Phil needs to dump his instructor

His swing has gotten increasingly sloppy. Off balance, slidey; looks awful, particularly the longer clubs.

Phil is almost 50. How many guys win majors at that age? If he plays on the senior tour he will do great.

......but he is hitting bombs!

Guess superspeed isn’t helping

I find it interesting you're blaming Phil M's not so good golf swing mechanics on his instructor and suggest he be fired. Phil is the one making the swing, not the instructor. All any instructor does is guide and advice, it's left to Phil or the player to hear, practice and execute. People need to see who's really at fault and call a spade a spade. When Phil connects he's hitting further than many others much younger.

Yes, right after he goes on a Keto diet, stops gambling, and gives me his t-Rex head.

For some weird reason he's top 10 in first round scoring average with 69.40 but 191st in 2nd round scoring average at 72.20. Before the 3m and The Open Championship, he had 8 rounds in the 60's on Thursday in 14 tournaments. With that said, he needs to just get the ball in play because he's still top 5 on tour in approaches from 125-150 and 150-175 is averaging 4.00 birdies per round. He needs to focus less on hitting bombs and more on keeping the ball in play and his putting which is another aspect of his game that has declined this year. Last year he was top 20 in strokes game putting while this year he's outside the top 100. I feel like there's something else going on that he's not talking about, because the past two seasons he tends to play awful after Augusta.

He probably just needs to fire all the golf tournaments not played in the west or Georgia.

> @"Darth Putter" said:

> He probably just needs to fire all the golf tournaments not played in the west or Georgia.

He has a great record in Texas. So we welcome him back anytime. Phil are you reading this?

It's interesting that Tiger has taken something off his driver to get it in play while Phil focused on picking up speed (last 12-18 months). I guess not surprising and maybe Phil wouldn't really get it in play much more trying to ease off it (he's always been a bad driver). I've also noticed the decline in putting stats - this is one thing he was focused on last year / the year before.

Phil won this year, so in some ways the season is a success. But his stats have really fallen off, and his play outside of the Desert Classic and AT&T Pebble Beach are just horrible.

Who knows if the end is next year or a few years from now but it's coming. I feel like he could also benefit from playing a lot less, maybe even only play one week at a time (he's talked about don't have energy to play and practice). I'm interested to see if he tweaks his schedule at all - maybe add some shorter courses / lower ranking events. Or, just walk when you can't do it at the top level anymore.

He's freaking 49 years old. He's doing great to even be as competitive as he is.

He does not need a fix on his golf swing.

He needs to find the fountain of youth. His is also plagued by Psoriatic Arthritis. He can have a more consistent golf game when he comes to term with his current condition. No one is 30 years old , forever !

> @Choclab said:

> He's freaking 49 years old. He's doing great to even be as competitive as he is.

+1. He's my favorite golfer of all time. How many golfers have been full time your pros at 49? I wish people would talk about him like he's out there underachieving. Enjoy him when he's playing well and when he's not enjoy that he's still out there trying.

Lol. I’m guessing at this stage he spends very little time with an instructor. He is 49, and a top 20 all time player. Pretty sure he knows if he has the right instructor or not.

> @Cincy_Ken said:

> > @Choclab said:

> > He's freaking 49 years old. He's doing great to even be as competitive as he is.

>

> +1. He's my favorite golfer of all time. How many golfers have been full time your pros at 49? I wish people would talk about him like he's out there underachieving. Enjoy him when he's playing well and when he's not enjoy that he's still out there trying.

He's my favorite golfer too. It's amazing how long he's stayed competitive and relevant.

But he's been horrible recently. And many times fans only want to highlight and trumpet when their players do well. Despite the win, I think his overall play has slipped noticeably this year. I hope he has another run / win in him, but you never know when the end is here.

I'm sure Mickelson will apologise for not playing like a 25 year old.

:wink:

> @iBanesto said:

> I'm sure Mickelson will apologise for not playing like a 25 year old.

>

> :wink:

Yeah, but the fanboys pretend like he's a 25 year old when he does win. Remember the "bombing it" and "he can play forever" comments after the AT&T? Same with Tiger, he was going to compete in every major until he was 50. Now, they make excuses abotu age and accomplishments.

