“Like, he knows golf” - Collin Morikawa plans big for 2023 with an all-star coaching team
Collin Morikawa summed up his 2021-22 season in one word, “frustrating”. This season, he has gotten serious about improving from the last one.
Morikawa ended the year at 152nd in strokes gained around the green and 131st in putting. So the areas for improvement were clear - his chipping and his putting. However, it has not been all bad for him.
Collin Morikawa has been good from tee to green. He won two Majors in the 2020-21 season and reached his career-best No. 2 with all those skills. Despite all this, his short game has hampered him since he turned pro.
Morikawa opened the first round with a brilliant nine-under 64 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. That was proof of his improvement.
He usually has JJ Jakovac as his caddie, his only team, but he has now expanded the team to include a few experts. However, the 25-year-old strongly asserted his faith in Jakovac.
“He’s very good, don’t get me wrong...Like, he knows golf,” Morikawa said on Jakovac
"I felt like Stephen was kind of that perfect mix" - Collin Morikawa on Sweeney
Rick Sessinghaus has been Collin Morikawa's swing coach since he was eight years old. The American golfer's full swing was still intact given his iron play stood third on the Tour this past season. He was looking for a coach for specifics and not for his whole game.
The two-time Major Champion (PGA Championship '20 and Open Championship '21) said he consulted Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy during their TaylorMade photoshoot. This was because they had the experience of appointing several coaches.
"I’ve talked to Max Homa a bunch. Just kind of sneakily asking them questions about what they think of their coaches."
One name that was common from all enquiries was Stephen Sweeney. He has a good portfolio of coaching various players across the PGA Tour and LIV, including Aaron Wise, Sebastian Munoz, Joaquin Niemann, Shane Lowry, Mito Pereira, and Carlos Ortiz.
Wise was one of the professionals who suggested Sweeney's name to the 25-year-old. Wise improved his putting under Sweeney, so much so that he became an above-par putter last season after finishing outside the top 170 for a couple of years prior to that.
Collin Morikawa met Sweeney prior to the World Wide Technologies Championship in Mayakoba. Both kept on practising putting until it was dark on Sunday ahead of the tournament.
As per Morikawa, Sweeney is a perfect blend of being technical and free-flowing.
"I felt like Stephen was kind of that perfect mix where I needed to understand technical from the very start.”
The PGA Tour golfer started with the basics, unlearning what he learned in all those years.
“So he’s been able to kind of blend in both and it’s been amazing. Every question I have for him, he has an answer."
Collin Morikawa also tried to improve his chipping with Parker McLachlin, aka the “Short Game Chef.” McLachlin is a retired Tour pro and is now a Hawaii resident where he is a short-game guru.
"It’s good to have someone that knows a lot about the short game and you just kind of bounce ideas off,” Morikawa said about McLachlin.
“I never had a chipping coach and we’re not here to get too technical, it’s just to have feels and, once again, have someone else bounce ideas off of, someone that I trust, see who how it goes.”