Learn from Phil Mickelson how to become a great lag putter!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
In Odyssey Golf‘s 2 Minute Drill, Phil explains two drills given to him by his putting coach Dave Pelz. Head to the putting green and do these drills before each round, and you will see your three-putt percentage drop dramatically!
Phil Mickelson explains the “40-50-60” drill for effective lag putting. Adjust how far you take the putter back so you can make a firm, aggressive stroke on every putt.
Entertaining stories about Phil “The Thrill” Mickelson.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Phil Mickelson loves to gamble. You just have to watch him play to know that! So it comes as no surprise that he likes to gamble at golf, table tennis, or even trick shots on the golf course. Read the entire article by Alex Myers of Golf Digest to learn about the amazing shot Phil “The Thrill” Mickelson played to collect all the cash!
We’ve heard some great golf gambling stories involving Phil Mickelson through the years. There’s the time he schooled Paul Azinger. The time he tricked Nick Watney into paying off a wager in pounds instead of dollars. Even the time he bet a fan (and lost) he could get up and down from a particularly bad lie.
But this one, courtesy of Golf Magazine’s terrific oral history of “Tin Cup,”takes the cake. It occurred during the filming of the movie, which turns 20 August 16. Here’s Cheech Marin, who played Kevin Costner’s caddie in the classic golf flick, describing what happened:
Baltusrol is ready for the World’s Best at the 2005 PGA Championship.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Baltustrol is one of the iconic Championship Golf Courses in the USA.
It has hosted 7 US Opens, 4 US Amateurs, 2 US Women’s Opens, and 2 US Women’s Amateurs. Quite a resume. This year, the PGA and longtime greenkeeper Mark Kuhns set the course up for a grandstand finish. With the rough over 4″ high and the greens running at 14 on the stimpmeter, the winner here will have to have all the shots! Thanks go to Ron Whitten, writing for GolfWorld on all the details!
(Photo by Fred Vuich/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
It’s a different Baltusrol for this year’s PGA Championship, with different dates and a different finish. Yet the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., is ready to deliver the most exciting and entertaining competition, year in and year out, of any of the four majors.
Let’s start with the different dates. The PGA has been bumped from its traditional hot-and-humid mid-August slot by the Olympic golf competition. So this year it will be contested July 28-31, just 11 days after the Open Championship wrapped up in thrilling fashion at Troon. That could bode well for the winner of the claret jug, Henrik Stenson, if one believes in momentum. Or it could spell trouble, if jetlag and fatigue are factored in.
The weather is always a factor in summer!
How the date change impacts the tournament from a weather standpoint is similarly uncertain. The earlier dates don’t guarantee there won’t be dog-day afternoons at Baltusrol; as the current forecast would suggest. “During our PGA Championship here in August 2005,” says Mark Kuhns, the club’s veteran course superintendent, “the temperature hit 100 degrees every day. July can’t be any worse. It’s a crapshoot. There are some Julys where the temperature never exceeds 80. But some years, we’ve seen it hit 100.”
It can also be stormy in New Jersey in July, but indeed no worse than it was at Baltusrol’s last PGA in 2005, when an early Sunday evening lightning storm put a delay on the tournament conclusion until Monday morning. 12 players had to return to finish their final rounds.
Tiger Woods leaves early.
One of the lucky ones to finish before the storm was Tiger Woods, he posts a two-under 278 late Sunday afternoon to trail leader Phil Mickelson, then on the 13th hole, by two shots. Unbeknownst to tournament officials, Woods flew home to Orlando that evening rather than stay over for a possible playoff. His reasoning was that there were five players between him and a win and it was unlikely all five would collapse with less than half a dozen holes remaining. In retrospect, that stands as perhaps Woods’ first acknowledgement that his intimidation factor was starting to wane. It conjures up the amazing possibility that Mickelson, or one of the other four, could have been declared a playoff winner by default, merely over the price of a hotel room.
Would you change your putting grip mid-round in a Major?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Changing putting grips mid-round is something I certainly have done in my career.
If I have a poor or inconsistent putting round, I will not hesitate to change my grip to get something going. But changing grips continually between short, medium, and long putts is completely different, and Phil Mickelson did it in a Major Championship! He certainly has his reasons, so read on as Matthew Rudy of Golf Digest brings us this interesting article and asks the question, “Would you change your putting grip mid-round in a Major?
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Whatever the reason was for Phil Mickelson’s second-place finish to Henrik Stenson, it wasn’t the putter.
Mickelson one-putted 35 out of 72 holes — second best in the field — and made only four bogies the entire week to go with 19 birdies and an eagle. His final score of 267 would have won every other major in history with the exception of one.
He did introduce an interesting quirk on the back nine Sunday, moving from the claw putting grip — with his lower hand turned sideways on the bottom of the grip — he had used for the entire tournament to that point to a conventional grip. Standing over a mid-length putt on the 16th, he started with a conventional grip and turned his hand around to the claw before pulling the trigger.
