Poor Jordan Spieth, right?  Maybe.  The beginning of his trouble on Masters’ Sunday began on Thursday and probably before that.  What we saw him go through on the twelvth hole was nothing more than stress-induced uncertainty.  After a week of consideration and psychological and athletic synthesis, my answer may put a little different slant on the situation.

Jordan made the same error he was making before last year’s U.S. Open.  He was setting up closed.  Prior to the beginning of that event, he had identified his error and had non-competitive opportunity to repair himself.  But by the time he identified it at The Masters, he was three rounds into the event.  This created a very difficult feedback loop to assimilate under the gun, so to speak.

With his driver, he missed badly to the right all week.  He constantly had to scramble and put tremendous mental energy into managing a less-than-optimal driving game with the remainder of his razor-sharp game.  He repaired his driving error to some degree on Sunday, but the psychological damage had been done, and the sharp edge on his irons and short game were dulled by the stress.  Consider the following:

His errant driving had put such stress on his iron game, short game, and putting throughout the week that, under the exacting pressure of the final nine holes on Sunday, he was mentally unprepared to make good shots and recover from any more bad ones.  Even the best player in the world cannot recover from a poor set-up in the midst of tournament play.  The result is what we witnessed with a lump in our throats.

The tragedy we felt was a loss of four shots on one hole at twelve.  What some may have missed in the larger picture is that Jordan, while a ridiculously great golfer, spent three times that number of strokes recovering from tee shots to the right due to a closed set-up.  Choose just the last two holes and count his strokes over par and the drives he hit in the trees to the right of the fairways.  There’s the tournament.

Jordan will learn from this, as any professional would.  The permanence of his solution will depend on his set-up routine going forward.  If he can put his ball in the fairway, he will dominate again very soon.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

You’ll Never Hear, “Excess Leg Drive is Your Problem.”

Which Side of the Plane is Best for You?

Just To Clarify… I’m Not Amazing, You’re Amazing

The Comfort Zone is the vehicle for the golfer to get in “The Zone”.  How a comfort zone affects a golfer’s ability to change their swing is the key to adaptation not only within golf, the golf swing, etc. but in all learning.  Athleticism plays no real role in learning – only in adapting.

Some golfers have comfort zones that are huge. These people can learn in any golf instructional language.  So they can make almost immediate changes that last because the foundation, their comfort zone, tells them nothing truly unrecoverable will happen as a result of throwing caution to the wind in adapting to instruction. They consider themselves flexible in thought, so they are flexible in deed.   Outcomes are incidental to people like this.

My best friend has no ability to convert instruction into action in spite of the fact that he is a great athlete.   His comfort zone very specific and, as a result, very small.  He learns in a cocoon.  So to leave his cocoon with swing changes means he will be alone with the instruction for a long gestation period.  He will not be forced because the outcome is paramount to him.

The point is that if the outcome is incidental to a golfer, they will learn faster because the instruction is internalized faster.  If the outcome is paramount, a person will take longer to convert the instruction.  The instruction has to be converted in private because the cocoon is the comfort zone.   There are variations in between.  But I thought to hit the extremes here.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Why An Open Stance Wins The Set-Up Debate

Why Imbalances are Important in Creating Efficiency

Why the Wrists?

I have been noticing PGA Tour players are starting to set up open to their target. The first time I noticed it was happening was at the 2015 Players Championship. Ricky Fowler was set-up beautifully open in all his level shots. Then I noticed that it wasn’t just Ricky and Bubba. There were a dozen guys doing it… I mean – appreciably open.
Even Jordan Speith, though not set up open, struggled mightily after his Master’s victory when, as he acknowledged, his alignment had become closed. There now appear to be a spate of high-profile golfers setting up open. Check it out next time you watch a tournament.
Then, most recently, Sean Foley wrote and article about the power of intention in the November 2015 Edition of GOLF Digest. He applied it to focusing one’s attention. Whether he got it from Deepak Chopra or my application of it to the golf swing… it looks this site is becoming more relevant to the golfing world every day. Why did it take four years?

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

The whole reason golf swings fall apart is due to the inconsistent alignment of the feet in relation to the ball and the target.  I think golf professionals have ignored the importance of set-up to their own benefit for fifty years.  I am cynical about it, of course. But cynicism, on its own, does not make the claim untrue.

In reality, I am paying a back-handed compliment to the intelligence of golf professionals everywhere by suggesting they know enough to  ignore set-up.  As a PGA Member, I suppose am complicit in the dodge. In for a penny, in for a pound, you know? Be that as it may….

I am getting the most remarkable results from all … I mean EVERY dedicated student I have.  This philosophy does NOT FAIL to get results.  Also, look for my now-released E-Book, The Open Stance and Three Short Game Lessons, to expand on the theme of my writings.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy

Jordan Peterson and The Open Stance Corollary

Should Jordan Speith Give Advice on Hitting It Straight and Far?