Phil Mickelson swing/ball speed

[drgolfaholic]

Driver ball speed has been a useful parameter for length off the tee. DJ, Brooks, Rory own the 180+ territory; Cameron Champ now redefines it with 190+ range lol. Tiger post back surgery clocks 180s on occasions. Phil has always been in the low to mid 170s. What happened over the winter break? He's mentioned the core training (blah blah) that laymen wouldn't understand. At 48 (turning 49 in June), he now clocks 180s regularly at the Hope and even down in Monterey in the cold weather. I find this remarkable. Don't you?

[jgonz69]

https://superspeedgolf.com

[BrianMcG]

Deer Antler Spray.

[Cwebb]

Maybe he's proving that it is possible to gain power at a later age. There are experts in various athletic fields who believe it is.

 

His major advantage is that his swing has been "easy" on his body. No serious injuries to deal with

[MountainGoat]

Steroid gum.

[jasonfish11]

Embrel

[jmkenn0]

He's lost a lot of weight? He's probably in the best shape he's been in, maybe forever, and doing the speed system as additional physical training?

[Scotty1140]

Falconry

[Golfnutgalen]

I've seen Phil on the broadcast routinely clock over 182 this season, but the actual PGA website stats list his average at 176.68 in 6 attempts with highest being 178.77, who to trust!!

 

Tiger was at 178.23 last year for reference.

[Barfolomew]

Is Phils accuracy better or worse when swinging harder at 180+ ?

[drgolfaholic]

Is Phils accuracy better or worse when swinging harder at 180+ ?

He has some spraying tendency like Sunday at number 6 but all in all, I think he's actually more accurate. Hit all fws at MPCC first round.

[OnOff]

Driver ball speed has been a useful parameter for length off the tee. DJ, Brooks, Rory own the 180+ territory; Cameron Champ now redefines it with 190+ range lol. Tiger post back surgery clocks 180s on occasions. Phil has always been in the low to mid 170s. What happened over the winter break? He's mentioned the core training (blah blah) that laymen wouldn't understand. At 48 (turning 49 in June), he now clocks 180s regularly at the Hope and even down in Monterey in the cold weather. I find this remarkable. Don't you?

 

I think Phil has definitely increased speed by a few mph, which is very impressive. A couple of points I would make:

• Regarding your low to mid 170s ball speed number, that is where he has been recently but he's also been in the high 170s back in the late 2000s.
  
• I think his ball speed per Shotlink seems to be right on point (although small sample size) at 176.7mph. Putting him in the top 15% on tour, impressive. With that said, its a 2.5mph jump over last year, not insane, but a 6mph jump over 2017, which is very impressive.
  
• On TV, I'm constantly seeing ball speed numbers per TopTracer that appear to be inflated. I see Phil as high as 184 and guys like Rory and DJ in the high 180s. Yet none of them ever register a number that high per Shotlink.
  
• His Shotlink swing speed numbers seems to have bad data, with a swing registering 128.15 mph. Same thing happened to Tiger last year when he had a 129mph swing. I don't believe that, especially because they didn't have a corresponding ball speed number. Ignoring that number, he's right at 119 mph, which gels up with his ball speed numbers and is a 3mph improvement over the prior year and 5mph over 2017.
  

 

Very impressive work by Phil. Still hitting it far and putting well, the two things you stop doing when you get old.

[MadGolfer76]

He's 48...not dead...

[DLiver]

Look at photos of Phil's bag during practice rounds and you will see Super Speed Golf sticks in there. He definitely works on speed when training.

[tgreenwood11]

the longer the swing, the longer the career.

[Cwebb]

Regardless of whatever his actual ball speed is, the man has rekindled his game....and is dangerous in just about any event, including all the majors

[puttingmatt]

Come on, everyone knows he installed

a six speed transition in his swing .

Its has more performance than his older transition.

[MtlJeff]

If he hits it far enough outside the California State boundary during the event he can pay less taxes for the weekend.

[Z1ggy16]

Driver ball speed has been a useful parameter for length off the tee. DJ, Brooks, Rory own the 180+ territory; Cameron Champ now redefines it with 190+ range lol. Tiger post back surgery clocks 180s on occasions. Phil has always been in the low to mid 170s. What happened over the winter break? He's mentioned the core training (blah blah) that laymen wouldn't understand. At 48 (turning 49 in June), he now clocks 180s regularly at the Hope and even down in Monterey in the cold weather. I find this remarkable. Don't you?

Super

 

Speed

 

Golf !!

[tiderider]

he has openly stated he will swing more for distance than in the past, and will adjust his game/schedule appropriately ... in addition to whatever tech specs/training he's done ... he might be more accurate at the moment, but i doubt that lasts through the year ... given the way the tour sets up courses, good chance it doesn't hurt him at all ...

[mosesgolf]

Now why didn't he do this 15 years ago? :D

[Christosterone]

From 12 years ago....he has a god given move made for speed

 

-Chris

[Mikeski]

Get the piss cup ready. Phil is juicin'!

[playar32]

Get the piss cup ready. Phil is juicin'!

 

All seriousness, I find it funny that other guys do bicep curls and are accused of steroids; however, Phil is older/has his own health problems and it just is what it is.

[NoFancyUsername.]

Deer Antler Spray.

Steroid gum.

 

plus Ginger Juice.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

He's 48...not dead...

 

Well he will be soon. He's very ill....

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[mosesgolf]

Looks like he opened a can of whup a** on father time.

[MarkFromTheUK]

It’s the guns.

[MountainGoat]

Now why didn't he do this 15 years ago? :D

 

Analytics. Traditional analytics, like fairways hit and greens in regulation, over-emphasize accuracy. Modern analytics (shots gained) have demonstrated pretty conclusively that bomb and gouge is the way to go. He probably just tuned his clubs for distance and decided to let go. I'll bet he's anxious to turn this new philosophy loose on Augusta National.

[Admhowarth]

In addition to the swing speed, he has done a lot of core and lower body work. He also has a pretty efficient swing which has always generated a lot of club head speed.

 

What’s remarkable is the age difference between PM and most the other players who swing at similar speeds.