Jordan Spieth has been encouraged to be much more aggressive on long putts if he hopes to end his current wait for a win on the PGA Tour.
Spieth goes into this week’s John Deere Classic looking for a first victory in well over four years. You would have to go back to the 2022 RBC Heritage for the last time the Texan secured a win on tour.
He was dealing with a wrist injury for some of that time. However, Spieth has seemingly been pain free for quite a while. So it is alarming that the 32-year-old has not registered a top 10 finish on the PGA Tour in 2026.
Spieth looked destined to go down as one of the greatest golfers in the game’s history when he won three majors between 2015 and 2017.
The recipe for Jordan Spieth to end his four-year wait for a PGA Tour victory
Few would have imagined that he would not add to his tally after his victory at Royal Birkdale nine years ago. Spieth was a monster at his best. In particular, it seemed that he was never going to miss an important putt, regardless of how far away from the hole he was.
He is now 63rd for strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour. He has also lost shots to the field on the greens in four of his last six starts, according to Data Golf.
And speaking on the Golf Channel, Tripp Isenhour insisted that Spieth needs to regain some of the confidence that he had with putter in hand a decade ago.
“He’s got a lot of good things going, but he’s still just not stringing four rounds together. That is what it’s going to take for him to get back into the winners’ circle. I know he’s been working very hard on all parts of his game, and looking at a different putter is certainly just something a player will do every now and then. But I think it’s his performance on the greens more than anything else,” he said.
“A couple of years ago, he was driving the ball better than he ever has in his career, and the putter just wasn’t there on a consistent basis. It’s kind of lingered a little bit, and by that I mean, it’s good in spots, but it’s just not what it used to be.
“When we look at Jordan Spieth when he was the best player in the world, he was winning majors on a regular basis, and he won here at John Deere during that time, we go back 10 years, and one of the things is Jordan’s exactly the same as he was from inside 10 feet and inside five feet. Look at the percentages. Now the rank may be a little bit different, but the percentage make is exactly the same. He was never one of the best players inside five feet or inside 10 feet.
“But I tell you what, from 15 feet and beyond, this man had no fear. 24 per cent was his make rate. What he said in that press conference, standing over 30 footer thinking there’s no way it’s going to miss. That’s the way he was when he was doing that. You can see he’s down quite a bit from what that was (now 15 per cent).
“Go back to where we’re going to be in a couple of weeks, this is at Birkdale, 2017, Open Championship, remember against Matt Kuchar, and he told Michael Greller, ‘go get that’. Michael Greller had to go get a bunch of them out of the hole around that time frame.
“Making one out of every four putts from 15 to 25 feet, that’s phenomenal. So why isn’t it there? Well, I think his speed control is not carrying enough speed actually. His approach putt performance is much better, but it’s not getting to the hole with the same kind of speed it was in 2016. So I think he could be a little bit more aggressive, like he used to be from 15 feet and beyond. And if he got a little bit more aggressive on those putts on a regular basis, not worry about running it by so much, I think they would start falling in again for Jordan Spieth.
“And if that happens, that will be the recipe for him to hold a trophy again on the PGA Tour.”
The warning for Scottie Scheffler as Jordan Spieth desperately searches for the magic formula
Scottie Scheffler has already eclipsed what Jordan Spieth has achieved in his career. The world number one was not even a professional when Spieth won his most recent major title.
However, there is still a warning for Scheffler when you look at what has happened to Spieth over the last decade.
Admittedly, with the exception of Rory McIlroy, Scheffler looks to be a level above all of the game’s most dominant players since Tiger Woods. But that does not mean that he can become complacent.
Remaining at the top of the mountain is just as difficult as getting there. That is what makes McIlroy’s career all the more incredible.
There seems to be next to no chance of Scheffler not being considered a top 20 player of all time by the time his career concludes.
But Spieth was once on a similar trajectory. Injuries happen, priorities change, and frustration boils over as the body becomes incapable of doing what was once so natural.
