Team Spieth: Damon Goddard
Damon Goddard – Fitness Guru
His fitness coach reveals Spieth’s incredible motivation and determination in the pursuit of greatness.
What’s been your workout philosophy with Jordan and where does his body stand now at 22?
During his teens we were creating the framework, and over the last couple of years we were building, but now we’re installing the Porsche engine. We’ve put the strength and speed into the framework and now we’ve matched that up with power and torque, so it’s going to perform at a very, very high level. If I would have put the Porsche engine (the power and torque) in with a Honda frame (strength and speed), it will go but it’s going to break down pretty quickly.
How specifically have you built Jordan’s fitness and physique?
We build optimal mobility and we increase his stability and then all of a sudden we can do those strength and power moves. In particular we wanted to focus on the lower body and get a lot stronger there so he can take advantage of the incredible footwork that he has and use the ground to our advantage. He does a lot of deadlifts, front squats, split squats, and I’ll throw a lot of challenges at the lower body. A squat looks pretty benign with two feet on the ground and one frame of motion, but building strength by doing some single leg work matches up more with what’s going on in the golf swing because it’s so multi-directional. Those are some of the moves that will transfer more quickly out into the golf swing and course.
What impresses you most about Jordan as an athlete?
One of the unique things about him is that he always wants to do more than what we set him. He can be sneaky about lifting five or 10 pounds more or doing that extra set or rep. He’s always wanting to push the limits of his growth and his capacity. It’s a unique thing with professional athletes, and it’s always fun to almost keep up with him. If he wants to do 15 more pounds, can we do this? Is this going to be too much? It keeps it fresh for both of us and we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of his capacity, which shows me there’s still a lot of room for his growth and development. This is really scary for the rest of the world. It’s fun to be a part of because now I can push those limits and push him to higher levels of performance and he’s going to be able to handle it. He still has a lot more room for improvement and it bodes very well for his future.
What’s he like to work with?
Let me give you an example. We had a Taco Thursday at the gym and he had the willingness to go and buy 40 tacos from the shop down the road for the entire staff. I was like, “You’re number two in the world, you don’t need to go buying tacos, you should have people doing that right?” That’s just who he is, a giving guy who’s humble in nature.
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