The swing that almost won the Open (again) Phil the Thrill!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
They don’t call him “Phil the Thrill” for nothing.
Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson just provided one of the most thrilling final rounds in a Major Championship since Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson at Turnberry in 1977. Take a look at this swing sequence that has Phil playing great golf again. I think his new coach, Andrew Getson, has done an amazing job of tightening up Phil’s swing and has certainly made him a contender in Majors once again. Thanks to Peter Morrice of Golf Digest for the swing analysis and to J.D. Cuban for the great pictures!
The swing that almost won the Open (again) Phil the Thrill!
Watch and Learn!
Try as he might to inject technical excellence into his golf swing, Phil Mickelson remains a feel player at heart. His driver swing is in many ways an extension of his magical execution with the wedges—long on imagination, inspiration and innovation, and short on textbook regimentation. But even as his driver swing strays from the biomechanical ideal, it exhibits traits well worth adopting. When Phil is running well, his driver is a formidable weapon that has helped him win 42 PGA Tour events, including five majors.
A massively long hitter for most of his career, Mickelson also has spells of great accuracy off the tee. And he’s a true shotmaker with the driver, drawing and fading the ball at will, shaping shots to fit any fairway. His driver swing is eye-catching and fun to watch, with athleticism from start to finish and amazing tempo and rhythm.
At age 44, Mickelson still swings with a reckless freedom that exudes confidence. After a career-long quest to make his technique more efficient and reliable, Phil has emerged with a swing that average golfers should admire. Below are a few moves to copy.
SETUP AND TAKEAWAY.
Start tension free, then swing back wideThe keys to Phil’s setup and takeaway reflect his feel-oriented approach to the swing. His address is “plain vanilla”—the grip neutral, ball inside the front heel, posture nice and tall, knees flexed. Nothing unique there. The most outstanding feature of Phil’s setup is the obvious lack of strain in his arms and hands. Amateurs would do well to copy his tension-free setup. If you grip the club tighter than Phil is demonstrating, tension will creep up your arms and spread through your upper body. The result: a choppy, forced backswing devoid of rhythm and smooth tempo.
SETUP AND TAKEAWAY.
From a relaxed setup, Phil swings the club back wide, his arms extending well away from his upper body and the clubhead moving straight away from the target. This is another great move to copy, because it creates a bigger swing arc and lengthens the backswing—keys to storing power for the downswing.
SWINGING THROUGH.
Make a level strike, and stay in balancePhil has always been a power player, with his distance coming more from speed and athleticism than sheer muscular strength. As you approach the ball, try to swing your arms as fast as possible, allowing them to pass in front of your upper body. By the time you reach this stage of your swing, your weight should be almost fully shifted to your front side. In Phil’s case—and in the case of every good player—the weight shift occurs gracefully, not with a forward lunge.
SWINGING THROUGH.
Through impact, let the ball simply get in the way of the clubhead. Swing through rather than at the ball, with the clubhead traveling level well after the ball is gone. Phil has talked frequently about trusting the loft of the clubface to get the ball airborne. There’s no need to help the ball up to send it on a nice, high trajectory.Phil likes to hit the driver hard, and who doesn’t?
For more distance, you should feel as if the clubhead is continuing to accelerate after the ball is on its way. Like Phil, allow both arms to straighten after impact, a sign of a full release. You want to sustain that wide arc you established on the takeaway.
FOLLOW THROUGH.
Then let the momentum of the swing carry you into a balanced finish. Your weight should be firmly on your front side, your arms folded comfortably, and your belt buckle turned to the target.
Learn the high shot out of the rough around the green.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Phil Mickelson is, in my opinion, the best player in the world around the green. I think Jordan Spieth is a half a step behind him. So watch the master as he shows you how to use trajectory to help get the ball close around the green, even when the lie is not that great! The high shot out of the rough requires a slightly different technique than the regular flop or lob shot. Check it out here! Thanks to Swing by Swing and GolfSwingVideoTips for sharing.
The ability to get up and down is the difference between good players salvaging pars and average players making sloppy bogeys.
Missed greens are a part of life on the golf course. But the ability to get up and down is the difference between good players salvaging pars and average players making sloppy bogeys or double bogeys. Straight forward shots from the fairway or short rough predictably result in a higher percentage of success, but where a player can really separate his or herself is from the gnarly lies just off the green.
Phil Mickelson, one of the greatest short game players in the history of the sport, shows you the subtle, yet imperative adjustments you need to make to use trajectory to stop the ball when spin is not an option.
Learn Lag putting with the Master – Phil Mickelson!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
How do you keep your dreaded 3 putts to a minimum?
Well, according to Phil Mickelson, eliminate the variables and keep just one. Whether it be backswing length, putter head speed through the ball or follow through the length. Just keep one, and you will 3 putt a lot less. Thanks to Odyssey Golf for sharing this important instructional video!
