When a Pro Can't Correct

[Covert]

I watched Jordan Spieth drive way right time after time at the Byron Nelson. I had done the same thing a couple of times the day before. I went through the three or four typical causes and realized I was blocking by not rotating my hips enough, and I brought my drives back into the fairway by the third hole. I’ve been playing less than three years, beginning at 70 years old. Why couldn’t a pro like Mr. Spieth easily correct his push during play?

[iacas]

  On 5/25/2016 at 1:07 PM, Covert said:

I watched Jordan Spieth drive way right time after time at the Byron Nelson. I had done the same thing a couple of times the day before. I went through the three or four typical causes and realized I was blocking by not rotating my hips enough, and I brought my drives back into the fairway by the third hole. I’ve been playing less than three years, beginning at 70 years old. Why couldn’t a pro like Mr. Spieth easily correct his push during play?

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Because there's a lot more to it than that, and with Jordan, you're talking about an angle of about 1-2°. At 70 I doubt you generate the ball speed and thus the same flight and curve as Spieth is capable of generating with small errors.

[Lazarus]

Is there also an element of amateurs being able to put a band aid on certain issues to minimise the damage until we improve our swing (e.g. short left thumb, grip or stance alignment etc.); whereas a top tour pro wants to regain his best swing and so is more inclined to battle through until he finds it again than apply a quick fix.

When I play and I lose my usual shot shape I want to  commit and keep playing it and trying to fix the cause, when perhaps from a scoring point of view I should shut down the big miss and battle with what I have.

 

I should add that Jordan did actually club down and was battling a two-way miss at times so even toning it down wasn't working supremely well.

[Rainmaker]

I agree with the other posters . . not really the same thing as us being able to correct on the course.  But I wanted to add that just because you *were* able to correct on course doesn't mean you always will be able to.  There will be days when nothing you try will work.   

[Covert]

Thank you all for the inputs. Iacus, yes, 300-plus yards exacerbate a minor miscue. Lazarus, I do get why a tour pro is reluctant to make significant changes to a swing s/he had perfected over hundreds of hours. But when $1 million, or whatever, is at stake, I think I would make an adjustment and work on getting the perfect swing back in subsequent practice – and I’ll bet some pros would make a temporary change.

Rainmaker, I seem to be able to fix on the fly persistent issues that crop up, but after I correct one problem, something else will go wrong:  Fat, thin, long, short, left, right, and a shank about every third round, just when I stop consciously watching out for the hosel; so I don’t enjoy many flawless holes.

[WUTiger]

Creeping dehydration as a problem? In the final round, several people on the leader board had an outbreak of errant shots. Examples:

• Back nine: Brooks Koepka only hits one fairway on the long holes, and then on the playoff hole dumps his drive left into the lake.
• Overall: Jordan Spieth hits bunkers or the rough on four of his six bogies (and a birdie out of fairway bunker).

The weather had gotten hot and muggy during the weekend, upper 80s in temp and circa 80% in humidity.  I wonder if the players got a little twitchy on Sunday due to heat and humidity?

[Rainmaker]

  On 5/25/2016 at 11:13 PM, Covert said:

Rainmaker, I seem to be able to fix on the fly persistent issues that crop up, but after I correct one problem, something else will go wrong:  Fat, thin, long, short, left, right, and a shank about every third round, just when I stop consciously watching out for the hosel; so I don’t enjoy many flawless holes.

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Ahh yes, I'm entirely familiar with this little game of golf swing whack-a-mole, lol.  I know it sounds cliché but you probably don't really understand just how good Jordan Speith is.  That sounds a little condescending but I truly don't mean it like that - I'm sure I don't, either.  He's playing a pretty different game than we do.  I imagine, if it was possible to somehow transplant our brains into Jordan Speith's body as he swings a club so we could feel what it feels like - it would freak us right out.  We'd be like . .WTH!?!, lol  And then we'd quit golf forever because we couldn't do that without our bodies snapping in half. 

[Buckeyebowman]

  On 5/26/2016 at 2:27 AM, Rainmaker said:

Ahh yes, I'm entirely familiar with this little game of golf swing whack-a-mole, lol.  I know it sounds cliché but you probably don't really understand just how good Jordan Speith is.  That sounds a little condescending but I truly don't mean it like that - I'm sure I don't, either.  He's playing a pretty different game than we do.  I imagine, if it was possible to somehow transplant our brains into Jordan Speith's body as he swings a club so we could feel what it feels like - it would freak us right out.  We'd be like . .WTH!?!, lol  And then we'd quit golf forever because we couldn't do that without our bodies snapping in half. 

