19th Hole
Mickelson unveils 2020 Masters strategy: 47.5-inch driver and a ‘higher handicap’ iron set-up
Phil Mickelson joined the Callaway Golf Podcast this week where he dished on his equipment set-up and strategy for next week’s Masters tournament.
There has been plenty of buzz around Bryson DeChambeau potentially introducing his 48-inch driver next week, and Lefty revealed on the show that he will be playing a 47.5-inch driver of his own.
When asked why he had decided to put a 47.5-inch driver in play at the year’s final major, Mickelson revealed that it all came down to distance and broke down why at Augusta carry distance is so critical.
“Well at Augusta, most of the (drives) carry the bunkers, and open up the fairways a little bit. So on number one, to carry the bunker on the right, to carry the bunker on two, to carry the bunker on eight, (and) to get it over the hill on 14 and 17.
You really want to fly the ball 315-320 (yards) minimum and that seems like a lot, and it is a lot. It’s just that if you can fly it (that distance) there you have a chance to take advantage of some of those holes.
For example, number one, if you can carry that bunker it’s a sand wedge in and you’re thinking birdie. If you have to hit a 3-wood off of the tee and go to the side, or if you can’t carry it and you have to play more to the left, it’s a 6- or 7-iron into the green, so you’re thinking par. So there’s – the ability to attack a number of holes if you can fly the ball a little bit farther.”
The 50-year-old also gave listeners an insight into his iron set-up for next week and will be relying heavily on Callaway’s Epic Forged Irons throughout the bag.
Lefty explained that while he always used the Epic Forged mid-irons, next week he’ll also be adding the shorter irons into his bag which he described as a “kind of a higher handicap club” – heaping praise on how fast the ball comes off the face of the irons.
“At Augusta, the grain of the grass is – they started mowing from the green back to the tee. And so you’re always into the grain for your approach shot. And the ball tends to sit down a little bit lower – you’re always catching it like a groove low, and the ball is then launching a little low and it’s spinning a little more. And it’s hard to get the ball up.
So I’m using the Epic Forged Irons that I’ve always had – or I’ve had the 4 and 5 iron in my bag for some time, I’ve used the 6 and 7 irons for some time, but I’m also going to use the short irons, the 8, 9 and wedge. And it’s funny, because it’s kind of a higher handicap club, because the ball takes off the face so fast.
But I have such a high spin rate already that I’m looking to reduce some of that spin. And this gives me a chance to come into the shots, into the greens at Augusta, much higher and softer.
I’m trying to hit every iron shot at Augusta, all the way from 1 through 18, as high and as soft as I can, and eliminate the ball running because the greens are so fast when they’re releasing the ball tends to not stop. Those Epic Forged Irons allow me to hit it full, hit the ball way up in the air, (and) come in a lot softer into those greens.”
Mickelson will be going in search of his fourth green jacket when he tees it up at Augusta National next week.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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