Tour Phil using armlock in FedEx St Jude pro-am - 2021 WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational

[coops]

On 8/4/2021 at 9:19 PM, Tupperwolf said:

Okay, now I've seen everything. 

 

Not yet, you haven't.

 

I mean, I'm not claiming that Phil read my post about the wrist lock grip here with it fitted to the original Cameron Futura (and install it so the grip 'bump' sits half way up my forearm)...

 

I seem to remember he used a Scotty Futura years ago... found an image of it here - the futura is distinctive enough that you can still recognise it

 

It's coming - the Mickelson FuturaxWristLock...

😀

 

Here's my image from that post above flipped to Lefty for him.... if he's right eye dominasnt it'll work nicely (i'm left eye dominant but play right handed).

Edited August 7, 2021 by coops

[manxytag]

I'm trying wristlock for the second time, love the idea, just cant get comfy.

[chip75]

19 hours ago, coops said:

I seem to remember he used a Scotty Futura years ago... found an image of it here - the futura is distinctive enough that you can still recognise it.

 

He used one in the 2003 Master, the one Mike Weir won. Finished with a 68.

 

Also had the Odyssey 7CS as well, most weird was the PING Anser in his hands.

Edited August 7, 2021 by chip75

[mjbfyb]

Phil has ditched the armlock and the claw. The putter looks like the one he used to win the 2010 Masters. 

1 hour ago, chip75 said:

 

He used one in the 2003 Master, the one Mike Weir won. Finished with a 68.

 

Also had the Odyssey 7CS as well, most weird was the PING Anser in his hands.

 

He used a Cameron TeI3 Santa Fe during the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf against Sergio IIRC. 

[chip75]

1 hour ago, mjbfyb said:

He used a Cameron TeI3 Santa Fe during the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf against Sergio IIRC. 

 

In was in his bag for a decent run. 

 

[bladehunter]

Phil.  Just stop with the bandaids.  Claw scrambled his brain.  Just putt free with the conventional grip.  It’s impossible for him to putt worse than he is now , so why not ?  regain  some actual feel and go.  

[dmeeksDC]

On 8/5/2021 at 9:00 PM, BD57 said:

Amen.

 

I've putted conventional (with every variation of a conventional grip known to man), Claw, left-hand low, belly & armlock.   I even fiddled with a broomstick for a while.

 

There isn't a method known to man which cannot be "yipped."   

 

When I arm-lock, distance control is the challenge. 

 

When I go left hand low, I tend to start longer putts "more on line," but I'm susceptible to a putt "exploding" on me (and going "many feet" past the hole).

 

I'm less "yippy" with the claw (but I can still hit some beauts), but I can get 'yippy" with every possible permutation of a "stroke" . . . too often, you can't tell if I made one or had one.

 

If it was as easy as "they" (the ones complaining the loudest) say, then it'd dominate.  

 

it doesn't.  There are only a few guys on tour who arm-lock, and they're not known as the "best putters."  It's almost non-existent on the LPGA tour.  

 

Arm-lock is a method employed by people searching for something, anything that works . . . and it's that because it ISN'T "better"  - at most, it can be the "best available" for a particular player.

Such a great post. Very entertaining! I say there is no way armlock gets banned because it simply does not meet the definition of anchoring. It’s not like it is an advantage, it I s just another way to grip the putter with a long grip that cannot extend past the elbow. That is the key point. The lower arm still moves in every stroke. It is not anchored as it is when the grip end of the putter is pinned to the stationary sternum. And armlock doesn’t work for everyone. If it was every pro would do it. I tried it. Felt like I had zero touch.  

 

If we start calling limbs that move “anchoring” then that is a slippery slope. They could outlaw having two hands gripping a putter. No one actually needs two hands to hold a putter or hit a putt, so using a second one must be anchoring. It’s not because the second hand is moving, just like the lead lower arm in armlock.

 

“There isn’t a method known to man that cannot be tipped.” My new mantra. 😩

[nosedive32]

On 8/8/2021 at 9:14 AM, bladehunter said:

Phil.  Just stop with the bandaids.  Claw scrambled his brain.  Just putt free with the conventional grip.  It’s impossible for him to putt worse than he is now , so why not ?  regain  some actual feel and go.  

 

He was literally one of the best putters on tour with the claw more often than not for 5 years after being terrible since strokes gained's inception. His putting has gone in the the toilet the last 2 years. What's notable about that? He's used a conventional grip in that time way more than not.

 

Compare his strokes gained stats from 2012-2018 to the before and after. It's like 2 different people.

 

Btw the armlock was back on Sunday

[nosedive32]

2004: -0.87 128th

2005: +0.264 46th

2006: +0.268 40th

2007: +0.156 67th

2008: +0.214 54th

2009: -0.146 131st

2010: -0.149 133rd

2011: -0.190 144th

 

2012: +0.562 11th

2013: +0.661 5th

2014: +0.234 52nd

2015: +0.262 41st

2016: +0.565 9th

2017: +0.337 40th

2018: +0.510 13th

 

2019: -0.160 139th

2020: -0.083 124th

2021: -0.073 122nd

 

In 2012 he switched to the claw during the playoffs and finished T38 T4 T2 T15 T2 T14 the rest of the year after going 7 tournaments without a Top 25.

 

He used the claw off and on in 2013 including early in the year when went off for an opening 60 and a record tying 28 under in Phoenix. Went back to it during the playoffs after going back to conventional when he switched to a superstroke 3.0

 

He actually putted most of 2014 and 2015 with a conventional grip then went back to the claw in 2016 almost exclusively with 10 feet for the entire year. (And went back to the SS 3.0 as well)

 

In 2018 he did exactly what he did in 2016. SS 3.0 claw inside 15-20 feet. 

 

The bigger grip, combined with the claw, on a #9 style putter has by far been his most successful combo statistically in the strokes gained era.

 

It's been all blade, pistol grip, and mostly conventional the last 2 years.