Scottie Scheffler may have said that the Grand Slam is not a motivating factor for him at Shinnecock, but the weight of the moment is difficult to ignore. Three consecutive runner-up finishes and a five-month wait for a victory this season are seemingly adding pressure on the World No. 1. That pressure was visible when the 20-time PGA Tour winner had to bring in his longtime guru, Randy Smith, to discuss things out.

During the opening round, the two were involved in an intense discussion about Scheffler’s grip, with Smith showing Scheffler what may be the issue. However, the world No. 1 wasn’t having it either. Commentators appropriately put the issue at hand in words:

“He just knows how important these fundamentals are to Scottie, and this is not uncommon,” a commentator said. “They will go back and forth. They’ve known each other for a really long time, so they’re gonna have these conversations. It’s been pretty well documented this year that Scotty has been losing her shots out to the right.”

There seems to be no issue on the paper. His SG: Off-the-Tee is 0.657, fourth-best on the circuit. Similarly, his driving accuracy so far is 63.99%, which is slightly higher than last year’s 63.04%. Considering he won six events, including two majors, in 2025, he’s only trending in the right direction.

However, the grip issues appear when you look at his rounds.

Case in point: the WM Phoenix Open, where he kept missing fairways on Thursday. This led to a round of 2-over 73, his worst since the 2023 TOUR Championship. However, he made an exceptional comeback the next day with a bogey-free round, and it was thanks to an adjustment in his grip.

“I’ve been a proponent of saying you can’t really find it during the tournament week, but I found a little something in my grip yesterday that seemed to really help me get my hands more securely on the club,” he said at the media presser after the second round at TPC Scottsdale.

While he managed to find a short-term solution, the issue seems to persist because he missed half the fairways at the Players Championship and then at the PGA Championship as well. Therefore, Scottie Scheffler and Randy Smith could be trying to find a solution for his grip once again mid-round.

The two have a long-standing relationship. Smith has coached Scheffler since he was just seven to eight years old.

“It’s tough to put into words what Randy means to me. He’s a special man, and he’s taught me everything about the game of golf,” the World No. 1 said after his PGA Championship victory last year.

Scheffler considers Smith part of his family. Therefore, these intense discussions won’t affect their relationship at all. In fact, it could be common between them, as was seen at the 2025 US Open.

At the practice range before the third round, cameras caught them amid a heated argument. Scheffler was so frustrated that analyst Brad Faxon went on to say he had never seen the World No. 1 so animated. But when asked about it after the end of the round, the American professional said that the back-and-forth between them is “pretty regular.”

“You look at something like yesterday, like me getting frustrated on the range with my coach Randy, and it’s just one of those deals when you have the trust between people that you’re almost like a family; you’ve worked together for so long,” he said.

He was caught in a similar exchange with his caddie, Ted Scott, too, at the 2026 Memorial Tournament. His tee shot on the 16th hole landed in the water, and he lost his cool. Family or not, all those exchanges suggest Scottie Scheffler’s frustrations have become more visible this season.