Phil Mickelson: How to age gracefully

Putting

Phil’s success has continued because as he has aged, he has re-shaped his game from an emphasis on power and accuracy to putting.

The difference fairly shouts through his putting stats. Here, in five-season increments from the start of his pro career until today, are his per-round average putting totals.

Season                   Putts

1993                       29.86

1998                       29.01

2003                       28.70

2008                       28.74

2013                       28.56

2018                       27.28

In 1998 – that’s five seasons into what was becoming a highly successful career – Mickelson was only the 59th best putter on tour.  Five seasons later, with a major championship under his belt, he had moved up only to 41st place in the putting ranks. Yet last season, elder statesman Mickelson’s 28.11 putts per round was the sixth best total on tour…and the best of his career.

That was no surprise to close Mickelson watchers because in terms of raw numbers, the 2015 through 2018 seasons have been Mickelson’s four best on the greens.

As previously noted, it’s possible that improvement has everything to do with easier greens and nothing to do with Mickelson’s skill. But standard deviation verifies that Phil’s apparent new-found mastery of the greens is no statistical illusion. In 2018, his putting stood out by a career-best 2.1 standard deviations ahead of the field. In 25 years of playing for pay, Phil’s had five seasons where his work on the greens beat the tour average by 1.5 standard deviations…and they’ve been the most recent four.

At Pebble Beach, Mickelson played to his new strength, averaging 1.41 strokes gained per round on the greens.