It can't be both ways.

They are old and in decline. The wins they've produced this year are amazing. I'm not attacking them.

Phil is still way too good not to win more tour events. He’s this generation’s Sam Snead. I mean, they both literally could/can kick above their heads at age 50. I can see Phil bagging a win in his mid-50’s, and honestly, he seems like someone who wouldn’t know what to do with himself without golf. I know he battles psoriatic arthritis, but he’s not a typical 49 year old golfer.

Tiger I’m not so sure. I think he’s hanging it up for good the next time he has a major injury. He seems very content with what he’s achieved (as he should be), though I believe it’s eating away at his desire to continue playing high level golf. He climbed the highest mountain at Augusta, and I’m not sure he can muster that kind of determination and motivation again. I hope I’m wrong, but he hasn’t looked good since Augusta.

I would tend to agree he has some swing issues. I'd like to see him visit a guy like George Gankas who I believe could help with a few tweaks to tighten the swing and help avoid the two way miss. Also he tends to leave himself a lot of 4-5 footers each round for par. Just a few minor changes could help him in my opinion. However, he has severe arthritis so we don't really know how that is hurting him ... Phil's fun to watch and I'll always pull for him, in the weeds or not!

I've mentioned this before in "Phil needs to wind it back" threads.

Butch Harmon while commentating on Sky a few years ago told the tale of how during range sessions he would persuade Phil to dial it back and then stand and watch him stripe it down the fairway. He would tell him to take that swing to the course. Phil rarely if ever did.

At some point during one of these session Phil turned to Butch and said "Butch, you know I'm going to go flat out, I know I'm going to go flat out. Let's not pretend any more". And that was the last time Butch asked Phil not to swing flat out.

So carry on WRX's people.

There are many things that happen at 49, non golf related. Very much in the head. Everyone reaches that stage. Phil is very lucky to have a loving family. I’m sure he and Amy are still very supportive of each other and that’s really all that matters at this stage. They are entering a new phase in life and I’m sure everything is going to be just fine. Golf is just golf.

Phil has literally had the exact same golf swing his entire career. It's incredibly flawed from a fundamental standpoint and requires freakish talent and perfect timing to pull off. When he's on hes nearly unbeatable and when he's off he literally hits the ball both ways off the planet.

Add in age, health issues, etc and there's going to be way more awful than great.

Phil ramping up a focus on distance is just making inaccuracy worse.

For all the senior tour talk get real. There's no way in hell Phil is going to the senior tour anytime soon. He's far too competitive and too talented to step away from the PGA tour. When he loses distance and literally can't make a PGA cut then it'll be a consideration bit that will be years from now.

Phil openly embraced bomb & gouge this year and adjusted his equipment accordingly. He pays the price on courses where wayward shots are punished. He’ll be a star on the Senior tour.

> @nosedive32 said:

> Phil has literally had the exact same golf swing his entire career. It's incredibly flawed from a fundamental standpoint and requires freakish talent and perfect timing to pull off.

Hmm, I actually think his swing has changed a lot from the long, loose, upright, flippy swing he had as a kid winning in the desert. I think his swing now is much better, much tighter, much less handsy than it used to be. I've thought in recent years that if he'd had this swing his whole life, he'd have won even more.

But even with a better swing, Father Time is undefeated. If you aren't close to his age you probably can't understand. One thing I've learned is that even though you've declined, it's not so much that you're worse. It's that the kids are better. The training, the teaching, growing up with the equipment, etc... it's just incredibly hard to compete with kids in the prime of their lives when you're almost 50.

Yep, Phil has no idea how to play golf, can't do anything in life without a coach - I heard he's been taking online gambling lessons.

Phil should just start all over. I think hanging out here to see all the great advice would be beneficial to him with all the know-it-alls.

Totally amazed he's made it this far.

Phil doesnt want to change his game. Dial it back alittle find fairways, hit greens, use your short game........But in reality father time is undefeated

Phil doesn’t need to dump anything beyond his obsession with “dropping bombs”. They longer this obsession with distance has gone on the worse he has gotten.

Phil plays hard and I love his competitive spirt..

Despite his age I think Phil has underperformed his talent this year