Scottie Scheffler, and a poetic explanation of why we return to the ‘frustrating’ game

Scottie Scheffler brought his right arm back, arched his back until he reached a point where that arm was just above his right knee, planted forward with his left leg – again. he threw.

A good hand wedge.

Maybe even a 9 hand.

But it’s a good laugh. Now his ball was resting among the trees near the 11th green of the Riviera Country Club, where, two years ago at the Genesis Invitational, Scheffler had just sent a 5-foot birdie putt 4 feet past the hole.

The point here, though, is not to wonder if a top golfer could be the quarterback of the hometown Dallas Cowboys?

What is the point?

If playing golf drives us to such frustration, why do we play golf? Obviously, there are other things we are pursuing. The payoff for throwing a ball into a tree sounds unpleasant. Scheffler said Wednesday that he doesn’t even have the right way to measure how good he is.

Then again, maybe not being boxed in is liberating. Perhaps immeasurability is undeniably good.

To say the least, Scheffler’s press conference ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational was anything but ordinary. The session was showing light. He said golf is limitless in its learning opportunities. And if you’re the studious type like him — “my mind has always been my greatest tool,” he says — that’s as welcome as a sunny weekend day.

“I think that’s why we keep practicing,” Scheffler said. “You don’t get to a point where you feel like you’ve got that. I always like to practice and try to improve and make new shots.

“I think golf is a never-ending quest to find something and I’ll never get there, but there’s no harm in trying.”

Scheffler came up with Jordan Spieth, the pro and old friend he plays with regularly.

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“You talk about how golf is a never-ending quest to find the game,” Scheffler said.

“I play golf with Jordan a lot at home. I can learn a lot from watching and asking Jordan questions about how he plays shots, and he does some things that are there – they work very well for him that wouldn’t work well for me and then there are certain ways he deals, I like to ask questions and try to figure things out.”

But what about defeat?

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In this poetic interpretation, you can keep coming back for more.

“When it comes to competing in golf tournaments,” Scheffler said, “I can’t control what the other guy I’m playing with does. Let’s say I’m tied for the lead going into the final round and I shoot a 62 and the guy shoots a 61. Yeah, I might look at a few shots that I want to take back, but at the end of the day, take your hands off, and grab your hat at the end of the day. Congratulations.

“The good thing about golf is usually we just show up next week and start over and compete again.”

Over time, you even develop friendships.

“When you look at a guy like Collin [Morikawa] last week,” said Scheffler.” I have been competing with Collin since we were 14 years old. You win a tournament, you announce you’re pregnant, and all of a sudden you have this – it’s a great moment to see a guy who played great golf a few years ago and didn’t get results and wins, but he played great golf, and then you get to announce that you’re having a baby. This is the moment, it’s like, wow. I competed as hard as I could, I got beat, and it’s like, man, that’s cool. You won, congratulations.

“You have a baby, congratulations even more. And here we are this week and the preparations have just started again.”

So, the same thing goes for throwing a ball at a tree.

Continue to the next hole. We move on to the next competition. This is where things get really good.

The 2024 Genesis was the last tournament Scheffler played with a blade putter, hitting an 11-putt.

And he has won 14 events, including three majors.

“When things don’t go as planned,” said Scheffler, “I think it’s healthy to have a level of frustration with that, just because it takes a lot of work to get out here, and especially when you feel like you’re doing something right and you’re doing things the right way and you’re not getting results.”

“I think it’s always frustrating, but I think that’s part of the game of golf to be able to manage that to drive the next shot.”

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