It may not seem like it given his week-to-week theatrics on the golf course and the viral social media clips of him nearly hitting onlookers in the gallery, but Jordan Spieth is close. He is close to putting it all together and playing the caliber of golf that fans (and Spieth himself) have long desired to see on a regular basis.
Following an offseason surgery to alleviate stress in his wrist that had bothered him across multiple seasons, Spieth eased into his 2025 campaign. He had simple goals at the onset of the year: progress physically following the wrist procedure and play himself into contention before the Masters.
Both missions were accomplished, and now that the first major is well in the rear view mirror, he admitted that there have been struggles balancing long-term aspirations (making the U.S. Ryder Cup team) with short-term gains (playing himself into the weekends at majors more regularly).
Spieth understands short-term growth can lead to long-term success, and such progression will need to continue as the long summer of professional golf rolls onward. The three-time major champion finds himself ranked No. 44 in the Official World Golf Rankings, No. 37 in the FedEx Cup standings, and perhaps most importantly, No. 22 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.
The 2025 Travelers Championship — site of his dramatic hole-out bunker shot to seal the deal over Daniel Berger in 2017 — is on deck. Beyond that and before the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin, he will roll into The Open as one of the most-talked about players given his affinity for links golf.
In a conversation with CBS Sports, Spieth touched on all that and more, including the state of his game, close calls with hitting spectators and the balancing those goals.
Below are three of many topics Spieth covered during a 15-minute conversation on the Golf on CBS YouTube channel.
How hard has it been for you to balance the long-term goals and short-term expectations?
Jordan Spieth: “It wasn’t hard the first few months, and then once you got in post Augusta [National] and you start tasting some success, you start start thinking, ‘OK, actually, I feel like my wrist is healthy. I feel like I can practice the way I want to,’ and then I start hitting it really well. And this shot’s getting easier and better. It’s harder to look long term. I just want it to obviously work out right away. And that is the biggest challenge right now, especially as I get towards the end of the season.
“I’m outside looking in on Ryder Cup. I know that The Open Championship, such a big event, the playoffs are huge. I think staying the course and just trying to inch versus take big strides will leave me in a in a better place short and long term. It’s just that’s the biggest challenge is I get off one day, and I want to I want to fix it all right away.
“Just being OK with the ups and the downs and recognizing that we’re still going this direction right now, and in our sport, momentum is everything and confidence is everything. And when you start to gain a little bit, even your off days, you just got to at least maintain where you’re at so that your good ones keep pushing forward.”
I saw you grinding after your rounds pretty good there at Oakmont on the driving range. What are you working on right now with your swing?
Spieth: “I really had unbelievable control in the first round, and I did all week at Oakmont leading into it, and I just picked it up in the first round. I’m like, ‘Man, this is going to be awesome.’ And then kind of the first round, I just got into my bad habit of picking the club up with my hands off the ball. And so I take it on a path that takes my hands higher and drags on. And it’s just what I’ve been fighting all year to try to get out of that.
“My bad habits I’ve had for a couple of years now, and so I needed to go try to fix it after on the range. And I really didn’t get a hold of it until till after Friday’s round. And unfortunately, I played some poor golf off just structural issues that I was trying to fix … and then struck it a lot better on the weekend once I kind of had the time to almost overdo some motions. And when you go to the mistakes I’m making, the easiest way to get off on are really 3 woods off the ground.
“So even though I may have been hitting like 3 woods off the ground, it was with the intent that, if I do it well with the 3 wood off the ground, I’ll do it well with any other club. So it wasn’t exactly to like, ‘Oh, I, I need to work on this club’ by any means. I only had a couple of those throughout the whole week there. So I’m trying to get nice and connected off the ball and turned early. That takes my hands, my hand path deeper, keeps my right elbow lower and let the club just kind of sit where it wants to set, which is a place that I’ve played great golf from in the past.
“And I’m teetering on getting back there closer than I’ve been in a long time to being there. All the problem is right now, when I get off, it’s at a level that, we all get off day to day. Things change. But if you want to take it off by one or two. I’m still getting off by three or four just in reversing that habit. So, I went from having maybe one really good ball striking day or really good mechanics [day] early in the season and three where I had to fight through. Now, I’ve kind of it flipped it to like three and one, and if I can just keep on working, leaning on it and working on the right things, keep kind of putting money in the same bank, just kind of adding to it then that consistency will be the difference maker on really contending week in, week out.”
Why do you love golf?
Spieth: “Well, because the ball’s in my hand, and I’m the only one that can control the outcome. So I firsthand see the work that gets puts in is what you get out. And it inspires me to set goals, work my butt off, and then there’s no better feeling than accomplishing something that you prepared for. And when the ball’s in your hand, you get the last shot and you pull it off. It’s the greatest feeling. And I think golf is the only place that provides that for you.”