U.S. Open: Jordan Spieth says putting, game trending in the right direction

The U.S. Open is the toughest test in golf, and Jordan Spieth has been struggling for the past several weeks. Will he be able to fix his putting and contend at Shinnecock Hills?

Much has been said and written about the state of Jordan Spieth’s game, particularly his putting. But he’s not worried because he went through the same analysis in 2016 when that year didn’t match his 2015.

“To have everything on, I mean, that’s — it’s rare,” he said in a press conference before the U.S. Open. “Even when guys win golf tournaments, there is something that they will tell you they wish they did better that week.”

He sees his game as a work in progress, not the reclamation project that some would have us believe. Despite the fact that his putting stats this year are not what they were in previous seasons, he is encouraged.

Spieth insisted that he has not seen critiques of any part of his game. Admittedly, he has been working on finding the putting set-up that already won him three major championships.

"“I haven’t seen any dissection of it other than what I’ve been doing myself with the work with Cameron,” he explained. “Everyone goes through peaks and valleys of results in any part of your game, and I just got a little off in setup, and I’m really starting to bring it back now. It feels very good.”"

At the Memorial Tournament, he felt he had a strong week on the greens.

“It was my one bad ball striking week of the year, so I didn’t get four rounds in. But I putted well there and am trending in the right direction,” he added.

This week he will be tested on the poa annua greens at Shinnecock Hills. Tiger Woods described them as “old lumpy poa annua.”

“This is what I basically grew up on out there on the West Coast,” Woods explained. “Poa gets bumpy, and it requires a lot of patience.”

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The poa annua compounds anybody’s putting issues. Even Spieth acknowledged that.

“Especially on poa annua greens that are really fast and really slopey out here, a five-footer is almost 50-50 shot depending on where the break is,” he said, adding that the putts look shorter on TV than they are.

"“You actually have a lot of luck involved, depending on when you’re playing and if the wind’s blowing. You can hit an outside right edge five-footer, and depending on if it’s a crosswind or you get kind of the wrong bounce on poa annua, it could be a dead straight putt, and it could break and miss left of the hole, and you could hit them 30 seconds apart from each other.”"

What may be equally important is where to land a ball on crowned and sloping greens that are inclined to repel the ball rather than receive it. They look big, but they don’t play big.

"“These greens play effectively small compared to their square footage. So if you can hit the center of them, that’s not a bad strategy, he added. “Even if you’re above the hole, I get it, it’s a U.S. Open, you’re above the hole, but it’s still a better opportunity than being off the green chipping to make par. So my strategy is going to be as many middle of the greens in regulation as possible.”"

Patience, patience, patience is the key. Then it will be a matter of getting the putts to drop for par and the occasional birdie.

Next: U.S. Open Power Rankings: Top ten at Shinnecock Hills

“The game feels like it’s in really good shape right now, as good as it has this year,” he noted. “So, got a good chance at a strong second half of the year. Anything similar to the second half of what I did last year would make 2018 an amazing year.”

Yes it would.

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