Chris Como details approach to coaching Xander Schauffele | Golf Today | Golf Channel

Chris Como joins Golf Today to share his experience and strategy coaching Xander Schauffele, who secured his first major win at the 2024 PGA Championship. #GolfChannel #GolfToday
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Chris Como details approach to coaching Xander Schauffele | Golf Today | Golf Channel
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what a week it was last week for sander Schley the forementioned winner of the 106 PGA Championship and taking some heat on social media about his close calls was questioned about it and probed about it found a way to win that first major in his 28 major start began the week as the only player in the top five in the official World Golf Ranking without a major now to two in the world there he is with Chris KOMO they’ve been working together now for about half a year Kom worked with many top players in the profession tour little be Tiger Woods from 2014 to 2017 and after xanders went on Sunday he gave credit to Chris Kos impact Xander your golf swing is a little bit different maybe than it was a year or two ago how did those changes on this golf course this week uh help you sit next to the trophy yeah all year actually it’s been this is probably the most comfortable I felt with some of the changes that Chris Chris was able to implement they weren’t big changes just getting the club a little bit more on plane up top was was key um shoulders maybe a little bit steeper um I Trend to go a little bit fat flat and a little laid off so I felt like last week I was there’s some intimidating Two Shots there I was able to hit some good drive so I I pulled I pulled on that a little bit to this week you know um knowing that the fairways are are soft so if you h a good drive it’s going to pretty much end up where it goes and um yeah it’s been amazing working with Chris he’s he’s been awesome and um definitely a contributing factor to to me me holding this thing today and so great to have Chris Koma with us on this Wednesday you heard Xander Schley talking about the final pieces of the puzzle in your mind what was the final piece of the puzzle that has made him a major championship winner oh man um time just time honestly I think it was just it was GNA happen um just by the way he’s been playing for quite a while now I you know I mean that’s very like generous of him to say that and you know I do feel like the work we’ve done is has been positive um but I mean he’s been a great player for a long time and this was an inevitable thing especially like I mean the way he’s been playing really this last you know x amount of whatever the stretch is it’s just been it’s it’s been great so yeah I just think time was just he just needed to kind of keep doing what he was doing and it was going to happen when you start working with someone Chris who is playing at that level for a sustained period of time is it something in as a general swing philosophy you start working on or is it sort of databased on certain area is where he might think he’s underperforming I mean it’s definitely a big due diligence on my part where you know we looked at swings throughout his whole lifetime um I chatted with his dad um there was a lot of just me taking in information about how he processes the game how he sees his own swing um what are some stretches where he’s felt the most comfortable with his swing looking at Stats where there might be some small edges to be found and then you know through that it’s like what is the least invasive thing you can do to try to get a little extra edge of stuff um because yeah when someone’s already very very good you want to get better but there’s also a lot of room to get worse um potentially so you got to be you know pretty careful and thoughtful with how you’re going about it Chris these players are all so different they’re individuals what kind of learner is Xander schafle audible visual feel mechanical how would you describe him uh oh that’s interesting that’s interesting question kind I would say a little bit of both most people are a little bit both um and and are a little bit of all those things he’s not I don’t want to say Reckless but he is borderline just give it to me and I was like okay we gotta we gotta time this in a way that’s not overwhelming that’s not too disruptive to you’re playing and how you’re already playing um so he’s the type of learner who is is is uh just super eager and was like give me give me what I need to do um potentially to a fault and and I think this is where you know we both knew that it would be appropriate to sometimes tap the brakes and just give things in in more of a slow drip fashion even though he was eager to to do as as much as possible as quickly as possible you mentioned the work Xander had done with his father over the years Chris what’s the dynamic like when you start working with a player whose only coach has been a family member does that add a layer of complication in any respect it could be in in in a lot of instances but in this instance it wasn’t um you know I talked you know fair amount with Stefon um he’s like what he’s done with his there’s things that they’ve done where Xander told me about I’m like that is like brilliant like really smart the way they’ve gone about stuff to really preserve a certain athleticism and feel in his game um so and I think Stefan was just ready to kind of um you know pass the reins on um so it’s been it’s been a really great process I mean there’s been instances where you know working with a parent can can have its own sort of curveballs to it but this this time it’s been really great he’s he’s been awesome and the overall team Xander has around him I mean as caddy Austin Kaiser is is brilliant out there with a course as course manager um and just keeping Xander like in the right place uh emotionally mentally he’s got a trais marus who is you know works with a bunch of guys on tour he actually uh mares also works with Scotty sheffler I joked with him the other day I’m like we’re on a we’re on the marus Grand Slam watch now because he’s got two of the uh the first two majors with his clients and then a David uh a trainer David sunburg which is a big part of where Xander’s gotten a lot of his speed from um and then his putting coach Derek y which you know Xander that that’s what won in this tournament was his putting on Sunday so he’s got an awesome team around him Chris you put all this work in before the major championship at the major championship then you arrive to a final round on Sunday what is that like for you that walk you know watching your player trying to break through for the first time oh wow uh it’s because there is the element of like hey you know just keep doing what you’ve been doing um I think everybody knew it was a matter of time but then you can’t get away from like the moment of it and you know there is this chance you have right now and there there’s just a lot of I couldn’t believe how nervous I was on on that put on Sunday he he was so calm like I was there with his wife and one of his best friends that’s also a good friend of mine and I was like I was I was nervous and I almost never get nervous at golf tournaments um and then when he made that putt we were all pretty emotional just because of the work he has put into it