One of the analysts said that under McCormick's advice, Spieth strengthened his grip 5 degrees Tuesday during a practice session. That seems a bit extreme, akin to Tin Cup's caddie Romeo telling him to put all of his coins from one pocket into the other to help rid him of the shanks on the practice range in that one scene.
That (to me anyway) would seem to suggest that his coach has no effing clue what the problem is, and that perhaps changing something might change something.
I'm not a swing coach, and I understand that the grip is pretty important, but didn't the late, great Harvey Penick say something about taking 1 aspirin, not the entire bottle? A grip change of even 3 degrees is fairly aggressive, especially considering the speed these guys are generating.
Paul Azinger once said, "When the swing is on, you feel like you're never gonna lose it. When it's not, you feel like you're never gonna find it." Uh, yeah. I'll buy that. Anybody who's played the game even somewhat seriously knows that feeling.
All that said, I don't think he's finished. Hell, he's only 26 years old, 3 majors, 11 wins total. Were all of those successes due to shit-luck putting? I don't think so. His putting was great at times, but it wasn't always great. He was still earning some nice paychecks those weeks his putter wasn't on fire. And obviously his putting has nothing to do with pull-hooking a 3wood 20 yards offline. But that pull-hook off the tee can certainly force him to feel like he has to make everything on the greens.
There's only one guy who I've watched in all the years I've followed pro golf who could take a shitty swing to the course and putt his way to a win, and that was Tiger Woods. Even at his best, Jordan never putted like Tiger did back in his prime. Not even close. But something Spieth can possibly do that Tiger did, and did fairly effectively, is take some time off. Take a few months off, put the clubs away for a few weeks, then get back on the range and back to the basics. At the very least he's not spending 20 hours each week spinning his wheels while everyone else wonders WTF happened to him. And I agree with Typhoon. It might be time to put some feelers out for another swing coach. If for no other reason than to possibly hear something different. That would seem much more practical than a bandaid grip change.