Sir Nick Faldo is a big fan of Scottie Scheffler but he once gave the American a very honest assessment of his swing.
Scheffler is currently the best player on the planet by quite some distance, and Faldo knows all about what it takes to be the number one golfer in the world.
The 68-year-old enjoyed plenty of success throughout his career, with 43 professional victories worldwide to his name, including six major championships.
Faldo has offered huge praise to Scheffler in the past, particularly lauding his unrivalled mentality.
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As good as Scheffler is, though, he is not perfect.
In fact, nobody has ever truly perfected the game throughout history.
And there is one part of Scheffler’s game that Faldo once admitted that he’s not a fan of.
Scottie Scheffler shares what Nick Faldo told him about his swing
Faldo often approaches the top players in the game on the driving range during major championships.
The Englishman did exactly that when Scheffler was beating balls on the range ahead of The Masters a few years ago.
During Scheffler’s appearance on the Fore Play Podcast, he was asked whether he is able to hit a golf shot without moving his feet.
“I can,“ Scheffler replied.
He was then asked whether he has ever swung the club with moving his feet through impact.
“I don’t know, I don’t think so,“ the world number one admitted.
“The last time I tried to do this was I was on the range at the Masters with Faldo.
“This is, like, three years ago, and he wasn’t a huge fan of my footwork, and so I kind of pulled him over and I just started asking him questions.
“He asked me about my footwork, and he’s like, ‘Well, can you do it normal’?
And I was like, ‘Yeah’.
“And so I did it, and he asked me how it felt him, I just said it feels robotic, and he’s like, ‘Okay, I guess it makes sense.’
“I felt like I won him over in a few minutes.“
If you take a look at the above video, it’s clear to see that Scheffler’s ‘shuffle’ makes him the player he is, because it frees him up through impact.
Another key point here is that the American should remain fairly injury free throughout his career due to the fact that he isn’t putting as much stress on his lower back.
What Jack Nicklaus said about Scottie Scheffler’s swing
Scheffler has already drawn comparisons with Nicklaus and that tells you everything you need to know about the current world number one’s quality.
However, what does the 18-time major champion make of suggestions that the 29-year-old swings the golf club similarly to the way that he did?
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Back in June, Nicklaus said: “Well, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of resemblance. Well, the swing path is — Scottie’s is very good, and I felt like my swing path was pretty good. Johnny’s (Miller) swing path was very good. But most good players’ swing path is good.
“Scottie has an unusual way of coming into the ball and having his right foot slide behind him. But that evidently allows him to get his right hip, not into the shot but out of the way, and allows his hands to stay close to his body and swing down a plane.
“That was one of my keys was always to get my hands as close to my body as I could. I remember Byron Nelson when I went to see him years ago, Jack Grout sent me down to see him, and Byron made one statement, he says, ‘I don’t believe you can ever have your hands too close to your body when you swing’, and I felt that’s getting your arms and hands underneath you when you swing.
“Johnny was very much the same way, you were well under the ball and hands were way close to your body. When your hands get away from your body then you make bad swings, and Scottie doesn’t do that.“
The key point to note from Nicklaus’ comments is that Scheffler has unbelievable control of his club-face, just like the Golden Bear did in his prime.
That will serve Scottie Scheffler very well over the next 10-15 years on the PGA Tour.
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