Mickelson makes last-minute putter change in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Throughout his career, Phil Mickelson has primarily opted for one-of-two putter styles; he’s used either a true blade-style putter, similar to the classic Wilson 8802 design, or an Odyssey No. 9-style putter, which has a similar shape to the blade putter, but larger. As the constant equipment tinkerer he is, Mickelson has employed countless different versions of those two head shapes, but he’s almost always used either a blade or a No. 9.

“Putters are a very hard thing for me to get fitted in,” Mickelson said on Thursday in a press conference. “I usually use a [No. 9-style putter] or a blade, and there are reasons for that, the way I stroke and the way I set up to it.”

Ahead of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, however, Mickelson made a last-minute deviation from his norm.

Odyssey putter representative Joe Toulon, who works closely with PGA TOUR players on their putters week-to-week, said that Mickelson didn’t even seen the putter in person until Tuesday. For Mickelson, however, it had an immediately positive impact.

“It’s very hard to get the right look, feel, performance that I’m looking for from a putter because I don’t stroke it the same as a lot of guys do,” Mickelson said. “The first few putts I hit with this, I noticed a real difference. It was more stable.”

Mickelson’s custom putter creation is birthed from Odyssey’s new line of Stroke Lab Ten putters, which are made for greater forgiveness and stability due to their shape.

As Mickelson said in Thursday’s press conference, he typically tends to “block” putts using standard mallet putters that are made for more stability. He said with this custom mallet, which is designed to mimic the playability of his previous No. 9 head, he hit the putts on line and found that he was more efficient from six feet and in. That’s by design, since Mickelson’s putter was created just for him and his stroke.

According to Toulon, Mickelson’s Stroke Lab Ten prototype is designed to open-and-close more throughout the stroke due to the custom hosel and more forward CG (center of gravity). Unlike the other Stroke Lab Ten putters in play on the PGA TOUR, Mickelson’s version of the putter has less offset, and it doesn’t have weights in the rear-end of the sole. The black circles, instead, are simply made of plastic; this design takes weight from the back of the head and moves it further forward, which better matches Mickelson’s preferred stroke style.

Also, Mickelson has a custom White Hot XG insert on the face, which he’s used in his custom putters for years.

“The guy that makes [putters] for me has the right hosel, right amount of offset, the White Hot XG insert that I love from years ago,” Mickelson said.

Compared to the face insert on the other Stroke Lab Ten putters, Mickelson’s is softer, according to Toulon.

Due to the specific adjustments made for Mickelson, Toulon says the new mallet-style head “isn’t too far away” from his previous No. 9 design. Still, the full-mallet design is relatively new territory for Mickelson.

So far, the new putter has worked out for Mickelson, who shot a first-round 65 (6-under-par) at TPC Summerlin. As far as Mickelson’s putting standards go, it was a “good” putting round.

“For me, a good putting round is making every putt from inside six feet,” Mickelson said. “A great one is when you make every one inside six feet and you add a few 12, 15, 20-footers. I didn’t really make any 12, 15, 20-footers today, but I made every putt inside six or eight feet and didn’t give away any shots because of that. It feels much easier to do that with this putter, which is why I’ve gone to it.”