These days, the conversation surrounding Joaquin Niemann can eclipse the man himself.
Let’s get more specific: It’s pretty clear to anyone who watches much professional golf that Niemann is one of the most talented players in the world. But exactly how high he belongs on that list is where the debate begins. Phil Mickelson poured some kerosene on the fire when he added “Top 5? Try #1” to the speech earlier this year. Niemann won five times at LIV this season and that is certainly proof of his ability. But he also finished T29-T8-MC-MC in the majors, another disappointing campaign for a player who knows this is where much of his career will be defined.
Anyway, that’s the conversation all around it. As for Niemann himself? He is a genuine and delightful person. He is on the verge of his 27th birthday. He is in his eighth year as a pro. He is intense in tournament play but quick to laugh when he leaves. He still has the boyish energy of the teenage sensation who made it on Tour, but he is also contemplative and spends more time keeping diaries. And he couldn’t change that unique swing – the weed-chopping, stone-skipping, hip-whirling swing – even if he wanted to. (He doesn’t.) And you can ask him anything, except his favorite golf club. After all, they listen…
This is what I learned from Niemann in half an hour at the shooting range.
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1. Maybe you’re not saying his name quite right.
I bet you’ve got everything down. But “Joaquin” is often shortened to “Joaco,” which I often say as a very American “Wah-ko,” but he articulates with a slightly more subtle “Hwa-go.”
“Americans have a strong accent to say ‘Y-O’ together,” he says charitably.
2. He had a specific 40 yard swing, but not anymore.
Niemann starts his warm-up with a 60-degree wedge, like many of his colleagues. But I was interested to hear him say that he’s actually become less mechanical with his shots over the years. Once he reaches the point during his warm-up where he starts thinking about distances – say 60 or 70 meters – he uses his head And his eyes.
“I feel like I can hit the number better when I see something,” he says. “Let’s say I just want to land it on the green. I feel like I know where to land it better than just a number, so I’m going with my gut.”
That’s a small change from his younger self, Niemann says.
“I used to be more – I have a 40-yard swing, I have a 50-yard swing, I have a 60-yard swing. But now it’s freer and I play with my vision.”
3. He’s thinking about throwing the ball at his goal.
This is related to #2, but interesting enough to stand apart.
“If for me it’s: ‘Hey Joaco, throw a ball to 50 meters.’ [target]it’s not like I’m going to calculate how far I’m going to throw. I’m just going to go.”
[Throws ball pin-high.]
4. He gets stuck on the 8 iron.
Niemann says he typically goes through all his wedges — 60, 56, 52, then pitching wedge — and then alternates through his irons (sometimes 9, 7, 5 but usually 8, 6, 4) and does what he can to “make sure they’re not neglected.” But then he gets stuck.
“I mean, growing up, I hit a lot of 8-irons. Like, all day long. And my 8-iron got destroyed,” he says.
This resonated with me, as I too was stuck hitting millions of 8-irons during a through-the-bag session. There’s something appealing about the first club that isn’t a wedge.
5. As a child, he used his clubs as weed killers.
Niemann’s father – a college basketball player in Chile with a 20 handicap – introduced him to golf. But it was his mother whose backyard bribery might have taken him to the next level.
“I used to live in a house where we had a big garden, just outside the city. And my brother was probably playing video games or football or whatever, and I was working with a club.”
Niemann threw balls in his yard for hours and then also did some yard work.
“I remember my mother paying me, I don’t know, five dollars to break it [weeds]”, says Niemann. “Sometimes I think that’s why I dig in the ground so much, and then I think, ‘f…'”
6. He is a great thinker.
Niemann plays a few video games, he says, after his practice-physical therapy-cold plunge-sauna routine. But he also spends more time than you might think on more intellectual pursuits.
“A little bit of reading, all that stuff to help me develop myself better; I feel like I’m getting to know myself better and I need to make progress with reading, you know, journaling, all that kind of stuff. I can evaluate myself, how I’m doing in my life, with golf, my relationships, all that,” Niemann says. “I feel like I’m a big thinker. I like to be quiet, you know, and just think about what’s going on outside.”
7. Trajectory, he says, is everything.
“I have more meaning than a song, I lean more on the trajectory,” Niemann says, showing his creativity in the way he thinks through shots. “If the green comes off, I can land it 10 short, hit something low, and it’ll skip and spin. Or if the pin is on the front, you’ve got to hit something really high. I go more with windows than actual numbers, you know?”
8. He favors a small cut.
Niemann likes to hit his irons fairly straight, but when the ball starts moving, he wants it to fall slightly from left to right.
“Every time I ‘miss’ a shot, I want it to start on the left but cut,” he says. “That’s my feeling. If I hit it right, cutting is not good. If I hit it to the left and he draws, terrible. So I know when the ball starts a little bit to the left and he cuts, everything will be fine.”
To hit the cut, Niemann positions himself a few yards to the left of the goal and then spins, as he says, “as hard as I can.” It works quite well for him.
9. He says his golf clubs are listening.
I ask Niemann if he has a favorite club. He answers seriously.
I can’t tell you. They are here and listening,” he says. “They get jealous. They are all in the bag because I like them all.”
10. He’s carrying a 5-hybrid.
After all, it says “5”. But Niemann insists it is a “4”, or at least that he flies “4 distances”.
When you were a kid you thought about having a 2 iron,” he says. “I had to give away my childhood dream. Me alone [go through] 5-iron now.”
To be fair, Niemann does have a 3-iron that he uses sometimes. But if you need even more permission to grab an exalted metal, know that he has a 7-wood in his arsenal. He has a 4-slash-5 hybrid.
And they listen.
You can watch the whole thing below or here.
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