Justin Thomas’s most recent tournament results have been ugly. Over the course of the US Open and The Memorial alone the Kentucky native missed consecutive cuts while managing a combined score (relative to par) of 20-over thru 72 holes (U.S. Open 14-over, Memorial 6-over).
On Friday of the U.S. Open, Thomas shot a second-round score of 11 over-par (81) en route to his second missed cut (2023 Masters: 4-over) within 2023’s three major championships (played thus far). For his only made-cut of the 2023 major championship season, Thomas defended his 2022 PGA Championship victory with a pedestrian, T-65 finish at 12-over par. Within Thomas’s 2022-23 PGA Tour season (to this point), the 18th-ranked American has managed just two top-10 finishes and zero wins (in 14 events).
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From another perspective, Thomas’s game may not be miles-off when one considers the fact that he does have eight top-25 finishes over the course of 14 events within his 2022-23 tour campaign. Nevertheless, the 15-time PGA Tour winner and former World Number 1 player in Justin Thomas boasts just two victories since the Crimson Tide’s 2012 Haskins Award Winner (most outstanding collegian golfer) captured his 13th title at the WGC-Fed-Ex St. Jude Classic in 2020 (the 2021 Players and the 2022 PGA). Although his winning the Players Championship and the PGA (for the second time) is no small feat, Thomas isn’t rattling off (the sheer number of) wins these days like he once did during the 2017-2020 stretch of years within his future-hall-of-fame caliber career.
Within the best season of his PGA Tour career to date (2017), Thomas was a winning machine off the backs of five PGA Tour victories, including the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. During a four-year span (2017-2020) within Thomas’s entire professional career (2013-present), the 5’9”, 155-pound phenom captured 11 titles (of his 15 in total) while enjoying separate stints (sitting) atop the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
Amid Thomas’s spectacular ascent up the World Rankings, the now 30-year-old then became close friends with Tiger Woods and, somewhere along the line, moved into his current permanent residence in Jupiter, Florida. Although Thomas and Woods aren’t spotted playing much golf together these days, the pair of Americans are both members of the same private country club (Medalist Golf Club) to this day, and together, they have formed a strong friendship thanks to the many golfing memories that they share together.
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A couple years ago, Thomas opted to seek out Tiger’s guidance with respect to the state of his own golf game. Despite Thomas’s successes within regular events (to that point), he hadn’t yet added to his win total of 1 within golf’s most prestigious major championships since 2017. In 2020, Thomas still felt unfulfilled in his golfing exploits despite the fact that he won a couple of times on the PGA Tour and finished in the field’s top 10 at both the Masters and the U.S. Open.
Similar to how Tiger adopted a mindset that placed loads of emphasis on golf’s four major championships, JT (post-2020) wasn’t going to allow himself to bask in the glory of his past successes within regular events thru (his) being satisfied with his close-calls in major championships. Entering 2021, Thomas felt he needed to take his game to another level.
Ever since Tiger enjoyed his most recent stretch of true dominance over the world of golf in 2012-2013 (which included his re-gaining of the world number 1 ranking amid 8 tour victories), the now humbled 47-year old in Tiger adopted a softer attitude/approach towards teaching the game’s up-and-coming talent. Luckily for JT, the years within his climb up the World Golf Rankings overlapped with Tiger’s two-year stretch (2018-2019) of fine form, which included three victories at the 2018 Tour Championship, 2019 Masters, and 2019 Zozo.
In late-2020/early-2021, Tiger offered up to his good friend, Justin Thomas, some honest insight on the then 27-year-old’s game. In confidence, Tiger told JT he needed to become more multi-dimensional with his Ball flight.
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Specifically, Thomas needed to learn how to confidently work the ball from right to left and at various trajectories (high, medium, low). To that point within Thomas’s career, he was almost exclusively a fader of the golf ball who hit a lot of high moon balls. Although Justin was still able to win while heavily favoring his left-to-right ball flight, Tiger knew that Justin’s overt favoritism towards playing the fade wasn’t doing the former Bama standout any favors within golf’s hardest tests, the majors.
In May of 2021, Thomas (clearly took Woods’s advice to heart) captured one of the world’s most coveted events in the Players Championship thru a masterful display of superior ball striking. In attacking TPC Sawgrass’s challenging, dog-leg left 18th hole (with water guarding the entire left side of the hole/fairway), JT executed two beautiful draws off-of-the-tee with a fairway wood on both Saturday and Sunday en route to winning the tournament.
A year later, at the 2022 PGA Championship, Thomas put on another ball-striking clinic and eventually fought off Will Zalatoris in order to capture his second major championship title. In capturing another major championship, Thomas successfully neutralized his ball flight while exerting near-complete control over his tee ball and iron game throughout all four rounds at Southern Hills. All the while, Thomas’s swing (today as in yesteryear) looked very similar to his pre-2021 swing in spite of a few key differences.
