the ultimate test of where your club hits the ground. To hit a proper bunker shot, you must strike the sand properly from behind the ball.

If you only practice from fairways, you can never develop the feel for how to move the club through different densities of sand or thick grass.

In the past, DeChambeau shared some idea how to improve the game if you’re thinning or chunking. DeChambeau advised that you go into the ice. Draw a straight line. Once you get the line drawn, set up the club right on that line. Now,  if you chunk it, which is hitting before the line, you need to work on that. Or you thin it, that’s hitting it after the line, you again need improvement.

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Because all you “wanna really do is hit it right on the line, just like that. So set the ball up just in front of the line, set it up, and hit it perfect. And that’s how you do it!”

Now, you might think pros have it easy. But the bunkers and rough are where even the best in the world see their leads vanish.

Remember Thomas Bjorn in the 2003 Open Championship? Bjorn had a three-shot lead with four holes to play. Then on the 16th hole at Royal St. George’s, he landed in a greenside bunker and took three attempts to get out of it. It cost him the Claret Jug.

Even Bryson DeChambeau recently went on a viral rant about wet sand and thumb rollers in bunkers that he claimed could break somebody’s wrist at the 2025 LIV Mexico City. Despite that, DeChambeau has the perfect authority to give this advice.

The former NCAA and U.S. Amateur Champion (he won both in the same year) faced a 55-yard bunker shot on the final hole of the 2024 U.S. Open, arguably the hardest shot played that year at Pinehurst. Because he had practiced these roughs and bunkers so many times, he clipped it to roughly 5 feet to secure his second major. And just before that shot, his ball was stuck on a tree root. Instead of breaking his club or his wrist, the artistic Bryson punched it into the bunker to give himself a chance.

Even if it’s not enough, just remember it’s not DeChambeau who is the only one who prefers these practice sessions. These tips are actually shared by some of the greatest to ever play the game of golf. From legendary Ben Hogan to one of the greatest bunker players of the generation, Seve Ballesteros, all have emphasized the importance of playing on the tough surfaces. Hogan once famously said, “The secret is in the dirt.”

Apart from that, the LIV golfer isn’t just helping the amateurs after all. He is also mentoring the next generation.

Bryson DeChambeau also had a ‘Red Tee’ advice for Miles Russell

He recently collaborated with Miles Russell, the 15-year-old phenom who became the youngest player to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour and broke a record held by Tiger Woods since 1991. In their “Break 50” video, DeChambeau gave Russell advice that was completely out of the box: play from the red tees.

“I tell juniors to play from the reds to learn driver control in tight places. You also learn how to get up and down from many quirky and weird spots,” DeChambeau told Russell.

He further explained that when he was 15, he was stuck at 4-under par. His coach made him play from the forward tees until he finally shot in the 50s. This taught him a scoring mentality. And it also helps him to understand that being 10-under par was a safe place.

So, the next time you’re in a practice round, don’t pick your ball up and move it to the fairway. Drop it in the deepest bunker or the thickest rough you are playing and try to escape from that.