Jordan Spieth's Rare Ability to Go Low Any Time Is Most Valuable Skill in Golf

If you have ever been out to a tournament to watch Jordan Spieth play, you might walk away thinking that the 22-year-old Texan is not overly impressive.

While he is in good physical shape, he is rather slight in build compared to many of the young golfers walking around the course with bodies resembling those of NFL defensive backs.

His driving distance is about average for a tour professional.

He won’t leave you spellbound by the type of high majestic iron shots you will often see from the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jason Day.

You won’t see him fist-pumping his way around the course or creating the kind of dramatic theater that Tiger Woods produced on an almost daily basis during his prime.

Spieth goes about his business in a quiet yet confident manner, signs his scorecard and begins preparing for the next round.  

But then something odd occurs. You return home from the tournament and drop your aching bones into a comfortable chair while asking yourself what all this Spieth hoopla is about. You then reach for the controller and flip on The Golf Channel only to find out that Spieth posted a round of 66 and is tied for the lead.

The news leaves you utterly and completely baffled and has you questioning whether you were actually watching Spieth play for the past five hours or were the victim of some kind of an alien abduction.

During the opening round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, Golf Channel analyst Frank Nobilo may have summed up Spieth’s game perfectly when he said “he’s an amazing player to watch. He always looks like he’s on the brink of struggling and then you look at the scorecard.”  

Golf Channel’s on-course analyst Curt Byrum echoed Nobilo’s view later in the round when he made the following statement: "Sometimes you watch him [Spieth] play and think, you know, it wasn’t that good. Then you look up and he’s 5 or 6 under par. It’s just phenomenal."

Although Spieth is arguably the best putter on the planet right now, he will not wow you with any other aspect of his game. His success comes more from an innate understanding of the ultimate objective of the game of golf: complete 18 holes in the fewest possible strokes.

Spieth’s scoring average of 68.93 during the 2015 season ranked No. 1 on the PGA Tour. He finished within the top 10 at 60 percent of the tournaments he attended and made 21 out of 25 cuts.

Of the 21 tournaments where Spieth made the cut during 2015, his average finish was eighth.   

Of those tournaments Spieth did not win, his average finish was 10th. This indicates that even when Spieth is not winning, he is often right around the top of the leaderboard.   

Just as a comparison, Day, who also won five times on the PGA Tour in 2015, had an average finish of 10th in tournaments where he made the cut. When Day did not win, his average finish was 14th.

Between 2014 and 2015, McIlroy won five times and missed just one cut. McIlroy’s average finish in events where he made the cut was ninth. His average finish at events where he did not win was 12th.

Current World No. 5 Rickie Fowler won twice on the PGA Tour last year. Fowler’s average finish for the season was 21st and his average finish at tournaments he did not win was 24th.

As you can see, Spieth has demonstrated a level of consistency far superior to that of his top competitors, particularly on those occasions when he did not manage to win.   

In some ways, this is similar to how Woods was able to remain so consistent through the years. Much like Spieth, Woods was a master at using his short game and putter to turn poor ball-striking rounds into under-par scores. The 14-time major champion would often spray the ball all over the golf course, convert a few miraculous up-and-downs and next you know he was posting a score of 68 and sniffing around the lead. 

But what separated Woods from any other player of his generation, and many would argue any other player in the history of the game, was that in addition to his amazing ability to use his short game and putter to post a score, he also had the capacity to overpower a golf course. So when Woods’ long game was on, he was able to annihilate the field like he did on numerous occasions between 1997 and the early 2000s.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

There are several players right now who possess various aspects of Woods’ game during his prime.

Players such as McIlroy, Day and Bubba Watson have enough power to demolish a golf course and run away from the field. This power game has allowed a player such as McIlroy to win major championships by eight strokes.

Spieth, on the other hand, does not possess Woods’ power game, but he does enjoy that same uncanny ability to post a low score no matter how he is striking the ball.

The first four holes of the third round of last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions was a perfect example of what separates Spieth from the competition.

Spieth, who began the day with a four-stroke lead, missed the first two greens in regulation but was able to get up-and-down for par from difficult locations. He then sunk a 25-foot putt for birdie at the third and a 10-footer for birdie at the fourth. And bingo, he’s two under par and has maintained his lead during a four-hole stretch that would have left virtually every other touring professional one or two over par. 

Spieth then proceeded to play his final 14 holes of the third round in six under par, despite hitting just 11 of 18 greens in regulation. While most players would have been content walking away with a 70 following a below-average ball-striking round, Spieth was able to lean on his rock-solid short game and putter to post a 65 and carry a five-stroke lead into the final round. He would extend his lead even further on Sunday en route to an eight-stroke victory.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

Two weeks ago, McIlroy made headlines around the world by predicting that Spieth would not be able to perform as well in 2016 as he did during the 2015 season, as reported by James Corrigan of the Telegraph.

Considering that Spieth won two consecutive majors, finished within the top five at the other two majors, racked up five total wins and 15 top-10s, captured the FedEx Cup title and went home for the holidays with close to $25 million in 2015 earnings, McIlroy’s prediction that this truly incredible season would not be repeated in 2016 was not an overly bold one.

But much to the chagrin of McIlroy and every other player out on tour right now, it is also unlikely that Spieth will somehow disappear over the next 12 months. His ability to use his short-game and putter to weather virtually any storm produced by his long game will simply not allow Spieth to remain absent from leaderboards for an extended period of time. And if the first tournament of the 2016 calendar year is anything to go by, the reigning Masters and U.S. Open Champion appears to have picked up exactly where he left off in 2015.

During Woods’ prime, he would often say that winning is all about getting in contention on Sunday and then seeing where the chips fall. Woods’ logic was that the more often a player was in contention on Sunday, the more often he would win.

In the coming years, power players such as McIlroy and Day may be the ones shocking crowds with their incredible power and winning majors by record-setting margins when they are playing at their peak. But it is Spieth who possesses the most valuable skill in all of golf—the ability to post a low score on a consistent basis and get himself into contention virtually every time he tees it up.  

So while at first glance Spieth may not appear overly impressive to the untrained eye, his unique style of play may very well lead him to more total wins than any other player in this new generation chock-full of bright young stars.

Because after all, success in golf is not measured by who hits it the farthest or the highest, it is measured by who completes 72-holes in the fewest number of strokes, which is a skill Spieth appears to have mastered.