KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Through three rounds at the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson was hitting the ball better than he ever had been in his life. He led the field in SG: Tee-to-Green and sat atop the leaderboard. Yet at the same time Phil Mickelson was working on his swing, because whether you realize it or not, professional golfers are literally always working on their golf swings.
You may have noticed it watching the final round of the PGA on Sunday. Throughout the day — often while walking down the fairway, in between shots — Phil would make one-handed swings, without a club, using only his left arm.
You can see it in motion below:
So, what’s it about?
Phil’s golf swing has a few idiosyncratic moves within it it, but something he’s worked on since his days alongside coach Butch Harmon has been making his golf swing wider in transition. Phil has a long golf swing — a big key to his power — but because of this, his arms tend to collapse in transition and get too close to his body, as Butch noted for Golf Digest right here. That leads to him getting steep, and leads to a high right miss with the occasional yank left along the way.
When he’s making these rehearsals between shots, that’s what he’s feeling: Like his arms are wider and more away from his body. On the range before his final round, that was the single swing thought kept reiterating to his coach, Andrew Getson: Wider with his left arm.
“A wider arc will allow me to have less face rotation through the ball,” Mickelson said earlier in the week. “As I get a little steeper, the club’s going to flip more at the bottom.”
The golf swing, no matter who you are, is a constant work in progress. Phil knows what he needs to do, and it’s working for him so far this week.
