Why Phil Mickelson may solve his left miss with a driver shaft switch at Wells Fargo

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Phil Mickelson has been using a Project X HZRDUS T1100 shaft for years, and in multiple different Callaway driver heads, but he showed up to the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship with an Aldila Rogue Black 130 MSI 60TX shaft in his Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero driver.

Mickelson, at 48 years old, has been gushing publicly about his newly-found clubhead speed with the driver, and he’s currently averaging 120.31 mph in 2019, placing him 19th on the PGA TOUR. By coupling his trusty Project X T1100 shaft with the Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero driver head, however, he found his tee ball was hanging out to the left rather than turning over, according to Callaway TOUR rep Johnny Thompson.

“He’s been playing that T1100 for a long time and it’s been a really good partner with some of the driver heads we’ve had in the past,” Thompson told PGATOUR.COM. “But with [the Epic Flash, he’s] kind of having more of a hanging miss. It wasn’t a slice; it just hung out there. It wouldn’t release.”

While Mickelson is currently averaging 304 yards off the tee (T27) on measured drives in 2019, according to PGATOUR.COM stats, he’s ranked 204th on the PGA TOUR in driving accuracy percentage, and he’s ranked 213th – last on TOUR – in left-rough miss percentage, hitting it in the left rough off the tee 21.19% of the time.

After a testing session last week at the Ely Callaway Performance Center in Carlsbad, California, Mickelson found that he was hitting the Aldila Rogue Black shaft on the center of the face more often, and “it was helping him square the clubface a little bit easier,” Thompson told PGATOUR.COM. The Aldila Rogue Black has a slightly softer profile than the Project X HZRDUS T1100 shaft he had been playing.

“He’s really excited about some of the club head speed that he’s picked up,” Thompson told PGATOUR.COM. “High-launch, low-spin draws are kind of his thing right now, and that shaft definitely helps him square of the face and he’s definitely hammering it. He’s hitting it very hard.”

By hitting more of a draw with the Aldila Rogue Black driver shaft, and hitting the center of the face more often, look for Mickelson to increase his fairways-hit percentage, and reduce his left-rough tendency off the tee. That is, if he does decide to put it in play come competition time on Thursday.