British Open: Jordan Spieth thinks he has his winning swing back

Last year’s British Open was an iconic moment in Jordan Spieth’s career. After working through some surprising swing struggles, though, he’s ready to go at Carnoustie.

Since last year’s British Open, Jordan Spieth has changed his swing twice in order to get his old swing back. Wrap your head around that statement. However, he now says that he’s back to having his swing feel and perform the right way.

Coming to the British Open, he added, requires feel, and at this stage in the continued redevelopment of his game, he thinks it’s just what he needs.

"“I’d gotten very technical and very into making everything perfect instead of kind of the way that I normally play,” he insisted in his British Open pre-tournament press conference. “So, this week kind of provides that opportunity where you don’t know how far the ball is necessarily going to go off the tee. You need to play the spots, and then you have to use your imagination from there — hold the ball, ride the wind, a lot of different scenarios based on where pins are and the distance that you have.”"

In other words, he will have to play golf, not golf swing, because the British Open always requires numerous feel shots, not the kind of target golf that is played in the U.S.

Spieth did admit that he was letting poor swings get to him on the golf course.

"“If I’m not playing well, you can tell, and if I’m playing well, you can tell. So, you probably saw more of the not playing well because I wasn’t playing as well,” he said. “It was actually fueling me. I was enjoying the work even though I knew it wasn’t there.”"

It didn’t look like it as he slammed drivers onto tees, flung irons onto the fairway and yelled at himself. He looked really frustrated, often for just two rounds, because he also began missing cuts.

It’s hard to get your groove back when you are only playing two rounds of a tournament and heading home for the weekend. Spieth added that even though he had the first-round lead at Travelers, he knew his game wasn’t yet consistent enough to play four good rounds.

"“I wasn’t down on myself that I didn’t play well the next couple of days. Instead, I knew there was work that needed to be done and things weren’t firing on all cylinders to win golf tournaments,” he explained. “I know what that feels like, and I wasn’t feeling that way.”"

He believes he had good ball-striking through The Masters. Then it took a dip in New Orleans where he got off track and into some bad swing habits.

"“I needed to work a different swing feel than I had experienced maybe the last two, three, four years to get things back in shape,” he said. “But I knew that that swing feel was not permanent. It was something just to get the beacons back to even, right? Train the eyes, train the alignment, the swing.”"

OK, Jordan, if you say so. Who are we to argue?

By the time he got to The Memorial, he said he had overdone it one way and had to find what he called “middle ground” in his swing.

Somehow, getting away from the PGA Tour for a couple of weeks let him return with what he said is a more natural setup, with the right ball flights and the right feel.

“I don’t have to worry about as much before I start my swing,” he added. “And within the swing, I can do kind of the same feels that I’ve been doing the last year, year and a half, that’s produced my best ball striking in my life.”

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He certainly sounded like he believes things have turned around for the better, but of course, the scores will tell the tale.

"“I kind of attacked the places that really needed some strong work,” he concluded. “So, is it as consistent as it’s ever been? Probably not. But can it be by the time we tee off? Absolutely. Does it have to be to win the tournament? No, because it requires so much feel over here. As long as I play to the right spots and give myself enough chances, it can be good enough.”"

Ah, it sounds like maybe he’s learned that he doesn’t have to play perfect golf every time he tees it up and that it’s possible to win with less than perfection.

As far as how Spieth will attack Carnoustie, often regarded as one of the toughest tests in the British Open rotation, he expects to wear out his irons.

When he gave his press conference, he had not yet seen it, but caddie Michael Greller had. Greller suggested to Spieth that he would be hitting a lot of 5-irons off the tees instead of 2 or 3-irons because the course is baked out.

“I think a couple players, a couple longer hitters might take driver a little more because I don’t think the rough’s as bad. But I’m not sure what my strategy will be yet,” he noted.

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Spieth is hoping that the weather will be consistent, and that he won’t get the wrong side of the draw.

"“That’s the one thing The Open can bring,” he said. “You can actually eliminate half the field with one bad afternoon of weather Thursday or Friday, like at Troon, which is always disappointing to come over here and have that happen if you’re on the wrong side, obviously. Pretty nice on the right side.”"

In a day or two we will find out if Spieth’s game is indeed where he thinks it is.

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