Phil Mickelson Knows His Equipment

It is honestly pretty incredible how much Phil Mickelson knows about his golf equipment. The guy is an absolute nut about this stuff.

Golf.com David Dusek wrote a story about Mickelson's recent tinkering with his equipment, and some of the stuff Lefty hears about and may or may not believe is insane incredible.

Why did Phil switch to his old irons?

"I don't know this for a fact," Mickelson said to a group of True Temper representatives recently, "But I've heard that when True Temper bought Royal Precision, that the tooling it used to make the Project X shaft was not purchased and was not part of the deal. And that the manufacturing of the new Project X by True Temper has not been as good or as consistent. So I have been trying to look into some different stuff. We have three sets on back-order from inventory before the purchase. But is that not accurate?"

Why is he using a new three-wood?

"This club has a lower profile [than his previous 3-wood, a Callaway FT], so you can see how thin it is in the back. My other 3-wood had a taller face. And because the CG is low, the spin rate is low. So instead of having an 11.5° 3-wood, I have 14° 3-wood. I'm able to get the ball up more easily because of the extra loft, but it doesn't float, which is the problem I've always had with 3-woods."

Listen, I don't fault Mickelson for his attention to detail. If anything, it is one of the few things I admire about Phil. If I were on tour, competing for millions, I'd damn sure get all my equipment to the perfect specs and lofts for me. I just think it is crazy how much the guys knows about all the available equipment.

If it means millions between a shot here and a shot there, I'd be using new wedges each week with the best possible thing for my game. I commend Lefty on this stuff. He's a little psychotic, but in this crazy game, who the hell isn't?