Phil Mickelson is an enigma in many ways, but one major one is his equipment.
On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, Callaway Tour Content manager Johnny Thompson, who used to be Mickelson’s Tour rep when the six-time major winner was sponsored by Callaway, sat down to tell some of his stories working with him.
Thompson said his first interactions with Mickelson came in 2011. Thompson was in his first year as Callaway’s Odyssey putters rep at the Masters when Mickelson asked him to adjust the loft and lie of one of his 8802-style PM putters.
Those putters were notoriously hard to get into a loft and lie machine without many places to anchor the putter, and Thompson accidentally let it slip and scratched it.
“I was trying to get this thing in the fixture and then put enough pressure and it slipped out of the fixture that I had and it scratched,” Thompson said. “And I mean, I was mortified.”
When he showed him the putter, Mickelson was thankfully unbothered by the blunder.
Odyssey Tri-Hot Square 2 Square #7 Custom Putter
We’ve moved Zero Torque Forward.
Odyssey’s new line of S2S TRI-HOT putters is a revolution in the “Zero Torque” category. Using multi-material construction, we have been able to move the CG of these putters far enough forward to get the shaft entering the head on the topline eliminating the need for shaft lean and thus eliminating one of the biggest barriers to entry for this style of putter.
Forward CG and Hosel Position
By moving the CG forward we were able to position the hosel spud on the topline, much closer to the face than typical “Zero Torque” putters for a more natural, intuitive and comfortable set up position.
Multi-Material Construction
By strategically using Aluminum, Steel, and over 140 grams of tungsten we have been able to design a “Zero Torque” putter with more than 80% of its weight under the topline and allowing for our forward CG and hosel position.
New FRD Groove
This new Forward Roll Design Groove is deeper and more aggressive. With a 19° slope it works in conjunction with the dual layer design to improve forward roll up and down the face.
View Product
ALSO AVAILABLE AT: Odyssey
“He looks at it and he’s like, ‘I don’t even see it, whatever,’” Thompson recalled. “And he was fine with it. So I’m like, thank God.”
But Thompson’s favorite Mickelson story occurred later on in Boston at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Thompson had a fun, but long night out the day before the tournament, as he described — and the following morning he received a call from Mickelson’s caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay, a personal friend of his after being his childhood babysitter.
“He goes, ‘Hey, can you meet Phil on the putting green?’ And I’m like, yeah, no problem,” Thompson said. “Walk over. And he has a custom-made left-handed Sabertooth belly putter in the bag. And he’s trying to figure out how to use this belly putter.
“And he’s asking me all these questions about how to use a belly putter. And I mean, I’m in the deepest of fogs mentally from my night out. And I had to suck it up and just try to answer all these questions.
“And then finally we like finished up and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, how did, like, what just happened? Like, I cannot believe I just had to go through that and it was going 100 percent.’
“But yeah, I was watching him try, and I think he used it that way, he putted terribly.”
Luckily, Mickelson didn’t blame Thompson for his performance on the greens, but Thompson said it was one of the deepest conversations he had with him to that point.
“It was the first time he’s ever asked me, like my opinions on that stuff. And it’s the one night of that year that I probably had the longest night,” he said.
For more from Thompson and Fully Equipped co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped hereor watch it below.
Want to find the best putter for your game? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
“>