We all want to stick every approach shot to a few feet, but that’s not realistic. There are so many variables that go into hitting the perfect shot that you should be prepared to make do when something goes a little wrong.
Phil Mickelson teaches you how to implement his “40-50-60″ drill into your practice so that when you have a longer putt for birdie, you’re walking off with a tap-in par instead of grinding over a 6-footer and making bogey.
The Top 10 “Amazing Recoveries” from Phil Mickelson!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Phil Mickelson’s short game plus a creative imagination make him one of the greatest recovery shot artists in the history of golf!
Here are 10 of his greatest presented by the PGA Tour!
Throughout his career, Phil Mickelson’s ball has found some interesting places and lies on the golf course, and more often than not Lefty pulls of an amazing escape. Check out the most amazing Phil Mickelson great escapes on the PGA TOUR (excluding majors).
For those of you who are wondeering how Phil developes this amazing short game, remember he has spent hours and hours on the range hitting all types of shots. The next time you go out to the range, don’t be afraid to try different shots that you may encounter on the course, and practice them. You game will improve!
The Mickelson’s were a fierce bunch – Stories from Phil’s youth!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
If you have ever wondered where Phil Mickelson gets his competitive streak, just ask his siblings.
In a recent interview with Guy Yocom of Golf Digest, Tim and Tina, Phil’s older sister and younger brother, tell of how their father would create competitive games for them to play. Tim even tells the story of when Phil sneakingly cheated him of an entire bucket of pennies! Read on.
TINA: When Phil and I were little, and Tim was just starting to walk, Mom would head out at night to her monthly PTA meeting. While she was gone, Dad would build an obstacle course around the house. You know those tall, flexible poles with flags on them people put on the backs of their bicycles? Dad put them up all over the place. He’d lay them across the arms of couches and chairs for us to jump over, dive under and go around.
There was a chin-up bar. Dad would time us, and I had the edge because I was in gymnastics and was more agile than Phil.
He’d get so frustrated. Just when he figured out a way to get under the pole quicker and get close to beating me, I’d have Dad change the rules. “Have us do more pull-ups, Dad,” I’d say, and Phil would fall behind. We all learned to look for an edge, and there was never any handicapping to accommodate our ages. Nothing was low net. We were a low-gross family.
The Mickelson’s were a fierce bunch – Stories from Phil’s youth!
TIM: My most vivid early memory of Phil is being on a houseboat our family rented on Shasta Lake for a week each summer. We had a Jet Ski, and our dad would set up an obstacle course. He used empty oil cans, weighted down, as buoys. He’d time us. I was 6, Tina and Phil were in their teens, and needless to say, I didn’t win much. Everything was a competition.
TIM: Phil is seven years older than me, so when we played football indoors, he’d level the playing field—a little. He had to play on his knees, and I got to run. He had to tackle me, and I just had to two-hand touch him. He’d hike the ball to himself, and just when I’d go to touch him, he’d toss the ball in the air and claim the touch didn’t count because the ball was airborne. He did a lot of stuff like that. He always won.
But back to the houseboat. One afternoon it was so hot outside we stayed in the boat. Phil had taught me how to play poker—for money—and all I had was a small bucket full of pennies. I left to use the bathroom, and when I came back, Phil dealt me a straight flush, king-high. I ran to my room, got the bucket, and dumped the whole thing into the pot. Phil calls the bet and reveals he’s got a royal flush. Imagine that. He took every penny.
Much later, he admitted he’d stacked the deck when I left the room.
He bought me a lot of dinners to make up for it. But he never did give me my pennies back.
Listen in as Phil and “Bones” Mackay discuss shot strategy!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Phil Mickelson and Jim “Bones” Mackay are two of the most vocal player/caddie relationships on tour.
They like to discuss the options available to them, so the nearby gallery standing around watching knows exactly what Phil is attempting to do. I wish more duos would do this as it gives the spectators an insight as to how these great players think before each shot. Thanks to golfdigest.com for this funny but interesting take on these two!
If you’ve watched enough golf over the years, you’ve surely noticed the prolonged discussions caught on microphone between Phil Mickelson and his longtime caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay. But what about all the conversations NOT caught on TV? We were fortunate enough to overhear a few* and the results may surprise you.
(*Not really. We made all these up.)
Bones: “Alright, look, you see that bunker on the left, and that guy with the yellow shirt about two paces to the right of it?”
Phil: “Yeah, I see it. OK, so that’s my line?”
Bones: “No, no, no. I just really like that guy’s shirt.”
Bones: “Pretty good layout, huh?”
Phil: “Yes, but see, that’s a bad spot for a halfway house there. I’d put it closer to the 10th tee so you can put your bag down, get your hot dog, and not need to rush your tee shot.””
Phil: “You seem annoyed.”
Bones: “I was just thinking that I’ve been carrying this bag for 20 years now. It’d be nice if just once you offered to take a pullcart.”
