Will Jordan Spieth Come Back?

[Vinsk]

  On 6/1/2019 at 10:11 PM, hoselpalooza said:

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

agree/disagree?

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Too early. I’d say he’s on his way back in that he’s not firing those 79’s in a four round tournament. 

[GLFTPS]

Three straight top tens.

[Buckeyebowman]

  On 6/2/2019 at 12:02 AM, ChrisP said:

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.

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Not quite, but yes he's close. What I find weird is when he's hitting the ball a mile from the hole he putts like a wizard! When he hits his approaches close, he can't make crap! That happened in the final rounds of the last two tournaments. The way Spieth played the back 9 on Saturday at the Memorial made me think he had a legit shot at it. Sunday, he did nothing! He looked miserable, like a little lost puppy!

[ChrisP]

  On 6/5/2019 at 1:35 AM, Buckeyebowman said:

Not quite, but yes he's close. What I find weird is when he's hitting the ball a mile from the hole he putts like a wizard! When he hits his approaches close, he can't make crap! That happened in the final rounds of the last two tournaments. The way Spieth played the back 9 on Saturday at the Memorial made me think he had a legit shot at it. Sunday, he did nothing! He looked miserable, like a little lost puppy!

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He actually could have scored a lot worse but made a ton of long par putts. 

He’s always been shaky on short putts. The year he won the British he was missing 3-5 footers left and right that final round the first 12 holes. But he makes up for it by making bombs. 

[Wally Fairway]

I think that my answer to will JS come back is both yes and no.

I think that he will win tournaments, maybe even a major or two; but I don't see him ever being the guy he was in 2015 & 2016 (when he went 1, 1, T4, 2, T2 in majors) and he was "the" guy on the PGA tour after the US Open win.
I think he "failing" to regain that status is two-fold: a) his quirkiness and b) the depth of tour leaders today. Like Tiger (and some others), he has an affinity for Augusta, and an uncanny ability to score there, so he will have a chance there for years to come. I think Pebble will somewhat show where he is, he's won there and he is playing well so it will be a chance to add another major to his total if he can avoid the ugly stretches that we've seen cause him to stumble from opportunities that he's had to win.

[Groucho Valentine]

If you really notice, Spieths disappearing game coincides with his magically reappearing hairline. Coincidence? I think not.  If he would have just let nature take its place he would have won 10 majors by now. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Groucho Valentine

[ChrisP]

Seemed like Spieth was progressing there for a while, but it looks like he’s digressing again the last couple weeks. Today was ugly.

[Vinsk]

  On 6/20/2019 at 9:49 PM, ChrisP said:

Seemed like Spieth was progressing there for a while, but it looks like he’s digressing again the last couple weeks. Today was ugly.

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Yeah. Spieth really hard to predict right now. He’s all over the place. Gotta be wearing on his psyche a bit.

[ChrisP]

  On 6/20/2019 at 9:53 PM, Vinsk said:

Yeah. Spieth really hard to predict right now. He’s all over the place. Gotta be wearing on his psyche a bit.

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His ball striking is just not good. His putter saved him from a possible 78 or worse today. Made some nice putts to go with his awful driving and iron play.

[sungho_kr]

he's a really great talent, especially with that swing and impeccable putting runs, however i do feel like he's a bit maxed out on his overall ball striking, he's made it work early and has a hall of fame career established

i think he's a great pitcher, but not a great thrower, lot of what if's come to mind with mr speith

[Herkimer]

From what I saw, his swing is different.  I believe he messed around with it and now he's confused as to what swing he wants to make.  This is a common problem when you've been winning and then stop winning.  You go searching when all you needed to do was keep everything the same and just remain patient.  I believe this happened to Hunter Mahan as well.

[Vinsk]

  On 6/24/2019 at 10:33 PM, Herkimer said:

 

From what I saw, his swing is different. 

 

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Could you please elaborate?

[ncates00]

Long and crooked= some concern.  Short (relative to the top guys) and crooked?  Now that's a tragedy.

[GoldenEagle]

Jordan's still a ways away. Golf is a cruel game. We've seen so many great starts by these young guys and then they struggle like JS is. He shot 77 today and missed the 54 hole cut in the last regular season event. He's 67th in the Fedex points. Disappointing for him I;m sure as he played pretty well the first two days.

I'm not sure he'll ever be a dominant player again, He'll likely win a few more tournaments, but he may not be able to hang with some of the other young guns going forward.But what do I know, he could win the next couple of tournaments.

[Kool Kats]

I've been watching Jordan play now for 5 years. And while his driving has never been his strong point, it is his iron play that has really taken a back seat. He used to be top 10 on the tour in iron play, and constantly attack inside the 160 yard range. Now he's 147th on tour on SG Approach.  

Strong putting has always been his calling card (even with the short misses last year), but with poor length off the tee compared to the big boys right now, the other parts of game must be firing on all cylinders to compete week in week out. 

He needs a break to figure out how he wants to play. He's not tactically smart right now. He either needs to embrace playing like Kuchar, hit a bunch of fairways at 285 yards and rely on irons, or whack it a crooked 320 like Phil and play from the trees. He doesn't have the swing speed or strength or natural ability to constantly hit the fairway at 310 yards like DJ Koepka etc.

[Vinsk]

  On 8/4/2019 at 1:32 AM, Kool Kats said:

He needs a break to figure out how he wants to play.

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I think he knows how he wants to play. It’s executing it that’s got him so frustrated. He said something finally that confirms what @iacas mentioned awhile back, it’s a swing flaw. 

Jordan said, ‘ I can’t get my hands in front of me. When my hands get back there’s only one ball flight and I can’t play my game from there. It’s not a common problem a professional golfer usually deals with, it seems simple but I’m just struggling to do it. I have to get my hands in front of me and I’m just struggling to do that. “

I’m not entirely sure what that means but I think it’s the first time he’s come right out and said his swing is flawed and specifically stated how. I’ve made some negative comments about his coach, McCormick probably unfairly. But I was really trying to say I think he needs new eyes and a different perspective at this point. It seems McCormick may not be getting through to him like someone else may be able to. Saturday’s round was a mess. It’s gotta be enormously frustrating for him.

[billchao]

  On 8/4/2019 at 10:50 AM, Vinsk said:

Jordan said, ‘ I can’t get my hands in front of me. When my hands get back there’s only one ball flight and I can’t play my game from there. It’s not a common problem a professional golfer usually deals with, it seems simple but I’m just struggling to do it. I have to get my hands in front of me and I’m just struggling to do that. “

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I haven't been following him much lately, but usually when players say they're not getting their hands in front, it means they're hitting blocks.

  On 8/4/2019 at 10:50 AM, Vinsk said:

It seems McCormick may not be getting through to him like someone else may be able to.

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If he knows what the flaw is and what to do to make the change, it's not a swing coach issue, is it?

Swing changes are hard. They're hard to make for the amateur golfer who plays once a week, to commit to changing the way they've done something hundreds or thousands of times and have to adjust to a new ballflight or pattern and figure out how to score well. Imagine how difficult it must be for a tour player who has to play several times a week, every week, to change something they've done tens of thousands of times and have to adjust to a new pattern when every additional stroke could cause them thousands of dollars or more.

[Sandy Divot]

The guy was one win away from the Grand Slam. Why did he feel the need to change his swing? It might not have been perfect, but it was working pretty good, and he knew where the ball was going.