Note to Jordan Spieth

[DGS49]

Dear Jordy,
I heard your interview on Sunday, after you had capped off one of the best non-Tiger years in the history of golf, and at the tender age of 21 or whatever. You said that you were now going to focus on how you could improve.

Read this closely: You will NEVER be any better at golf than you are right now. You might get a little bit smarter by learning certain courses a little bit better, or learn to read greens that are a different type of grass than you have seen before. But how "good" you are at golf is simply defined as how well you can make the golf ball go where you want it to go. And you have peaked, buddy. You have peaked.

The only time when a professional golfer improves is when he is not really doing his best, gets a new coach who makes him work a little harder, and then, for a year or two, he will perform marginally better than he did before. But you have all the help anyone could possibly use already, and are doing everything right now to be the best golfer you can be, and that's it.

Tiger Woods - the standard against which all golfers are measured - never improved from the time he was 20, even though he has spent a lifetime coming to grips with that fact. Every couple years he changes his swing, gets worse for a while, and if everything turns out great, he brings himself back to the same level of excellence he held before he made the change.

So for the future, work on...not allowing your game to deteriorate, not being a jerk, and continuing to answer sportswriters' stupid questions politely. You will not dominate again like you did this year; it was a statistical fluke. Because there is Rory, and Bubba, and Ricky, and Jason Day, and ten other guys out there who pretty much as good as you are now, plus players like Sergio, Furyk, and 20 other old timers (did I mention Tiger Woods?) who are going to rise up occasionally and kick ass, as well as a shitload of 18-20 year olds who are waiting in the wings, impatiently.

Savor the moment. It will never happen again, but don't beat yourself up about it. You are the flavor of the month, and most golfers never have that experience.

 

[HUGGY]

It's already started.

There were video clips of Jordan angrily swinging his club after a few misplaced shots ..muttering to himself in this last outing.

The gleam has shown a few scratches. Speith looked distracted frequently last weekend and the hugging of his retarded sister is wearing thin. Jordan looked like he is getting tired of the pressure.

I think he needs to start enjoying his new found wealth and start acting like a normal 21 year old for a while. There COULD be such a thing as TOO many advisers.

Taking some time off over the fall and winter might be just what Speith needs to recharge his batteries. It may be time to kick his entourage to the curb for a while and distance himself from the obviously needy inner circle that has been his so called strength when it appears to me that they could just be hangers on that are tugging to often on his coat tails.

His special needs sister isn't what has been making those long puts this season. I see a similarity between Speith and Russell Wilson in that they both have accumulated responsibilities that make them appear great people but as these "good guy" appearances make touchy feely headlines and bylines they don't really help his game.

I agree that Jordan may never play any better than he did this season. There seems to be something about an athlete arriving at his physical maximum right around 21 years old. After that it's experience and wisdom that keeps the "game" at an elite level. There may even be improvement in the "stats" as the next few years roll on but as you suggested it could be more about HOW to deal with conditions he hadn't thought about before and not so much the physical hand eye co-ordination he has possessed up to this point.

I remember how Tiger USED to get himself in trouble FREQUENTLY and then just as frequently make these incredible recovery shots time and time again. Now Tiger is beating himself up over silly adjustments in his swing when what used to win tournaments for him was the MAGIC in attacking every wayward shot with pure balls to the walls belief in his ability to make any shot imaginable.

We will see next year if Speith starts playing safe and there is a lot of talk of new coaches and new charities he must think about instead of riding the wave of spectacular golf that only comes from the heart..not the brain.

 

[DGS49]

I hate to say it, but Tiger, Phil, Jack, and Arnie had the best idea: limit your play to a good number of selected events every year. Don't play 40 tournaments, play 20 or so. No one can stay at the high level of intensity week after week. If some fans are disappointed, they just have to deal with it. It is better for you and for the other Tour golfers if the top ones play selectively.

Any golfer who doesn't occasionally "kick the dog" or throw a tantrum is looking to have a stroke. You have to let it out sometimes, and golf is the most frustrating game in the world. Can't blame any golfer who cuts loose every once in a while.

 

[HUGGY]

Golf, to me, is the MOST rewarding sport for the average every day public player. One can hit the ball all over the fairway or the trees and a body of water yet at least one out of ten swings can be just as good as a Tiger Woods can shoot it.

That cannot be said for many sports.