Scottie Scheffler Says Fatherhood Has Helped His Golf Game

You truly do just forget about everything else. It’s pretty amazing.

Looking back on Scottie Scheffler’s incredible collection of wins this year, one has to ask: has becoming a dad made him a better golfer?

The question came up during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast. The hosts asked the 28-year-old if he thinks that welcoming son Bennett in May has contributed at all to his recent success.

The ever-humble Scheffler admitted that fatherhood has helped him “mentally.”

“Golf can be tough and we can all be our own harshest critic,” he said. “When it comes to how I’m performing on the golf course, sometimes when I get off the course, after a tough day, I’ll kind of look at myself and be like ‘If this was Bennett what would I tell him after the day?’ Part of that has been really helpful.”

And then you know, when you get home… It’s one thing for your parents and Meredith and everybody to say that they don’t care what you shoot, but at the end of the day, it means a lot to me. But when you get home and you see Bennett and he just sees you walk through the door and he’s like ‘hey man, what’s up?’ you truly do just forget about everything else. It’s pretty amazing.”

They went on to ask him whether or not his physical game has improved—if his new “dad strength” has added any yards to his drive.

“No, no additional yardage,” Scheffler replied with a laugh. “I would say, you know the first couple months of Bennett being alive, like when they’re born, you’re so nervous holding him that you’re gonna like somehow break your child, so you like tense up and hold him.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @tourchampionship

The Texan admitted that fatherhood actually took a toll on his body at first.

“It was actually really bad for my back the first couple months,” Scheffler said. “Now that I’ve relaxed a little bit, it’s a little bit easier to hold him, but it was like clockwork. We get home from a tournament and two days in a rib would pop out or something like that holding them, bouncing on, like just soft little golf injuries.”