Jordan Spieth‘s journey through professional golf has always been one for the record books. A cautionary tale of how quickly even the brightest stars can dim. At just the age of 21, he had two major championships in his bag and had ascended to world no. 1. He was the untouchable, the undefeated. Truly a Golden Child. But the gold has now started to corrode.

Golf insiders can talk at length about the extent of his downfall, but only his close ones know the true reality. In an episode of On The Bag with Dan Rapaport, fellow 4x PGA Tour winner Daniel Berger reflected on Spieth’s early dominance. Berger remembers playing alongside him in the juniors and early tour years, calling him the “luckiest f-king golfer” he had ever played with. While Spieth’s shots were undoubtedly precise, there was always an element of fortune in his game. Especially in his putts. “There was a stat that I used to remember (in 2015)…He was number one on tour from putts made from like 25 ft, but he was making twice as many putts as the number two guy. I mean, that’s like ridiculous,” shared Berger. 

By this stat, every time Jordan Spieth hit the green, he had a 25% chance of making the putt. These are some of the reasons that made it impossible to be victorious when playing against him. But just a year later, the cracks started to appear in his game. It was at Augusta when he entered the back nine with a five-shot lead. He had a chance to become the youngest back-to-back Masters champion in modern history! But the par-3 12th hole turned everything on its head. His first shot landed in Rae’s Creek, the drop shot went in the water again, and a quadruple-bogey erased his lead in minutes. The loss left an undeniable mental scar. In 2017, he made a comeback, winning three PGA Tour events, including one Major, but that was all. The Golden Child’s streak had come to an end

The metrics from that time clearly underline his decline. After ranking second in Strokes Gained Total in 2017, Spieth’s performance tumbled — 32nd in 2018, 59th in 2019, and dipped to 99th in 2020. Even approach play, once a cornerstone of his game, fell from second in 2017 to 131st in 2024! And the putting, that Berger commended, became volatile too. 123rd in 2018, 155th in 2022.

While all this was going on, Spieth also picked up a wrist injury in 2018. His tendency to brush it off is what many believe laid the groundwork for the struggles he’s facing today.

Was an untreated injury the reason for Spieth’s downfall?

In 2018, a bone chip in his left wrist forced him to make subtle changes to his swing and grip. As he adjusted to avoid pain, these compensations became ingrained habits. His full swings were now impossible to achieve, and it slowly eroded the trust Spieth had in his own game. In 2023, he reinjured his wrist while playing with his son, which finally forced him to take notice. Eventually, he underwent surgery in 2024, seven years after getting the injury!

“My grip around [2018], I had hurt it, and I didn’t get it fixed. I already have a weak grip, and it got too weak, and I went into bad habits for a long time,” he said earlier this year as reported by GOLF.com.

Post surgery, Jordan Spieth’s swing altered further. The clubface became more shut at the top, and his wedge play suffered. His friend, Smylie Kaufman, revealed that this was the moment the natural rhythm of his game began to fracture. “When you make swing changes, you start hitting it further, sometimes there’s a driver swing the guys have and there’s sometimes there’s an iron swing the guys have. And I think he’s kind of caught a little bit in between,” he said on an episode of GOLF Subpar in 2024.

While he was navigating these struggles, Spieth decided to take on a leadership role within the PGA Tour. He became the chairman of the Player Advisory Council. With this role described as a “legit full-time job” by Adam Scott, it was speculated that these administrative responsibilities further distracted him.

However, insights from golf insiders indicate that, although the responsibilities of chairing the PAC did add extra demands on his time, this was not the main factor behind his decline. The primary causes were rooted in physical and technical challenges, most notably the lingering effects of his untreated wrist injury. This injury had already forced him to make significant adjustments, and had now gradually eroded the fluidity and consistency that once defined his game.

Signs of life, but glory still elusive

This year, Jordan Spieth has shown steady improvement, although he hasn’t yet reclaimed his peak. Playing 17 PGA Tour events, he logged four top-10s, including fourth at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and seventh at the Memorial Tournament. His Masters (T14), U.S. Open (T23), and The Open Championship(T40) offered flashes of his three-major winning self, but they were not sustained. He was also the only LIV golfer aside from DeChambeau to break it into the top 15 at Augusta.

Statistically, he has indeed improved a lot. Spieth ranked 16th in Strokes Gained: Total and 17th Tee-to-Green through August, but poor driving accuracy (102nd) and inconsistent putting kept him from victories and automatic Ryder Cup qualification.

But he’s optimistic. “Next year’s going to be a really good year for me, I can feel it. It’s all coming along. I’ll be healthy, and just structurally putting, the mechanics are all getting really, really close.” It’s not too late for him — his performance at the FedExCup Championship is proof of this. With renewed health, experience, and mental grit, the 31-year-old still has the ingredients for another surge. The question is whether he can piece them together in time. What do you think?