Justin Thomas has been one of the PGA Tour’s most impressive players over the last decade, but that does not mean that the 32-year-old has not faced some challenges along the way.
Thomas has won the PGA Championship on two occasions, while his victory at the RBC Heritage earlier this year was his 16th win on the PGA Tour.
However, that win at Harbour Town saw Thomas end a lengthy run without a win.
In fact, the American’s previous victory had come almost three years earlier at the PGA Championship.
Justin Thomas admits the error he made which led to the worst season of his career
Remarkably, Justin Thomas has only had one top 10 finish in a major since that win at Southern Hills.
Certainly, 2023 was a difficult year for Thomas. His best major finish was 65th, while he missed the other three cuts. He also did not make it past the first playoff event on the PGA Tour.
He ended up being an extremely contentious pick for that year’s Ryder Cup. And it seems that Thomas is very much aware of what led to his considerable dip in form.
Speaking on the No Laying Up Podcast about how his swing has evolved during his time on tour, Thomas explained he learned a big lesson two years ago.
“I would say it’s always some version of the past [swing], for me. The one time I feel like I really tried to do something very, very different was in ’23 and it was the worst season of my career,” he said.
“I’ve always had really, really high hands, but I just felt like they were getting higher and higher, just like they kind of had been also this past year. But I really tried to fix that, or change that, and it obviously did not go well. I shouldn’t have. It’s in my DNA and something that I’ve been very successful doing. There were other things that were causing the issues that I was maybe blindsided by.
“But it was a learning experience and I know going forward. If I’m really grinding and working on swing stuff, I would say it’s always some version of the past, but trying to be realistic.
“Understanding that yes, I don’t move the same as when I was 22, 23 years old. But there are still some tendencies that I had that I should be able to recreate or that provided a lot of consistency, a lot of success – and those are maybe things that I just put a little more focus on.”
Justin Thomas now appears to be back on the right path
Thomas is far from the first player to follow major success by trying to make a swing change.
But it is baffling that he did attempt something different after finishing in the top 10 on 10 occasions in the 2021/22 season.
The good news is that the 2025 campaign suggests that he is on the way back. As well as his win, he finished second three times. He also finished seventh at the Tour Championship.
He is currently sidelined with injury. But there is reason for cautious optimism heading into 2026.
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