and just the quality of a person he is and just you know you can just tell he just loves this game and loves competing it just uh it was kind of a just like I think a release for everybody it was really it was a really special moment CH you’re known as a guy who lives a very healthy lifestyle did you at least managed to take some celebratory champagne from The Waker trophy yeah you know I I don’t I don’t I rarely drink but uh um champagne tastes that much better out of that trophy so yes I did get to experience it and I I nursed about a two-day hangover so it was a it was a moment that was is very worth uh paying for it the ne the following days Chris I’m curious how you describe yourself as a teacher these days you know where does the teacher the line from teacher to coach land with you in terms of technique versus maybe just a an old school motivational speech yeah I don’t I mean I I don’t think you can separate the golf swing from the emotional from the mental from the the stats from all the parts of it like you just can’t separate these things so I do think especially as I’ve gotten more more like further along my career you do look at things more holistically um I don’t know if the motivation side of it is like naturally a raw raw type of thing because that’s not always appropriate either but you know with Xander it’s and and I think it was paring a philosophy that him and his dad have which you know they always talk about the constant dripping wears the stone and after Quail Hollow it’s like you know you start to get a bit of a of a narrative out there where people are like oh can he finish a tournament y yada yada um and the r of it is is like I mean there was nothing he can do he he ran to a buz all with Rory and the way he’s been playing all year it’s like Ju Just keep doing that and I do think how he went into valala the attitude he went to it with as a testimony to his resiliency because he knew he was doing all the right stuff he was knowing he was doing what he can do and he’s just got to keep doing that and then it does become a matter of time um and you know it happened this week and I think you know his ability to block out that external noise uh of those potential Chatters and narratives that are out there um is just a testimony to to who he is as a person and you know his ability to work more from that inward out outward perspective than that that outward inward perspective so I had a lot of them admiration for them and I just again pared kind of a philosophy that they’ve built uh within their own team and um you know I don’t think it’s a raww motivational type of thing but it it is just you know using logic to be like hey just double down on what you’ve been doing on a more practical angle Chris Jordan Speed said Xander was getting sneaky fast and he’s added 3 miles hour of Club head speed he was 28th on tour last year he’s eighth on tour this year for the uneducated Among Us how do you go about doing that with an elite player because that is a reasonably significant jumping speed yeah I think I think it’s oftentimes a a combination of a couple different things that that that come together to you know a little half a mile here half there he’s done some great work in the gym like I managed with David sunburg and and uh he uh he he also has worked great with marus uh which is keeping his body healthy some of the changes we’ve made with his golf swing have been helpful um so I I just think it’s a little bit here a little bit there you you try not to do this too fast um you know I think there’s a difference between what I would call Dirty speed and clean speed you I think sometimes guys try to get speed um without really watching how it may be changing their golf swing especially if their swing’s already really good and then you can get yourself into a bit of a a bind doing it that way um but there’s been a handful of times where I’ve helped you know a guy get some speed and it’s always like a close monitoring of how they’re doing it doing it what’s going on with their gol swing to achieve that and making sure that there’s certain parameters that yes you can get speed but you’re not going to do it this way that might you know affect your release pattern or your face control or whatever it is so um you know I think a lot of is just you can’t build R in a day and being okay with a pacing that’s not trying to do overnight but saying hey look you know within the course of a year I can add x x amount of miles per hour to uh to my club at speed and do a way that’s yeah well there have been some wonderful players throughout the history of this game who have won one major championship tremendous players whether it’s Freddy Couples Davis Love the third Adam Scott has one Justin Rose for example how does Xander keep the pot boiling and this becomes the the beginning of a major championship Legacy as opposed to the Pinnacle of his career as it were yeah I mean these you can’t predict these things right I mean I just think he goes about the right way where you so into the process which is another way of just saying you’re so into the Journey of it and I don’t think he gets too caught up in the results on any given day it’s more of how do you look at your career as one big round of golf and then during that you have these little intervals that that are tournament and you know if you time it right you get a trophy from it um so I really think he just naturally loves the game is very competitive loves working hard at it um and again I think he just gets so much joy out of the process of it that I think that’s the recipe for for really rattling off quite a few and if you look at his game I mean he’s was he ranked two two in the world now behind Scotty and you know here’s like a little stat but uh his Strokes gained right now now 91% of the time would be a number one ranked player in the world um but now you have a guy who’s a bit of an outlier with Scotty right so uh so he’s playing at a level that should really give him a chance to win quite a few of these big ones and then it’s just a matter of does it kind of uh you know fall the right way at the right time type of thing but um you know all the ingredients are in there to really rattle off quite a few of these this is a guy Chris that everyone expected was going to win a major championship now you’ve helped him get over the line and do that with all due respect doesn’t seem like that big a challenge for you are you ready for a tougher challenge one of these days I you know I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’m trying to keep my career somewhat low stress right now so it’s like I I feel like I I I’ve taken on the the big challenges already so I’m kind of like in that semi-retirement phase so I think I’m gonna have to pass as the kids say you don’t want this smoke no he really doesn’t I’d break him down eventually Chris congratulations the the pro the problem is if if if so Xander was so complimentary when he won the the the W maker right but if amen won whatever his goal was Club Championship or whatever it just I I know in that that receptive speech it would look something like in spite of the help in spite of the attempted help from Chris KO I was still able to to win this trophy there’d be a hug and then there’d be a dagger he’s yeah exactly he ain’t Chris we appreciate it buddy we’ll speak to you soon