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That's a great comment! I've been realizing that I may have to throttle back my expectations a little. I used to play around scratch, but that was the "young" me. Now I'm the "old" me. I can still play pretty well and can certainly play better, but I'm not going to be bombing drives 300 yards or playing from the tips anymore. It's like that Springsteen song "Glory Days".

Speaking of Spieth, I have to laugh at the mantra that's taken hold about him, that he is distance challenged. I watched him hit 7 irons to 190 yard par 3's, and even outdrive Koepka a time or two when he could keep it in the short grass. Even at the height of my powers I needed a 5 iron to cover 190, and was damn glad about it! Nowadays I hit it about 165!

[Grumpter]

  On 5/25/2016 at 11:13 PM, Covert said:

But when $1 million, or whatever, is at stake, I think I would make an adjustment and work on getting the perfect swing back in subsequent practice ...

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Well to us common folk that $1 million or even a tenth of that would move our needle much longer way. Jordan already has close to $25 Mil in tournament winnings and the endorsements probably add up to more than that. I saw a chart that stated during the 2013 season McIlroy earned $2.6 million on the course and $18 million off the course. For the top guys another Million, before taxes and costs, really isn't a huge motivator when things are going poorly.

[Covert]

  On 5/26/2016 at 1:45 PM, Grumpter said:

Well to us common folk that $1 million or even a tenth of that would move our needle much longer way. Jordan already has close to $25 Mil in tournament winnings and the endorsements probably add up to more than that. I saw a chart that stated during the 2013 season McIlroy earned $2.6 million on the course and $18 million off the course. For the top guys another Million, before taxes and costs, really isn't a huge motivator when things are going poorly.

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I think it depends on a person’s individual personality with regard to money. I remember Martha Stewart, when she already had half a billion, or whatever, going to jail because she couldn’t walk away from an extra $50 K, or something like that, even when it was illegal to go after it. Tiger couldn’t part with pocket change to leave a tip in restaurants, etcetera.

[boogielicious]

  On 6/8/2016 at 11:50 PM, Covert said:

I think it depends on a person’s individual personality with regard to money. I remember Martha Stewart, when she already had half a billion, or whatever, going to jail because she couldn’t walk away from an extra $50 K, or something like that, even when it was illegal to go after it. Tiger couldn’t part with pocket change to leave a tip in restaurants, etcetera.

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According to Sean Foley and others, that is a myth.

[Covert]

I’ve read that Tiger tips caddies well, and of course he gives a lot to charity. On the other hand, I listened to a good friend of Tiger’s, Charles Barkley, say on TV that Tiger is a horrible tipper and that Charles had to leave tips for him. So Tiger’s potentially got a quirk regarding restaurant tipping, while not being tight at heart.

[Natural Patrick]

  On 5/26/2016 at 1:45 PM, Grumpter said:

Well to us common folk that $1 million or even a tenth of that would move our needle much longer way. Jordan already has close to $25 Mil in tournament winnings and the endorsements probably add up to more than that. I saw a chart that stated during the 2013 season McIlroy earned $2.6 million on the course and $18 million off the course. For the top guys another Million, before taxes and costs, really isn't a huge motivator when things are going poorly.

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Mickelson, who turns 45 next week and is the oldest active athlete on the list, earned $50.8 million over the past year, with $48 million of that total coming in endorsements. Woods, plagued by injuries over the past year, still earned $50.6 million ($50M in endorsements).

[boogielicious]

  On 6/9/2016 at 7:50 PM, Covert said:

I’ve read that Tiger tips caddies well, and of course he gives a lot to charity. On the other hand, I listened to a good friend of Tiger’s, Charles Barkley, say on TV that Tiger is a horrible tipper and that Charles had to leave tips for him. So Tiger’s potentially got a quirk regarding restaurant tipping, while not being tight at heart.

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This makes me think Tiger is pranking Barkley to leave the tip! 

[billchao]

I got really confused for a minute reading through this thread. Thought I accidentally clicked on the Forbes one.