{"id":537176,"date":"2026-03-21T18:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537176\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T18:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:18:10","slug":"trust-factor-jordan-spieth-cant-feel-wind-when-teeing-off-on-16th-at-copperhead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537176\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust factor: Jordan Spieth can’t feel wind when teeing off on 16th at Copperhead"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fairway of the Copperhead course\u2019s 16th hole can give players fits as it gets progressively narrower. <\/p>\n

One of its most familiar victims over the years is Jordan Spieth.<\/p>\n

The three-time major champion called the hole \u201cone of the harder shots that we have throughout the year\u201d after his second round at the Valspar Championship<\/a> outside of Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Spieth missed his target off the tee by 25 yards and wound up right, in the water during Thursday\u2019s opening round. He went on to double bogey in what was a momentum-shifting error for someone who once was tied for third at 5 under through 15 holes. <\/p>\n

He overcompensated a day later, missing into the woods \u2014 25 yards to the left of the intended fairway. Spieth bogeyed this time, the lone error in a seven-hole stretch where he birdied four times.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Breaking down Spieth’s first round at Valspar<\/p>\n

Golf Central breaks down Jordan Spieth’s first round at the 2026 Valspar Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink the last couple days, the biggest challenge is it\u2019s blowing pretty hard off left and you can\u2019t feel any of it, it\u2019s all blocked on the tee,\u201d said Spieth after shooting a 1-under 70 Friday. \u201cFor us, we like to feel what it is. And when you don\u2019t feel anything and you\u2019re essentially playing a shot to miss almost into the people \u2014 if there was no wind, it\u2019s just the trust factor on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spieth explained that being blocked on the tee leaves a player with a decision, \u201cyou can\u2019t be second guessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got to pick a club and pick a shot,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It all comes down to the tee shot on 16. Spieth also dubbed it \u201ca birdie hole\u201d when he can hit a short iron into the green. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been downwind on the second shot,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cThis morning it was in off the left on the tee making it even more challenging than yesterday. But I think the weekend it\u2019s only going to be more downwind so you could hit less club if you want.\u201d <\/p>\n

As of 5 p.m. Friday, just 38% of the field was hitting the fairway on the 16th hole.<\/p>\n

There had been 20 total water balls on the hole, compared to 18 for the rest of the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this afternoon it shifts to where it\u2019s more downwind. So, you might see some 5-woods and stuff like that, which makes it obviously a little more manageable,\u201d Spieth said. \u201cWhen you do hit the fairway, it\u2019s not like some of the hardest holes where that next shot is just as challenging. I mean, you can be in attack mode on the next shot once you hit a nice tee ball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fairway of the Copperhead course\u2019s 16th hole can give players fits as it gets progressively narrower. One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-537176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}