By his own admission, Jordan Spieth had four months to get ready for Thursday’s opening round of the Sony Open, the first event of the 2026 PGA Tour season. A third of the year to work on his swing, to do any equipment-tinkering. Naturally, Spieth waited until the very last minute to make a rather important equipment change, one he’s already regretting despite a first-round 68 at Waialae.
“Frankly, just I put in a 3-iron like two days ago and it cost me two and a half shots, the shots I hit with that club,” Spieth said Thursday evening. “I’m going to go back to my hybrid and I’ll be better off.”
Taking the hybrid out of the bag is a grave mistake for us mere mortals. Apparently, the same can be true for a three-time major winner.
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In fairness, it wasn’t a switch-out Spieth made just for the sake of making it. He had a plan in mind, just one that didn’t quite work out like he thought it would.
“It’s just a driving iron course, like here and the Open,” he said. “The problem is I had four months to get ready for this week and I dug five 3-irons out and I hit them the day before I came here and then I bought them all here and then I was trying to figure out which one I liked here and they were all good.
“And so then I got to pick one, and it just — I just haven’t been playing with it, so I think I’m going to just go back to the hybrid.”
A few of those extra shots, as of now, are the difference between the top 10 and T-41, where Spieth currently sits. It was actually the putter that let him down the most, Spieth losing just over a stroke on the greens.
As for his overall game, the 32-year-old sounds as optimistic as ever.
“I think it’s only going to get better from here,” he said. “I really, really was very pleased with what I saw today and I like what’s coming. I just need to tighten it up on and around the greens.”
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
