Scottie Scheffler admits his new putting coach Phil Kenyon told him he "sucked" with the putter as soon as he started working with him following the Tour Championship at the end of August.
Scheffler, 27, won twice on the PGA Tour in 2023 and he led a number of different stats on the circuit such as strokes-gained total, off the tee and approach the green.
The big issue has been the putter.
Scheffler ranked 151st in SG-Putting in 2023.
Hence a recent call to Kenyon, who has worked his magic with a number of the world's best in recent years including Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone, Scheffler first revealed how the relationship came about:
Scheffler said:
"I've watched Phil for a while. I've never really had an instructor teach me anything really other than Randy. It was something I was thinking about kind of towards the end of the year, and Phil was a guy that I had watched, and he teaches a lot of really good putters, and he didn't seem like a method guy. So he was the first phone call that I wanted to make.
"I called him maybe Monday after the Tour Championship -- maybe even texted him Sunday night. It was something that I didn't want to think about as the year went on because it would have been a change, but right when the Tour Championship ended, I was just thinking about it and I was like, oh, I'll see what he's up to, and he ended upcoming to Dallas a few days later, and we got some good work in. And it's been great. He's a fascinating person to work with."
So what has Kenyon seen so far?
He was brutally honest for starters.
Scheffler said:
"Yeah, well, I mean, basically he just told me I sucked, he couldn't believe I ever won a tournament with how I putted. That's what you want to hear, right? No, on a serious note, I had a feeling what I was doing wrong. It was something that -- my suspensions were kind of answered. It was just I was trying to fix it in the complete wrong way. To get into the details of it would take a little bit of time, but it's really very simple."
The six-time PGA Tour winner then went into more detail about what Kenyon has been working with him on ahead of the Ryder Cup.
Scheffler, who has gone back to his old Scotty Cameron putter, admits he is "excited" by the changes he has already seen with Kenyon:
"The way I moved the putter through the ball, I was kind of fighting the toe rising on the putter as I went through, and so sometimes I'd miss contact a little bit in the heel. In order for me to try to keep my putter head low, the way I would do it is I feel everything in my hands, and what I would do is I would lower my hands. But when I lowered my hands, it actually caused the toe of the putter to go higher and higher. So as the year went on, my hands are getting lower and lower, and the problem is getting worse and worse.
"It was something I couldn't figure out, and it was preventing me from hitting as many putts on line as I should have. Like I said this year, I really did hit a lot of good putts. Now I feel like I'm much more consistent hitting my start line, especially my practice.
"I see the ball rolling end over end a lot more than I did a month ago, and it's exciting. It's good for me to have a little bit of direction. I think the second set of eyes with Phil was really, really helpful. It was good to get my brain in order and feel like I'm working in the right direction versus playing a bit of a guessing game. So Phil has been really helpful."
How will Scheffler get on at the Ryder Cup? Is a new putting coach going to dramatically change things for Scheffler on the greens? Share your thoughts and comments over on the GolfMagic social media channels.
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