Colin Morikawa ended the 2021-22 season with the word “frustrating”. This season he’s seriously improving from last season.
Morikawa finished the year 152nd in strokes gained around the green and 131st in putting. So the areas for improvement were clear – his chipping and putting. But it’s not all bad for him.
Colin Morikawa is good from tee to green. He won his two majors in his 2020-21 season and reached a career-best his No. 2 in all of those skills. Nevertheless, his short game has hampered him ever since he turned pro.
Morikawa started the first round at the Sentry Tournament of Champions with a brilliant 9-under 64. It was evidence of his improvement.
He usually plays as a caddy on his only team with J. But the 25-year-old insisted on trusting Jakobach.
‘He’s very good. Don’t get me wrong…he knows golf,’ Morikawa said on Jakobak
“Steven felt like the perfect mix” – Sweeney’s Colin Morikawa
Rick Sessinghaus has been Collin Morikawa’s swing coach since he was eight years old. The American golfer’s full swing is still intact considering his iron play put him third on tour last season. He was looking for a specific coach, not the game as a whole.
The two-time major champion (PGA Championship ’20 and Open Championship ’21) said he consulted Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy during a TaylorMade photoshoot. This is due to my experience with multiple coaches.
“I spoke with Max Houma a lot, just sneaking in questions about what they thought of the coach.”
One name that was common to all inquiries was Stephen Sweeney. He has an excellent portfolio of coaches on the PGA Tour and in his LIV, including Aaron Weisz, Sebastian Muñoz, Joaquin Niemann, Shane Lowry, Mito Pereira and Carlos Ortiz.
Weisz was one of the experts who suggested the Sweeney name to 25-year-old Sweeney. Wise improved his putting under Sweeney and was an above-par putter last season after finishing outside the top 170 in the years before that.
Collin Morikawa met Sweeney before the World Wide Technologies Championship in Mayakoba. Both practiced their putting until the sun went down on the Sunday before the tournament.
According to Morikawa, Sweeney is the perfect blend of technical and freewheeling.
“Steven felt like the perfect mix that needed to be understood from the beginning.”
PGA Tour golfers forgot what they had learned over the years and started with the basics.
“So he was able to blend in with both, which was amazing. Every question I have for him, he has the answer.”
Colin Morikawa also tried to improve his chipping with Parker McLachlin, known as the “Short Game Chef”. McLachlin is a retired tour pro, now residing in Hawaii, and a leading figure in his game of short.
“It’s nice to have someone who knows a lot about the short game and bounces ideas around,” Morikawa said of McLachlin.
“I didn’t have a chipping coach, and we’re not here to be too technical. With a sense, again, take someone else, someone I trust, an idea.” Let’s hit it and see what happens.”