Bryson DeChambeau is helping Google turn its AI assistant into a golf coach

AI has already made great strides in helping shape the way modern golfers play the game. Artificial intelligence is used in everything from the research and development of equipment to the way you book a tee time.

An untapped area for the rapidly advancing tech space, however, is in that of coaching. And while some of the best golf apps do now host tools and features that make novel use of AI, a golf-based service truly harnessing the power of big tech is yet to emerge.

That, however, might soon be set to change. And naturally, one of golf's most scientific minds is behind it in the form of Bryson DeChambeau.

Speaking as part of the Voices for Impact series SalesForce's DreamForce conference last week, DeChambeau revealed he is working with Google on a way to harness its Gemini AI system for coaching purposes, giving people instant insights into their game and swing without the need to book expensive coaches. 

“From a teaching perspective, giving people the opportunity to get a lot better at the game of golf a lot faster is what I’m focused on and excited about for the future of AI and what it can do for each and every individual," he said.

“AI can provide better insights than any professional coach out there. For a human to process twenty five hundred metrics in less than thirty seconds is impossible. But AI can do that and tell you exactly what you need to know at that exact moment because day to day it could change.

"“It can teach people how to get better from a beginner all the way to a professional. It can teach me how to get better from a golf swing perspective. It can give me a better club fit if my equipment is not right. And from that knowledge, me needing to know over twenty five hundred metrics in less than thirty seconds, it can dive down and say, ‘here’s the five greatest deviators in your golf swing of why you’re not hitting it that great’. In less than thirty seconds it can tell you what was wrong.

“Whether you’re hitting it good one day, or feel off the next day, it doesn’t matter. It will tailor to what you need for that exact day. Which is a great thing about it.”

DeChambeau expanded on the potential use cases for Gemini in a coaching capacity, extending beyond simply just inputting videos for analysis and feedback. He revealed the tech, which will initially be limited to smartphones, will grow to incorporate augmented reality devices like goggles and glasses, giving entirely real-time feedback from viewpoint of the golfer themselves.

“This is just the beginning. We’re literally at escape velocity with AI. We’re so close to having AI revolutionise, it’s already transformed our world, but really transform our world to a place that we don’t really see or know from ten or fifteen years ago.”