Joseph Bramlett has struggled with problem solving for years. His fix came from this week’s leader, Maverick McNealy.
Getty Images
Maverick McNealy has offered a lot on the golf course in recent times, but some of his greatest golfing contributions have taken place away from his junior days. For starters, it was his suggestion that the FedEx Cup points distribution was easy — something the PGA Tour corrected last month. This was a win for everyone.
Then there was his generosity to another Tour player on the practice green. Someone who is fighting alongside him this week.
Joseph Bramlett AND McNealy go way back, to their Stanford golf days. Their skills complement each other so well — Bramlett has a great long game while McNealy is a wizard in the short game — that if you combined them in a pro, they’d be incredible. If only pro golf were that simple.
Instead, Bramlett’s skill never quite graduated to the PGA Tour level. He has been a consistently negative Strokes Gained: Putting performer, and has moved so far down the stat rankings that only a handful of players are worse. McNealy, on the other hand, shoots better than almost everyone else. He ranks 36th in scoring this year, but was No. 1 on Tour in 2023 and 19th on Tour in 2022.
Clearly, McNealy and Bramlett had to do a collaboration, and they started it a few months ago.
“(Joseph) had some things that brought a lack of confidence with putting,” McNealy said Saturday after finishing tied for the third round lead at the RSM Classic.
“So he changed pitchers and changed gloves. And I’ve never been a technical pitching coach, as I don’t really focus on technique with my pitching. Going into my freshman year of college, I realized I was the worst player on the team by a long shot and that was what I needed to improve on in order to improve. I really dialed in the speed, the sight line, the reading of the green and the kind of pace, the tempo and the timing.”
The proof is in the stats for McNealy, but could it work for Bramlett as well? Placement is easily the most volatile component of the game. Even the worst players on Tour have their moments when it all comes together. McNealy spent some time with Bramlett over the summer going over his “blueprint,” he said, highlighting the things he looks for in a good hitter and the drills he does to improve consistency.
“To his credit, he’s done them religiously,” McNealy said. “There’s a coin speed drill that I do four times a week at least and I think he’s done it every day since we started talking about the deployment a few months ago. I’m really excited to see what’s coming up for him.”
While McNealy didn’t work out that speed drill, it’s clear it’s working for his friend this week more than ever. Bramlett has played three rounds this week, with two of them counting Strokes Gained: Putting. He was tied for 19th heading into Saturday, shooting a third-round 64 to sit six back of McNealy and the lead. If he were to develop his skills at a merely average tour level, Bramlett would suddenly become a top 40 player on Tour, ranked alongside Tommy Fleetwood or Shane Lowry.
While Bramlett’s friend and unofficial placement coach has a much better chance of winning Sunday’s RSM Classic, he has more on his mind than his claim. He wants Bramlett to break into the FedEx Cup fall top 125 and secure Tour status next season.
“I would trade 100 trophies to have him on the PGA Tour next year,” McNealy said.
