Phil's Split Decision

He's turned one of his old PING Eye 2 wedges into a 64 degree, and sticking with his Callaway 60 degree. So he's only partially stampeding over the spirit of the new rule. From Wednesday's Torrey Pines press conference:

Q. What wedges are you going to use? If you wanted to address it right away, what are you using and why?

PHIL MICKELSON: I feel like my Callaway wedges have been the best wedges that I've ever used, so I'm only switching the one. What we found in our testing is that the top edge of the groove is what's been changed, and so it's not as sharp. As we add loft and create a shallower angle, if you will, into the ball, the top edge isn't catching the ball once we get past 60, 61 degrees of loft.

So what I did was a took a 60-degree i2 wedge and turned it into a 64, and those grooves seem to be catching the ball similar to what my wedge did last year. My 60 I still felt like my Callaway wedge was much better performance and got every bit of the amount of spin that I needed.

I actually net gained spin this year. I know that sounds crazy. My grooves last year were conforming to this year. They weren't very aggressive. I've always put a lot of spin on the ball for that reason, angle of attack and hand action and whatnot.

This year's groove that Callaway has is fractionally move aggressive than the groove I used last year, and so I'll end up picking up it shows about 200 to 400 rpms of spin on the launch monitor, plus with the addition of the golf ball I'm getting a little bit more spin than I did last year.

Q. How much time did you spend analyzing it?

PHIL MICKELSON: Quite a bit. Yeah, quite a bit. You know, this affects my career. This is a big change.

I think it's a ridiculous change. I think that it costs each manufacturer millions of dollars. I think it's confusing, and I don't agree with it one bit.

We could do the ball instead? Yeah, that's what I thought.

But it's a big change for the game of golf, and we've got to adapt. Like I say, I don't make the rules, but I do abide by them, and I spent a couple months working on this -- well, actually it's been a couple years, but the last couple months full bore.

Update on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 02:00 PM by Geoff

**Ron Sirak on the atmosphere at Torrey when Phil talked to the media.

Comments

[RM]

"I think that it costs each manufacturer millions of dollars."

Woe the manufacturer. Remember, it's the people that pay.

[thusgone]

"I feel like my Callaway wedges have been the best wedges that I've ever used, so I'm only switching the one." This is just too good to be believed.

[tlavin]

Full bore. That's Phil.

[OWGR Fan]

Phil says...

"After talking about it to the Tour and the USGA, the only thing that matters is are they approved for play," Mickelson said. "So I don't feel that there's any problem if I were to play those clubs or if anybody else were. All that matters is that it is okay under the rules of golf."

http://blogs.golf.com/presstent/2010/01/mickelson-weve-had-limited-communication-with-woods-family.html?eref=sihp

[MM]

Four degrees is alot to bend an old cast Ping wedge. I seem to recall that they only went a degree to two at most. I guess he's lucky it didn't break (or he has a barrel full and found one that didn't).

[Wisconsin Reader]

Phil, of course, is the ultimate club tinkerer on the Tour . . . Plus he is the unquestioned star of Callaway so no request is left undone. . . Evidently, after the "millions of dollars" spent by Callaway, Phil will have MORE SPIN this year with his wedges!

Have we heard from Far Hills yet?

[The O]

I'm glad Phil explained to us how smart he is.

[dbh]

From the Sirak article, this is odd:

'The media being, well, the media, and trying to justify those direct deposits made into their bank accounts every two weeks by employers who expect them to do their jobs, deftly pushed (Mickelson) on with all three of the matters...'

It's a strange, wordy, media-centric interjection in a press conference story.

Apologia? Revisionist history? Worried about job?

[Longy]

Firstly he's paid by the equipment manufacturers so his comments on grooves aren't creditable or likely to be unbiased.

But, the level of analysis and research he's put into adjusting his wedges for this year is impressive. I hope he does well this year, with or without you know who's presence.

[Tighthead]

MM - they may have had to put some serious heat to that in order to bend it 4 degrees. That is beyond the limits of most cast clubs.

[Fo Shiz]

You guys all missed the biggest thing to come out of this press conference:

What happened to "Five Weeks of Phil"?

Now the Golf Channel is gonna have to show a continuous loop of highlights from Phil's tryout with the Toledo Mud Hens during Match Play week.

By the way, I like how Phil's first explanation for why he doesn't like the new rule is that it costs the manufacturers millions of dollars. Atta boy, People's Champ!

[Abe]

Phil is desperate for a good year and will do ANYTHING for an edge.

Is that cheating? Depends on your point of view.

[tlavin]

I'm sick to death of Phil's phony smile and his gagging ways, but even I am hoping that he has a terrific year. The game is much more compelling when we have great players like Mickelson playing great. I personally hope that he's listening to Dave Stockton more than he's thinking about equipment tinkering. If Phil calms down and puts himself in position around the green and putts like he used to, he is capable of giving everybody a run for the money. Problem is, you get the sense that Phil is pretty content with all of the money that he has and isn't as trophy-centric as maybe he should be. I'd love to see him come out hot and stay hot through the majors.