Ben Griffin reveals Scottie Scheffler’s on-course habit never seen on TV

During his appearance on the No Laying Up Podcast, Ben Griffin shared his observations of Scheffler’s play while discussing the mental side of the game.

“Negative thoughts are the easiest thing to creep in your mind, and it’s hard to reinforce positive thoughts. And as professional golfers at the highest level, you have to constantly do that, and you can’t get frustrated. We’ve seen golfers get frustrated this year, it’s not good. It doesn’t put you in a good headspace and it doesn’t help you execute better on the next shot. And it’s not a good look in general,” he said.

“So, for me, I focus a lot on staying positive. Even when I first started playing professional golf, I used to think about hazards that were in play and think about OB and try and play away from penalties. And at some point in my career, it kind of clicked: alright, we can take on these challenges and these penalties. I watch it on TV, I see Rory take it over out of bounds stakes and bunkers. If he’s going to do it, then I have to do it. You can’t focus on the negative outcome, you can’t think about the negative outcomes. You have to concentrate on what you can control. There’s no external thing that should be getting in the way right now. Can’t think about the what ifs. You just have to focus on what your target is and executing a good shot.

“You see Jason Day all the time close his eyes. I’ve seen Scottie Scheffler even do it actually. The cameras I don’t think have picked it up but I played with him somewhere and he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, and I thought man, I’ve never seen him do that before.” Griffin stated.

Jason Day’s routine: why he closes his eyes before a shot

Griffin points out that Day is probably the best-known player for closing his eyes before a shot.

The Australian goes through most of his routine, then steps back behind the ball, takes a breath, and closes his eyes.

He’s spoken about this before, with comments reported by Bunkered explaining the reasoning behind it.

“It’s the most efficient way for me to feel comfortable going into a shot,” he said.

“When I close my eyes, I see a picture of myself. I visualise my swing go back, and go through, and I see the ball land and how it goes, where it lands, and how it bounces.

“I make sure I don’t hit the shot or don’t stop visualising until I’m fully comfortable with the visual.”

Scheffler probably doesn’t need to work too hard to picture things going well given how consistent he’s been over recent years.