Phil Mickelson: How to age gracefully

Summary

Structurally, Phil Mickelson is almost as good as he was in his prime. This age-defiance can be seen in the numbers. In 2003, when Phil was 33 and routinely viewed as a contender for major titles, his stroke average was 70.25, fractionally better than the 70.27 tour average. Fifteen years later, his 2018 stroke average was 70.10, two-thirds of a stroke below the 70.87 tour average.

Yet the numbers also demonstrate that the graceful aging of Phil’s game is attributable to his ability to adapt as some of his youthful skills have waned. Despite driving the ball as far as he ever has, Mickelson has lost ground to the field. He was never much for driver accuracy, and his expertise in hitting greens has clearly diminished.

He has adjusted twice, first by becoming a better chipper and then – when that skill, too began to diminish – by honing his putting game to a point where today – for the first time in his life – he ranks among the game’s best.

We can quantify the overall neutrality of these changes by use of the Strokes Gained data. In 2004, the first season such  data was kept, the sum of Phil’s advantage over the field in Strokes Gained Off The Tee, Approaching the Green, Around The Green and Putting was 1,34 strokes per round.  Since then it has varied as would be expected, from a high of 1.96 in 2006 to a low of 0.58 in 2015. In 2018, it was 0.96, a loss of about four-tenths of a stroke from 2004 but still a very nice advantage for a man well into his 40s.

The result is a man who may not be quite as consistent a force as he once was, but who remains capable at any give tournament of marshaling his game to championship caliber…as he did at Pebble Beach.