Jordan Spieth has continued to struggle over the past few years, and is without a PGA Tour win since the RBC Heritage in April 2022.
Gary Player warned everyone 12 months ago about the cause of Spieth’s woes, and has now been proven completely right.
The 32-year-old from Dallas, Texas, is still an absolute box-office name in professional golf, in spite of his recent struggles.
The vast majority of golf fans continue to will Jordan Spieth to do well, but his swing changes are simply not cooperating.
Spieth’s putting has let him down badly on the PGA Tour over the past six years.
However, his long game has hardly been flourishing, contrary to what he may have you believe.
Spieth has been only one major win away from completing the career Grand Slam for nine years now.
And there is definitely an argument to be had that he is suffering from some form of paralysis by analysis.
Gary Player has been proven right after his Jordan Spieth claim
The great Gary Player shared a really strong warning for Spieth back in 2025.
As reported at the time by The Golfing Gazette, Player explained why Spieth has struggled so badly over the past few years.
“There is a tremendous lack of knowledge with golf. I would say in America today the golf pros that are teaching know less about golf. They have all the equipment and the technology but they are teaching golfers to do this at the top.
“But you can’t once you do that you are gone. Jack Nicklaus won majors for 25 years, I won majors for 20 years, Palmer won for six years because he was shut.
“Look at Dustin Johnson. You haven’t heard of him. When was the last time you heard of Dustin Johnson? The minute you go like this, your golf career is limited. You have got to get the club and your hands under the club.
“What they are doing, they did it with Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler. Now those two guys. Jordan Spieth I think is the best golfer in the world but in my opinion he was taught the wrong thing. And he just went downhill. He went downhill.
“If you had a man like Ben Hogan teaching Jordan Spieth he would be the best in the world. He’s such a competitor, such a wonderful man. A wonderful guy for golf, the best short game, best course management but he just can’t hit the ball. That is a tragedy.“
While the word tragedy may be a slight exaggeration from Player, nobody can accuse him of being wrong about the situation.
When Spieth was winning majors and PGA Tour events regularly, the position of his clubface at the top of the backswing was far more neutral than it has been over the past few years.
Check out Spieth’s swing in super slow motion from 2016 here on Titleist’s YouTube Channel.
Now look at how laid off his swing path gets at the top in 2022 and how closed his clubface is by clicking here on Mike’s 3D Life YouTube Channel.
The difference is, quite frankly, astonishing.
Jordan Spieth is deluded about his ball-striking
Spieth is ranked 97th in strokes gained off the tee this season, and 33rd in strokes gained approach.
In 2025, he was ranked 33rd and 58th respectively in those two categories.
His driver was one of his main strengths in 2024, and he was ranked 15th in strokes gained off the tee, but he ranked well down in 138th in strokes gained approach.
Meanwhile, he was ranked 59th in strokes gained off the tee in the 2022/23 season and 71st in strokes gained approach.
The fact that Spieth keeps telling everyone how much his ball-striking has improved is a concern.
He continues to insist how great he’s swinging the golf club as well. Those kinds of levels of delusion will continue to hold him back.
Maybe the best thing for Jordan Spieth to do will be to go back to the way he swung the golf club in 2015, with more of a neutral clubface position at the top.
Gary Player is certainly not wrong. Those who swing with a closed clubface at the top usually have fairly short windows of success.
