When Xander Schauffele, a young boy, was playing baseball, his father would make sure he hit the ball barefoot with his eyes closed.
These situations are rare on the PGA Tour, but Schauffele was approached by a business partner about a challenge.
Schauffele teamed with Hyland, his exclusive software partner who works with half of the Fortune 100 to participate in the Hyland X Vision Challenge. Although the concept was straightforward in its description, it was difficult to execute: Play a par-3 blindfolded twice. Once with no assistance (other than yardage), and once with assistance. Schauffele was joined by his father, Stefan Kaiser, and his caddie Austin Kaiser. He made a hilarious effort with the first attempt and nearly got an ace with the second.
It was difficult. It was very difficult. It was hard to do it alone without any assistance, but it was a lot of fun,” Schauffele said to Golfweek. There were trust issues, but once Austin and my father helped, it became a team effort that made the dream a reality.
@Hyland learned that I had practiced blindfolding as a child and challenged me to try it again. We proved that you could take my vision away, but my team was my ace in a hole. You can watch the Hyland X Vision Challenge right now. pic.twitter.com/CetFwcQx44
— Xander Schauffele (@XSchauffele) February 1, 2023
“I feel pretty confident. He laughed and explained that the dizziness part was something they hadn’t told me. “If you place me in front of something and put a blindfold on, I can sort of see in space where it is.” When you start to rip me in circles and I don’t know where anything in space is, I feel pretty confident.
It was fun. Schauffele said that while he wouldn’t like to play nine to 18 holes, he thought it was fun. However, Schauffele noted that other Tour players would likely do similar. “Obviously, away from houses or things of this nature.”
Next week, the blindfold will be removed by Schauffele (ranked No. Schauffele, now ranked No. 6 in the world returns to PGA Tour action at WM Phoenix Open to maintain his solid start to the 2022/23 season. Schauffele finished T-9 at Zozo Championship, T-3 American Express, and T-13 at Farmers Insurance Open last week, with a WD at Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Schauffele said that he is doing better than he used to in years past, compared with his slower start. “I would say that these next two events are very important for me. It’s often where I get the ball rolling.
Schauffele stated, “My caddie team and I always tell me that I’m a Summer Soldier, get me in the summer and we will do good things.” “I trust my team a lot. I’ve made fun of them for saying it in the past, but they’ve seen what happened last year (referring to three wins over seven events). They seem to be right about a lot of things.”
As he stated, teamwork is key to making a dream come true.
