How Gary Player would turn Jordan Spieth into World No. 1 in ‘one hour’

Give Gary Player 60 minutes with Spieth, and he's 'convinced' he could get him back to the top.

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So, apparently it’s a new trend for people to say they can fix Jordan Spieth’s game in a short period of time. First, we had Brandel Chamblee saying he could fix Spieth in “two seconds,” and now we have Hall of Famer Gary Player saying it would take him a little longer: About “one hour.”

For context, Chamblee’s quotes came via a recent Golfweek interview, where he said that Spieth had, in a nutshell, worked himself into some awkward body positions which had started compromising his balance.

Enter Gary Player, who said he is “convinced” he could transform Spieth into being the World No. 1 once again if he was permitted an hour of Spieth’s time. How?

In an interview with Sirius XM, Player said he would change Spieth’s mindset — that is, give him a good old-fashioned pep talk that would put his mind back in a more positive, confident place:

“Long hitting is the most overrated thing in golf. The thing that wins a golf tournament is the mind — and we haven’t even begun to understand the mind.”

Player continued:

“There are lot of things that are so hidden, so debatable. There are amazing things about golf…the swing takes one second, and there have been three million books written about it.”

A bit vague there from Player, but his implication is an interesting one. Whatever is hampering Spieth, golfers of all levels can get lost in the nuances of the swing, the technique, and everything in between. But as Player says, golf is won or lost in the mind — a lesson from a nine-time major winner that is true from the game’s best down to the rest of us.

Watch the full clip below:

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Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.