Jordan Spieth is from Texas, which is good, because he looks exactly like someone from Texas, tall and lanky and slim. But not in an Outlaw Josey Wales kind of way (I think he was from Kansas or Missouri, not Texas, but you catch my drift), that would be reserved for a gunslinger looking player like Dustin Johnson, one that has the walk and the slow drawl, and the hot wife. No, if Jordan were in an old Western movie, he would play the part of the young, green cowboy who was still wet behind the ears and didn’t even have his first poke yet. You know that guy. The one that they have in all the movies, and he doesn’t even have a proper hat or six-shooter. Think Newt from Lonesome Dove. That’s Jordan. And that’s not really a bad thing because Newt was still tough and had Captain Woodrow F. Call’s blood in him…Anywho…
There once was a time when I looked over at my kids and said, “Kids, that Jordan Spieth is the best golfer in the world right now and he’s not much older than y’all are.” We liked him immediately. He had pleasant demeanor with a loving family, which included a special sister and doting parents, and the appeal that a lot of golfer’s have—they make you think you could be just as good as them. (You won’t be). His feats were Herculean, but his body isn’t. He won two majors and a Tour Championship in the same year, but I know a guy at the range who drives it way farther than Spieth. He’s made millions being the top guy in a professional sport, but I bet you my 21-year-old self could have taken him in a foot race. I’m just saying, he's unassuming.
And then all of a sudden, he dropped from the face of the earth. At least the golf universe. So much so that I looked over at my kids again (I do that a lot) and said, “Where the hell is Jordan Spieth? Remember when he was the best player on the planet?” He seems like eons ago, but it has only been a few years really, but that’s a lifetime in golf years. What happened? Was he burnt out? He got married and his priorities changed (see poke, first paragraph)? Did he have a bulky putter?—whatever that means, but I think it’s bad. At any rate, he just wasn’t the same player he once was.
Cue the tumbleweed and the dusty town. A stranger rides up on a brown colt, a proper cowboy hat, and the look of someone who has been in some battles. He’s not a newbie any longer, he’s a rangy veteran, and he's ready to be badass again. Out of nowhere, Jordan Spieth is once again one of the best players in the world. He could have easily laid down and died, rested on the laurels of a stellar early career, but he wanted more. He sought to be a legend and not just legendary. Hardened by trials and tribulations, he now approaches the game like he did when he was younger, fearless and ready to dominate. You can see and feel his confidence.
I think he’s ready to make a “major” breakthrough once again and we will have to apologize for the negative things we said about him. He’s going to give us a lot to ruminate on in the future. “Hey kids…”
In A Bag of Clubs with a driver being the hardest to hit and therefore rank number 1, all the way to the easiest, the Gap Wedge, I would rank him right now as a good solid, 3 Wood. Place your bets with confidence, kids…