The inside story on Mickelson's custom Callaway wedges

Phil Mickelson is a legend both on and off the golf course. With 44 PGA TOUR wins, he's one of the most recognized players we have in the sport. With his recent adoption of social media, "Lefty" has become one of the best Twitter and Instagram follows in the game. His moxie in the social media sphere has had us all in stitches the past year, but interestingly, Mickelson’s social media use has finally made its impression on his actual equipment - in more ways than one.

But how has a player who has religiously kept his sticks free from any swag or adornment for so long finally gotten into the custom stamping game? We needed to find out, so we went right to the source(s). Callaway Golf’s custom stamper extraordinaire (and Instagram sensation himself) Anthony Taranto and Tour Technician Gerrit Pon (the man who builds everything in Phil's bag).

Q: How did the stamping on Mickelson’s wedge come about?

Anthony Taranto: Well we were all excited to see Phil finally on Instagram, so I DM'd him to say hi welcome to the show. I had stamped up a couple of wedges for fun to show him (see picture below) and texted the pictures to him...

...oddly enough Gerrit [Pon] had just built him a 60 and 64. He wanted me to do something fun on them, and this is what we landed on.

We also had the chance to chat with Gerrit Pon from the Callaway Tour Department about the unique grinds and profile of Phil’s wedges and this is what he had to say.

Q: It looks like Mickelson does some extra grinding to the sole of his 60 and 64-degree wedges. Can you tell us what you did and why?

Gerrit Pon: Phil is very specific when it comes to how his wedges look and interact with the ground. He prefers the wedge to have some offset built into it and also likes a wedge that sits close to the ground. The grind "we" (Phil gets on the wheel as well) did on his 60 and 64 was to take a little bit of bounce off the trailing edge and a small bit outta the heel. This ensures that when Phil lays it open, the sole will sit flush to the ground.

In regards to offset in his wedges its an interesting thing. Phil feels that when his wedges have a bit of offset, the ball comes off of the face straighter and eliminates any floaty shots. Everyone prefers offset for different reasons, but in this case its a ball flight preference even off of a shot from just off the green.

There you have it: the inside story of how the man with “calves like Adonis” now has a wedge that says “calves like Adonis.”

Mickelson’s wedge specs are as follows.

Callaway MD3 56 degrees bent to 53.5. KBS Tour V 125 S+ shaft.

Callaway PM Grind '19 "Raw" (60 degrees). KBS Tour V 125 S+ shaft.

Callaway PM Grind '19 "Raw" (64 degrees). KBS Tour V 125 S+ shaft.