The Power of Patience

Greetings, let’s talk about the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. Just joking. I’m still buzzing from the last men’s major of the year and wanted to share some thoughts on Scottie Scheffler and what we are watching.

After a commanding Open Championship victory, there is no doubt that the current alpha dog of the sport is Scheffler. His run is astounding. Over the past three years, he has dominated from tee to green and has recently managed to turn a weakness (his putter) into a weapon. This past week at Royal Portrush, we saw Scheffler wield his new weapon and dominate in typical fashion with his irons. It left the field hopeless, and their comments following the championship represent the chasm he has opened up. Harris English, who finished runner-up to Scottie at both the PGA Championship and the Open, said, “It's pretty incredible. Just how good of a frontrunner he is. He's improved his putting. There's no stat that he's bad in. It's like, how do you beat this guy?”

Beyond the wins, the week-to-week consistency stands out. Scheffler’s floor is higher than most players’ ceilings. In a sport that’s defined as much, if not more, by your failures rather than your successes, he seems to never really fall flat. I think this consistency stems from his unique approach to the game. Throughout his career, it’s clear that Scottie and his team have focused on the long-range view and resisted things that could produce short-term gains, sometimes at the expense of the big picture. Now 29 years old and squarely in his physical prime, those decisions are yielding historic results.

Scottie’s pre-championship press conference went viral as he spoke eloquently about the role golf plays in his life. Its role is more subdued than most professional golfers (Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote a nice thread on X about it).

High-level golf is typically a selfish pursuit, and Scottie is a notorious hard worker. The pursuit of excellence in golf can engulf you, and in most cases that can be unhealthy for both your game and personal life. The mental anguish the sport can inflict because of its encompassing nature is second to none. One player who has felt that intense pressure is Jordan Spieth, who described Scottie as different than any superstar in any sport: “I don't think anybody is like him."

Where he’s different is his priority in balance and the efforts he goes to achieve it. His three pillars are family, faith, and golf, seemingly in that order. This allows time to give his golf brain a rest. Spieth acknowledged this on Sunday, saying, “He just wants to get away from the game and separate the two because I know that he -- at one time, he felt it was too much, that he was taking it with him, and whenever he made that switch, I don't know what it was, but he has hobbies. He's always with his family. They're always doing stuff.”

A lot will be written about how Scottie has it figured out, but the reality is he isn’t perfect. The sport will inevitably take over the headspace of even the most disciplined player. It’s the mere fact that Scottie is actively attempting to create such balance in his life that sets him apart from his peers.

Part of how Scheffler carves out so much personal space is his lack of commercial partners. As players ascend to the top of golf, corporate partners and responsibilities traditionally come along for the ride. Scottie is the first player I have seen remain relatively quiet commercially while being dominant on the course. The world No. 1 has annually left millions of dollars on the table. Bypassing that money buys back Scheffler’s most finite resource, his time. It’s an incredibly mature and well-thought-out position from the 29-year-old.

In 2020, Rickie Fowler, who has monetized his personal brand as well as anyone, said he spent 25-30 days per year on sponsor obligations. It’s a stark contrast to Scheffler, who is rarely seen in commercials or making corporate appearances. He pours that time back into his three pillars and maximizes his chances of success in all three. “He doesn't want to go do the stuff that a lot of us go do, corporately, anything like that,” added Spieth.

Scottie brings his patient approach to the golf course, as well. One of the things I have always admired about Scheffler and his coach, Randy Smith, is how they worked when Scottie was younger. Before the 2024 Masters, Scottie talked about how Smith always told him they were making decisions to make him the best player he could be at 25, not tomorrow. They took the long road with Scottie’s progression, and it’s paying off now.

On Live From Sunday evening, Scottie talked about how he’s comfortable with both right-to-left and left-to-right shots; whichever he chooses to hit depends on the situation. Scottie absolutely has a go-to shot in the fade, but he can move it right to left when necessary. This ability takes a lot of work and runs contrary to the current popular thought: pick one shot shape and spend all your energy mastering it.

I would agree that if you want to play your best golf in the near future, you should just stick to one shape. But if you want to be the best player you could possibly be, learning to hit both shapes unlocks a higher, longer-term potential.

This past week, the world’s best played a demanding, firm golf course with a lot of crosswinds. In order to consistently hit proper approach shots, shaping the ball both ways was a fundamental skill. In his pre-tournament press conference, Bryson DeChambeau spoke about trying to do this as his approach to links golf has evolved.

“All I've really done is hit more half shots and tried to play into the wind a lot more. If it's a left-to-right wind, I'll draw it. If it's a right-to-left wind, I'll try to cut it more often than not,” he explained. “If I try to play with the wind, sometimes I lose control of the golf ball. That's what I did; whenever I had a right-to-left wind and I was trying to hit draws, man, that thing would go forever offline.”

As it turned out, the player who controlled their distance the best and led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach was one of the players hitting shots both ways: Scottie Scheffler. This skill was born through Scheffler’s work with Smith and once again points to their long-term philosophy. The ability to consistently hit both shapes is why when the difficulty level rises, so too does Scottie’s game. Scheffler’s iron play stands second to none, with no signs of slowing down.

The funny thing about golf is that you never know where a career will go. In 2008, nobody would have believed Tiger wouldn’t win a major again until 2019. Likewise, in 2014 you would have had your head examined if you said Rory wouldn’t win a major again until 2025. Crazy stuff happens, but it seems like Scottie’s system is set up to endure fame and the challenges of golf better than anyone in the modern era. On and off the course, he’s just built different.