Will Jordan Spieth Come Back?

[Buckeyebowman]

On 5/23/2019 at 1:46 PM, Patch said:

My opinion on some pga golfers who play championship golf for a period of time, is that they get lazy. This, if there is nothing physically wrong with their game. Rather they do this consciously, or subconsciously might be a toss up. 

They put a few million bucks in the bank, and start living on easy street. They are set for life. 

Also, with sponsor's endorsement contracts continually paying them big bucks, there is really no reason for them to play excellent golf for that million dollar payday. any more. Just their name is making them money. Are tournaments still paying guaranteed appearance fees?

Making the cut, and collecting a paycheck is good enough for some of them. 

Obviously, not all pros are of that mindset. Tiger Woods readily comes to mind. I remember he once said he didn't care about the money side of golf, or the world rankings. That winning takes care of all that. 

As for Spieth, it is possible that due to family concerns, he has lost his edge. Will he come back to his championship form? Yeah, I think so...eventually. 

As far as I knew, NO PGA Tour tournaments paid appearance fees. A player's sponsor may pay them something to show up. Like Spieth will show up at events with a large AT&T presence, or sponsorship.  European Tour tourneys, and some others, would do that to attract American stars. Why do you think Tiger would drag his ass over to Dubai year after year? 

Spieth is puzzling to me. If he didn't care I guess he'd act like he didn't care. But, he acts like he does care! Heard an interesting comment today on the telecast. Spieth had 430+ feet of made putts in the first 3 rounds. It might have been Faldo who said that's a nice cover up for the fact that you're not hitting the ball very close to the flagstick! 

Well today I saw Spieth hit some approaches quite close to the flagstick and not make a damned thing! I honestly don't know what's up with him. 

[Herkimer]

On 5/23/2019 at 7:22 PM, ncates00 said:

First, we’ve addressed the first part: he went after more distance.

That was his big mistake!  He obviously did not need that extra distance and now he's paying the price for being foolish.  If you're winning tournaments and if you're winning Majors do not change a thing!

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, Herkimer said:

That was his big mistake!  He obviously did not need that extra distance and now he's paying the price for being foolish.  If you're winning tournaments and if you're winning Majors do not change a thing!

When do you think this happened, exactly? Because:

2019: 295.5 (75th)
2018: 299.8 (61st)
2017: 295.0 (76th)
2016: 295.6 (51st)
2015: 291.8 (78th)
2014: 289.7 (89th)

It's not lining up.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 5/26/2019 at 9:33 PM, iacas said:

When do you think this happened, exactly? Because:

2019: 295.5 (75th)
2018: 299.8 (61st)
2017: 295.0 (76th)
2016: 295.6 (51st)
2015: 291.8 (78th)
2014: 289.7 (89th)

It's not lining up.

Yup! That's not it! It used to be that Spieth would flare the wild drive out to the right. Now, he might flare it to the left. He has a two way miss off the tee and that's like living in Hell for a pro! He need to find a consistent shot shape for his tee ball, and go with it.  

[Herkimer]

On 5/26/2019 at 9:33 PM, iacas said:

When do you think this happened, exactly? Because:

2019: 295.5 (75th)
2018: 299.8 (61st)
2017: 295.0 (76th)
2016: 295.6 (51st)
2015: 291.8 (78th)
2014: 289.7 (89th)

It's not lining up.

Whatever his distances were is irrelevant to my point.  My point is that he shouldn't have worried about getting more distance and changed things to get more distance. 

[MacDutch]

Yeah, like Molinari. He changed things to make more distance, we know all how that ended.

[boogielicious]

4 hours ago, MacDutch said:

Yeah, like Molinari. He changed things to make more distance, we know all how that ended.

It affects some players more than others. Luke Donald was #1 in the world and tried to increase driver distance and stated it affected the rest of his game. FM was able to do it successfully, which was great for him, but he also had a a lot more years on tour than JS.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Herkimer said:

Whatever his distances were is irrelevant to my point.  My point is that he shouldn't have worried about getting more distance and changed things to get more distance. 

My point was you may have no real evidence that his quest for distance affected him negatively.

It’s not like players don’t know how to get more distance. If he wanted more he’d get it. So when did it happen?

2016, 2017, 2019 numbers almost identical.

[Herkimer]

14 hours ago, iacas said:

My point was you may have no real evidence that his quest for distance affected him negatively.

It’s not like players don’t know how to get more distance. If he wanted more he’d get it. So when did it happen?

2016, 2017, 2019 numbers almost identical.

