Who is Collin Morikawa’s coach?

Collin Morikawa boasts some of the world’s best iron play, but who is his coach? 

With a stunning golf swing and formidable irons, Morikawa has become a multiple major champion with wins at the PGA Championship in 2020 and the Open Championship in 2021. 

To build his reliable swing, Morikawa worked tirelessly with the same coach he met when he was eight-years-old before making a change in 2024. 

In moving to one of the most respected coaches in golf, Morikawa enjoyed immediate success. However, he has moved on again and currently does not have a formalised swing coach.

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Who is Collin Morikawa’s coach?

Morikawa started working with Rick Sessinghaus at eight-years-old. At large, the American’s game was down to the teaching of his childhood coach, who is also a mental performance coach.

Coming from a high-level sports background, Sessinghaus has a doctorate in applied sports psychology and took care of Morikawa’s psychology as well as his swing.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Morikawa grew up playing at Chevy Chase Country Club – a sloping course that offers a variety of lies. 

So, the pair set out to hit shots from different slopes and that has allowed Morikawa’s controlled iron game to become one of the best in golf. 

Sessinghaus told PGATour.com: “With Collin, at an early age, we were doing a lot of our lessons on the course.  

“There’s a lot of great swings out there but not many golfers. He learned to play at a high level. Collin’s been wired that way; I’ve tried to cultivate it, raise his golf I.Q. by putting him in different situations.

“He’s going to look at a golf course and create a strategy based on his capabilities. He’s not going to overpower it, but he can plot his way around based on his strengths.” 

Having been a coach for over 25 years, his experience lifted Morikawa to remarkable success at such a young age. But after nearly two decades together, the pair split ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Morikawa employed Mark Blackburn, a highly respected coach who works with Max Homa and Justin Thomas. Morikawa said the change was ‘not easy’ but felt like “it was time to make a change“.

But it’s been a transitional period for the multiple PGA Tour winner, who parted ways with Blackburn and is now tweaking his swing by himself, with help from his caddie.

Meanwhile, he told Golfweek that he’s talked with his former coach, Sessinghaus, a few times by phone.

“I’m in a transition,” he said. “When I went to Mark and Mark is amazing, one of the most knowledgeable people in the golf world I’ve ever met, I learned a lot but I figured out quickly that for me it’s not really knowing more, it’s remembering who I was.

“I just had to take a step back and start from the basics again.”

Morikawa also has a putting coach, in the form of Stephen Sweeney. 

He began working with Sweeney in November 2022 and said it’s the first time he has worked formally with a putting coach.  

Previously, Morikawa also worked with men’s golf coach Walter Chun during his time at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Longtime Cal Golden Bear coach Steve Desimone helped recruit Morikawa to the university and worked with him as well.  

Desimone, who was at Berkeley for 37 years, described Morikawa as the ‘easiest kid he has ever coached’.