Hank Haney: Jordan Spieth ‘cannot hit the ball right now’

Hall of Fame golf teacher and former coach to Tiger Woods, Hank Haney, is never afraid to speak his mind. On his popular podcast on Monday, which you can subscribe to here, he got going on Jordan Spieth, who finished T68 at the RBC Heritage following an opening-round 66.

Haney started by characteristically pulling no punches, listing off a series of his statistics along the way.

“He cannot hit the ball right now,” Haney said.

But that blunt observation actually gave way to Haney’s central point: that even though Spieth is struggling mightily with his ball-striking right now, “Spieth is the ultimate grinder. He will give you every single thing you’ve got…even with all those statistics that I just read, which are just awful. He still hangs in there…Jordan Spieth has only missed one cut this year.”

To Haney’s point: Though Spieth’s game clearly isn’t at the same levels as it was in 2015, when he finished in the top five of all four majors and won two of them, there have been signs of hope for Spieth fans waiting for his return to glory. His golf swing underwent a subtle overhaul during the impromptu offseason, and although his putting and never-say-die attitude have been leading the charge, his driving accuracy and greens in regulation statistics have reached some of their highest levels of the season upon the Tour’s return, leading to a top 10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in his first start back.