Over the years, Tiger Woods has often referenced his own work with his own swing as it relates to “neutralizing” his own setup. Without a neutral setup, Tiger wouldn’t be able to execute his “9 shots” at a level he feels he needs. To be clear, a “neutral” setup is one that isn’t too closed/open relative to our intended target/start-line. In order to achieve a more neutral/square setup, we must have our shoulder/hip/feet/clubface line all pointed in the same direction at our target/start-line.
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Although achieving this may seem relatively straightforward, the best players in the world work diligently to “get their lines” where they need them to be (shoulder/hip/feet-line at the setup position). To be clear, we ideally need our shoulders, hips, and feet (don’t forget the club face) to all be pointed in the same direction when we setup to the golf ball. Earlier in JT’s career, his shoulder line was open to his hip/feet line at address.
Remember, golfers are prone to taking the club back (on the backswing) on a line that’s parallel to their feet line and returning it (the club/club head) on a line that’s parallel to our shoulder line. If our shoulder line is open to our feet-line at the setup position (for a right-handed player), it’s easier to oftentimes swing “across the proper plane” or, in other words, “too far left (for a righty)”. With his open-shoulder plane/line, Justin routinely delivered the club head into the back of the ball on an out-to-in path (across his body or to the left).
In order to execute consistent fades, he delivered the club from out to in with an open club face. In order to neutralize his open shoulder plane, Thomas worked diligently to more involve his lead side. By involving his lead side, Thomas would be more “stacked” at the setup position (shoulders over knees, knees over feet). Also, involving his lead side more would help him theoretically setup to the golf ball with his lead arm/shoulder more out in front of his body and more square his hip/feet line.
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As we’ve touched on previously, you can work on involving your lead side more by doing drills like the one-handed drill. If you watch JT closely on the course these days, you can often see him holding the club in just his lead left hand within his efforts to better utilize his lead side.
Before 2020, JT’s hands were also a little higher at the top of his backswing than they are now. According to golf swing methodology experts, JT’s plane was too vertical (during his winning days). Because JT is a right-hand man like a Scottie Scheffler or a Jordan Spieth, he had no problem executing the beautiful steep backswing of his (despite the verticality of the swing being pinned as less-than-optimal.)
Over the course of the last two seasons, JT has worked tirelessly on involving his lead side more adequately in order to neutralize his setup. In doing so, JT has also achieved a more optimal position with his hands at the top of the backswing deeper (more behind his head, and less up). From this position, golf swing theory says that JT is in a more favorable position to return the club head into the back of the ball on a line that’s more on-plane and not from the outside.
As we saw during the 2021 Players and 2022 PGA Championship, JT is now able to work the ball in both directions with much more precision and confidence. But, JT is not nearly as comfortable deploying his lead side (as he is with his dominant trail side). Consequently, his scoring has been wildly inconsistent. Looking at JT’s swing now while comparing it to his swing in 2018-2019, some teachers may see his setup/swing today and say they like that move more. But his scores on the course aren’t nearly as consistent/good as they used to be. Once again, JT’s genetic makeup lends itself more to his (once deployed) slightly steeper move.
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If you haven’t noticed already, golf isn’t a game that’s played on a simulator. While you may take pride in achieving a club path of 0.0 on your next Trackman-range hitting session, this exact same club path may not work for you on the actual golf course. Somewhere along the way, JT became so immersed in working the ball (in both directions) to perfection that he ignored his short game and lost sight of what made him a great player.
Now, JT’s iron game is about as poor as it ever has been during his 10 years on the PGA Tour. On the range, his perfectly neutral setup and his deeper more adequate hand position (at the top of his backswing) makes it easier for him to hit all types of different shots (high draws, low fades, medium draws, etc.). However, in the heat of competition, JT isn’t as able to exercise control over his iron game as he once was.
If you watch JT on the putting green earlier this year playing in the PNC Championship, his new putting routine involved pretending to roll a ball underhand with his right hand in the direction of the hole (as he stood behind his ball in line with the hole). Along with his struggling long game, his putting has deserted him at times over the course of the last couple of seasons.
After emphasizing/practicing his engagement of the lead-side repeatedly within his effort to achieve a more neutral setup/ball flight, he too-oft ignored the feel in his dominant, superior right hand. Moving forward, I would contend that JT needs to remember who he is at heart in order to re-find his game.
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Mainly, JT is a left-to-right player. And JT is a right-hand man. Not even an athlete as gifted as JT can rewrite the 20-plus-year script that took place during his younger years as a golfer. In other words, JT relied (mostly) on his trailside (as evidenced by his open shoulder-plane and high-hands at the top of the backswing) in order to win double-digit times on the PGA Tour and a slew of other junior/amateur/collegiate events. In order to hit fades/draws (both adequately), he shouldn’t lose sight of the DNA within his original golf swing that made him great.
While I’m all for working on the lead side, I wouldn’t do it so much that I begin to lose sight of why I play golf. I, and JT (and everybody else), play the game in order to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes possible.
