While it was Tiger Woods who denied Rocco Mediate the greatest victory of his career, it seems that it is the 2008 US Open champion’s biggest rival who has managed to really annoy Mediate more recently.
Of course, Phil Mickelson is one of the most talented golfers to have ever played the game. Mickelson has won six major titles, while he is also the oldest major champion in history, having won the PGA Championship shortly before his 51st birthday.
Every golf fan can probably recall a moment of magic from Mickelson. It almost appeared that there was part of him which relished putting himself in trouble. It was no surprise that Mickelson’s hero was Seve Ballesteros.
Mickelson seemed more relatable than most on the PGA Tour because he could end up in such strange places – including in the hospitality area. But perhaps that is an indication that not all of his advice is going to be particularly helpful to all golfers.
Phil Mickelson’s claim about the golf swing labelled one of the ‘dumbest’ things Rocco Mediate has ever heard
In fact, Rocco Mediate has taken great exception with one claim Mickelson has previously made about the golf swing.
Speaking on Subpar about some of the poor advice which is out there, Mediate insisted that he could not believe what he heard Lefty say about the swing – which goes against something Ben Hogan used to do in his own game.
“How about this one, let’s get into this a little bit because this is fun, he made possibly one of the stupidest comments I’ve ever heard in my life, I don’t know, last year maybe. He said if you set up with your hands even with the ball, you’ll be a horrible striker of the ball,” he said.
“And then when you see Hogan, driver, the shaft’s pointing just behind his belly button. Just think about that for a second. Before you open your mouth, make sure you know what you’re saying. Hogan never had [shaft lean], you can have this, no problem. Hogan was right here, a lot of guys were centred.
“So when I saw that comment, I’m like that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. And I have a picture I could show you, but it’s funny, where Hogan is with his full driver, hands right here [in the centre of his body].”
How Scottie Scheffler has helped show that many textbooks on the golf swing can be thrown out the window
Golf fans have been able to see for themselves just how there is no one size fits all approach to the game, particularly in the last few decades.
Butch Harmon has said virtually no-one could swing the club like Tiger Woods, while the likes of Jim Furyk and Bryson DeChambeau are amongst the major champions who had extremely unique swings.
And of course, you are going to struggle to find Scottie Scheffler‘s feet movement in a textbook on the golf swing. But Scheffler’s swing has set him on a path to potentially become one of the best of all-time.
It certainly shows that there are plenty of ways to get the ball around the course successfully.
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