Phil Mickelson is rated as the greatest left-handed golfer of all time and has the statistics behind his name to prove it. Having won on all the professional tours, including winning his first tournament on the Champions Tour, Phil has won nearly four times as many times as his nearest competitor, Bubba Watson.
The success has often led to aspiring golfers wanting to use Phil Mickelson clubs.
Based on current standings, Phil is inside the top ten of all-time winners on the PGA Tour. Having qualified for the Champions Tour when Phil turned 50, Phil is still highly active and competitive on the regular PGA Tour.
What makes this even more remarkable is that Phil Mickelson is not a natural left-hander. He does everything else right-handed. As Phil is known for his wit, he sometimes suggests in jest that he found golf too easy as a right-hander and needed more of a challenge and that is the reason that he is playing left-handed.
A more feasible theory is that when Phil started golf at the age of eighteen months, he mirrored his dad’s swing. Since his dad is right-handed, Phil had to do everything with the opposite hand.
With undeniable talented short game Phil, or Lefty as he is known, have executed some amazing shots with his wedges. This includes flop shots and over-the-head shots from the rough around a bunker while positioned inside of the bunker. This while facing away from the green. Absolutely amazing!!!
Phil Mickelson – What’s In The Bag
Golfer Profile
Height
Standing six feet three inches tall and weighing in at two hundred pounds Phil has made good use of this size enabling him to hit the ball tremendous distances yet showing the utmost skill level in his short game.
D.O.B
Phil (Philip Alfred) Mickelson was born on June 16, 1970, in San Diego, California where he spent part of his childhood before moving to Scottsdale, Arizona.
History
As an airline pilot, Phil’s dad had time to spend time with Phil during the week and grow Phil’s love for golf.
While in Arizona, Phil attended the University of San Diego High School until 1988 whereafter he attended Arizona State University in Tempe on a golf scholarship.
As an amateur golfer, he won sixteen tournaments and several awards including the Haskins Awards as the outstanding collegiate golfer three years in a row from 1990 to 1992.
During his amateur career, Phil won the 1991 Northern Telecom Open, in Tucson. The win as an amateur enabled Phil to join the professional ranks in 1992 without having to go through qualifying school.
Standing six feet three inches tall and weighing in at two hundred pounds Phil is an athletic golfer that can hit the ball prodigious distances. However, it is his short game for which he is renowned.
Some Interesting Facts about Lefty
Although Phil is a great stroke maker, he has never been able to break sixty but has scored sixty on three occasions in his professional career.
As the best left-handed golfer of all times, Phil is a natural right-handed person. His left-hand play is due to Phil mirroring his dad’s swing from the age of eighteen months.
Mickelson’s wife Amy was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 resulting in Phil taking a break from the PGA Tour for nine months to assist her through the difficult time. Upon his return, he won the Masters Tournament in 2010.
Being a master of the short game has not stopped Phil from hitting five aces on the PGA Tour.
Phil has been known to change clubs to suit circumstances and has on occasion carried two drivers to cater for a fade and a draw in the same tournament.
Phil became the oldest player ever to win a major championship at 50 years 11 months old on May the 23rd 2021!
What’s In The Bag?
The left-handed maestro has been a long-term Callaway player with few exceptions. His current bag consists of:
Driver – 8.0-degree Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero driver with a 47 ½ inch Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X shaft
Driver 2/Mini-Driver – TaylorMade “Original One” Mini Driver with Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X shaft. The only non-Callaway club in his bag.
Fairway Wood – Sixteen and a half degree Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero fairway wood with a KBS TD 80 C5 TX shaft.
Driving Iron – Eighteen-degree Callaway X Forged UT two-iron with UST Mamiya iRod 95F5 shaft.
Shafts – Irons and wedges all have KBS Tour V 125 S+ shafts.
Irons – The four-iron is a Callaway Apex TCB and the rest, five-iron to Pitching Wedge are 2021 Callaway Apex MB.
Wedges – As a true master of the short game, Phil carries three Callaway PM Grind ’19 “Raw wedges” with fifty-four-degree, sixty-degree, and sixty-four-degree lofts.
Putter – An Odyssey WH XG Blade PM rounds off the clubs in the bag.
Ball – The Callaway Chrome Soft X with Triple Track.
Glove – Callaway gloves complete the equipment list in Mickelson’s bag.
Prediction
As a fifty-year-old Phil is finding it difficult to compete with the young guns on the PGA Tour but his competitive spirit keeps driving him to continue and achieve on both the PGA and Champions Tours.
Phil finished in the top-fifty in 2019 and seventy-fifth in 2020. With stiff competition and commitments to both the PGA Tour as well as the Champions Tour, Phil is unlikely to better the positions of the previous two years and is likely to finish outside the top hundred on the FedEx Cup standings but still make the first two playoffs.
Update: After his 6th Major win at the US PGA Championship on May 23rd, 2021, he auto qualifies for all the majors for the next 5 years and he has a great opportunity to complete the career grand slam at the US open at Torrey Pines in June 2021! Great win Lefty!
Phil will most likely not compete for the FedEx cup in 2021/22 but he will likely have some great moments in the upcoming season!
References
- PGA, https://www.pga.com/
