Scottie Scheffler has struggled at times throughout the 2026 season and relatively speaking, those struggles have reared their ugly head once again at the PGA Championship this week.
Scheffler has had numerous chances to put his foot down on the gas at Aronimink and take control this week.
However, the 29-year-old world number one has gone in reverse every time he has had a chance to mount a charge to the top of the leaderboard.
Scottie Scheffler believes he can still win the PGA Championship, despite the fact that he trails the leader by five heading into the final round.
However, Scheffler will have to seriously tighten up his ball-striking and his putting if he is to have any chance whatsoever of winning the PGA Championship.
The problem for him is that he simply hasn’t been the same player this season.
Brandel Chamblee labelled Scheffler’s swing as ‘unrecognizable’ back in March, after he struggled at The Players Championship.
Some context is obviously required here. The world number one has already won once this season and has three runner-up finishes and six top-5s to his name.
However, anyone who has watched the 20-time PGA Tour winner this season will know he has been nowhere near his best.
The fact that he has managed to contend so often is a testament to his incredible ability.
That said, he clearly has one big issue that he must address as soon as possible.
Scottie Scheffler is not the same golfer anymore
The four-time major champion has plenty of strengths.
In fact, he has done everything better than everyone else historically.
However, that simply hasn’t been the case so far in 2026, and his shortcomings at the PGA Championship this week have been painfully obvious to see.
The picture above perfectly illustrates how Scheffler’s swing has deteriorated over the past six months or so.
The plane of his swing is far more across the line at the top (pointing to the right), rather than parallel to the line of his feet.
From that position, he comes way over the top and cuts across the golf ball.
Now, he has always had that slight movement in his swing, but it has been far more pronounced this season.
As a result, he is imparting way too much spin on the golf ball, which leads to an overly-pronounced fade, sometimes a full-on slice.
Even if his ball lands on the fairway, the sheer amount of cut spin he puts on the ball means that he is struggling to hold onto the short grass.
He is obviously aware of this problem, because sometimes his hands get overly active in the swing. His torso doesn’t turn through and his hands take over, causing the straight pull to the left.
Scottie Scheffler has to address his swing and stop hiding from the problem
Scheffler continues to insist that he is happy with where his swing is at, but he needs to get really honest with himself if he is to go on and achieve greatness.
If you watch Scheffler last season, his ball flight was far more neutral with the driver. That is because his shaft was not as across the line at the top of his swing.
Sure, he has had the dread miss at times this year, but if you look at his driving at Aronimink on Saturday, the four fairways that he missed were all out to the right.
They were terrible drives that were blocked straight right but they all made their way into the right rough because of the sheer amount of curve that Scheffler put on his ball.
He has to address this problem as a matter of urgency if he is to contend at Shinnecock Hills next month and Royal Birkdale in July.
Who knows, 2026 may just be an off-season for Scottie Scheffler. After all, all of the greats had poor years throughout their careers, even Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
However, the longer Scheffler’s ball-striking woes continue, the more difficult it will be for him to get his swing back in the slot.
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