Matt Fitzpatrick Explains Why He's Making This Jack Nicklaus Inspired Adjustment

Matt Fitzpatrick, who is tied for second heading into Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, is taking after Jack Nicklaus with his newest equipment fix.

Matt Fitzpatrick—who sits tied for second place at the Sentry Tournament of Champions—is a known grinder. He’ll do anything and everything to improve his already top-notch game. Three years of dedicated swing speed work helped the Englishman win the 2022 U.S. Open, and he documents every single golf shot he hits to stay on top of statistics. 

After Fitzpatrick fired off a third-round 66 at Kapalua’s Plantation course, he gave some insight into the latest tactic he employed to sharpen his play. 

“I think my changes to my irons has been a positive one,” Fitzpatrick said. “We kind of put weights in the grip to make them a little bit more fade biased, which has felt a little but more comfortable out there.”

The world No. 9 specified that he added about eight grams of weight to the tip of his iron grips. According to Fitzpatrick, the equipment adjustment has helped create a more left to right ball flight for him. 

The most fascinating part of Fitzpatrick’s newest fix, however, is where he found the inspiration: Jack Nicklaus.

“I actually spoke to Mr. Nicklaus about it because some told me he did it,” Fitzpatrick said. “I asked him and yeah, we sort of had a quick chat about it and why he did it.”

The Englishman is lucky enough to have spent time with Nicklaus, as he is a fellow Jupiter, Fla. resident—a PGA Tour hot spot. In January of last year, Fitzpatrick took the entire month off and practiced at the Bear’s Club, which Nicklaus founded. 

When Fitzpatrick sat down with Nicklaus to ask him about the adjustment to his irons, the Hall of Famer explained why the change worked for him. 

“He did it because it just stopped his hands over rotating it,” Fitzpatrick said. “In my terms, I guess it would be felt more held off. So I think that’s obviously what suited him.”

Whatever the fix might be—if Fitzpatrick is taking ideas from an 18-time major champion, he’s definitely doing something right.