Your figures don't show how many errant drives he hit after going after distance.  Wouldn't you agree that if you're doing spectacularly well, then leave well enough alone?  If it ain't broke, then don't fix it.  And from what I've read, he was trying to fix something that didn't need to be fixed. 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Herkimer said:

Your figures don't show how many errant drives he hit after going after distance.

No, but the data I have does show this kind of thing.

He didn't hit bad drives after making a few comments about going for more distance.

This year, however, his full swing (not just with the driver or off the tee) has been a bit off.

5 minutes ago, Herkimer said:

Wouldn't you agree that if you're doing spectacularly well, then leave well enough alone?

Not necessarily, no. Tiger changed his swing a bunch of times.

6 minutes ago, Herkimer said:

If it ain't broke, then don't fix it.  And from what I've read, he was trying to fix something that didn't need to be fixed. 

He didn't agree.

P.S. SG:OTT

2019: -0.495
2018: 0.271
2017: 0.321
2016: 0.402
2015: 0.494

And, when did Jordan say he was chasing more distance? I have quotes from him in late 2016 specifically saying he was not chasing more distance or looking to change his swing for distance.

[ChrisP]

22 minutes ago, Herkimer said:

Your figures don't show how many errant drives he hit after going after distance.  Wouldn't you agree that if you're doing spectacularly well, then leave well enough alone?  If it ain't broke, then don't fix it.  And from what I've read, he was trying to fix something that didn't need to be fixed. 

I thought he made a comment back a couple years ago he wanted to stop his misses to the right. Would be curious to see how many misses back in 2015-17 were slices vs hooks and how many misses now are slices vs hooks. Cause it seems he’s missing a lot more both directions.

[Herkimer]

I heard on the Golf Channel, or read it in a magazine, that Spieth was trying to drive the ball further.  I can't remember where I got that tidbit.  And I thought at the time that that might not be a good thing for him, as it can screw up your timing and ruin other good things that you were doing.  Now, if what I heard was false, then I can't attribute his mediocre recent play to that.  The competition out there is fierce...and we know that golf is hard.

1 minute ago, ChrisP said:

.........Cause it seems he’s missing a lot more both directions.

Which I, perhaps falsely, attributed it to him trying for more distance.  When he was winning those majors, I thought he was a fabulous driver of the ball.

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, ChrisP said:

I thought he made a comment back a couple years ago he wanted to stop his misses to the right. Would be curious to see how many misses back in 2015-17 were slices vs hooks and how many misses now are slices vs hooks. Cause it seems he’s missing a lot more both directions.

Well… (numbers won't always add up to 100%; some of the data will not say where the shot ended up.):

Year	Left	Center	Right
2015	17.2%	62.1%	12.5%
2016	19.1%	58.2%	21.6%
2017	17.5%	59.3%	19.8%
2018	21.0%	47.0%	25.1%

Left 5%, Right 2%, Right 2%, Right 4%.

Nope. Doesn't really seem to fit, except that he's just not driving it well, period.

10 minutes ago, Herkimer said:

I heard on the Golf Channel, or read it in a magazine, that Spieth was trying to drive the ball further.  I can't remember where I got that tidbit.  And I thought at the time that that might not be a good thing for him, as it can screw up your timing and ruin other good things that you were doing.  Now, if what I heard was false, then I can't attribute his mediocre recent play to that.  The competition out there is fierce...and we know that golf is hard.

I don't know if what you heard is true, but in talking with… people… I don't think it's true. I think he feels just as he did in late 2016 where he specifically said he's not chasing more distance or changing his swing for more distance.

[Herkimer]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

I don't know if what you heard is true, but in talking with… people… I don't think it's true. I think he feels just as he did in late 2016 where he specifically said he's not chasing more distance or changing his swing for more distance.

Good!  Then I can't attribute his recent play to foolishness.

[hoselpalooza]

Quote

Will Jordan Spieth Come Back?

watching the memorial now and dottie pepper just answered this question: "jordan spieth, i would say, is back."

agree/disagree?

[Buckeyebowman]

I'd say he's on his way back. Seen him on the first page of a few leader boards lately. His putting is definitely improved, as has his tee to green game. He still makes a goofy, one handed swing every now and then. 

And I don't know where this myth that Spieth is a short hitter got started. True, he's not DJ or Koepka, but he averages about 3 hundy with the Driver. And I saw him hit a 7 iron 205 today. In fact, he hit it a bit too far. That ain't short.

[FLOG4]

Jordan has excelled at every stage...He'll be back....and very soon

 

[ChrisP]

1 hour ago, hoselpalooza said:

watching the memorial now and dottie pepper just answered this question: "jordan spieth, i would say, is back."

agree/disagree?

For him, back means winning. So until that starts happening, I say no. But his putting is the key and it looks like he’s putting like he did back in 2015-17.