Phil's Open: Editors' Blog: Golf Digest

Phil's Open

Monday, June 16, 2008 Comments

When a right-brainer brings in a left-brainer to help with strategy, debatable choices may follow. Phil Mickelson's consultation with Dave Pelz, and Phil's resulting decision to remove the driver from his bag, brought plenty of heat from our readers, who wrote even as Tiger and Rocco were still fighting it out.

Isn't it time to expose the fact that (Dave) Pelz has ruined Mickelson's golf game? How many tournaments has Pelz won? No driver, 5 wedges, extreme strategizing- how about just PLAYING!!! Where's the feel and instinct needed? Pelz is in his head & he's not PLAYING golf!! A thrill to watch Rocco PLAY!!!
Larry Guli, Thousand Oaks, CA

Some things never change. Phil is still "such an idiot" when it comes to US Open course management.
Bill Hulbert PGA
Yorba Linda, CA

Phil Mickelson has to be the dumbest great golfer of all time.
Richard Bruno
Waterford,CT 06385

Harsh words, gentlemen, though no harsher than Johnny Miller and company over the weekend. Miller argued, and who could argue with him, that if you can't hit fairways with a 3-wood, you might as well hit the rough with a driver, 30 yards closer to the green. Here's Phil's view:

PHIL MICKELSON: It didn't feel far off. It really didn't. I didn't feel like it was off, I felt like I was close the whole week and just a fraction where balls were kicking in the bunkers or just going in the rough where I had a tough play. But it wasn't as far off as the stats will show. It's just, just didn't quite get enough in the fairway though.

And his plans for the British:

PHIL MICKELSON: What I take away is I have three weeks off. I'm going to take three weeks off and get ready for a stretch of the run through the rest of the year. I'll leave for the Scottish Open in preparation for the British Open and I'm going to try to -- I'll have some work with Pelz and some work with Butch to get as sharp as I can in this, in these next couple of weeks. So when I do come back and play nine out of 12 weeks I'm playing as well as I possibly can.
Because we still have two majors left, we have the FedExCup, we have the Ryder Cup, we have a lot of big events and I want to get my game sharp for that. It didn't feel far off, I think today's score was evident it's not that far off. But I just got to put it all together.

Phil hit 25 of 56 fairways for about 45 per cent.

--Bob Carney

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Boy it is really easy to criticize Phil from the cheap seats isn't it? What is your Tour record big guy? I'll bet he could beat you up and down the course with a set of bamboo sticks and a ball of yarn. You can question the strategy but leave the character attacks in your own idiotic mind. Phil is absolutely right that it was not as far off as it is on paper (all but the 9 taken on the 13th). I do agree with you that he was thinking way to much about the game that he forgot to just play the game. He is a feel player and thinking gets in the way of that. I do think he has too many coaches. He is the greatest with a wedge so I would ditch Mr. Pelz and just keep Mr. Harmon to straighten out the long stuff. Mr. Pelz is amazing but after reading his "bibles" I was even scared to hit the ball because there was so many statistics going through my head. Like Phil, but no where near as good, I am a feel player and thinking is BAD! I played Torrey just before the Open and let me tell you, the rough was crazy hard to hit out of. The ball sinks down and the grass does not move. Stick a ball in a wire brush and try to hit the shot you want - that is what it is like. I am a +1.5 handicap on a 74.7 rated/143 slope course and shot a 91; even being the first time I had ever seen the course I was oddly happy about that. So, until you go out and kick Phil from the #2 spot give the man the respect he deserves. He is the most fun guy to watch because he is like the people's champ. He thinks like a lot of us out here, the only difference is that he can actually pull off the shot. I feel he just needs to get back to what got him there. When he finds it watch out.
No, I do not know him.

Posted by blairunderpar June 22, 2008 7:40 PM