Mickelson's flop shot

[Duffy]

I had never really respected Phil's short game as I should have until I bought an L wedge. I have worked with this thing until I've reached a point of going to my P wedge and just releasing to the green. I've found it virtually impossible to determine how far this damned thing is go to hit the ball. I vote to change the name of the L wedge to the F wedge or maybe the S wedge because that's typically what comes out of my mouth after trying to use it.
Mr. Mickelson sir..... I am humbled at the feet of the greatest short game on earth!

[Parker0065]

Yes, Phil is pretty talented with this shot. I bought my first L-Wedge back in 1988 when they were all the craze. I didn't start using it on the course for a few months. I would pull it out on the practice green and practice with it until I became comfortable with swinging so hard for such a short shot. Once I became comfortable with it I would use it on the course but only when I short sided myself and had to carry a bunker or mound with just a few feet of green to work with.

Unless your just constantly short siding yourself on a super tight pin location there's really very few situations where you absolutely have to hit a flop shot in my opinion. This year I've only hit two greenside flop shots for the whole season. Luckily I got them both up and down but if I have any green at all to work with I'm going with a short pitch or bump and run. They are just a higher percentage shot.

Sometimes I think Mickelson uses the flop shot too much but he's so talented with it how can you argue with him using it!

Good Luck!

[Zeph]

It's not rocket science, half the shot is judging the lie if it's even possible to perform. If the ball sits up a bit it's about getting the club sliding under and the ball will pop up.

[VOX]

phil's love of the flop shot has probably cost him a lot of titles.

[flap]

I do most of my chipping and pitching with my lob wedge.I close it down or open it up as I need to.I find it is much more versatile then my 56 degree sand wedge as it has 0 bounce.I do not use it in the bunkers or for shots longer than 35 yards.

[kris]

There's a video on youtube where he hits a backwards flop shot. like he lines up looking away from the hole and hits it backwards. pretty crazy.

[iacas]

  kris said:

There's a video on youtube where he hits a backwards flop shot. like he lines up looking away from the hole and hits it backwards. pretty crazy.

Not that hard to do if you can find a slope. 45 degrees or so plus 60 from a lob wedge is 105 degrees, or backwards by 15 degrees.

[sacm3bill]

  iacas said:

Not that hard to do if you can find a slope. 45 degrees or so plus 60 from a lob wedge is 105 degrees, or backwards by 15 degrees.

The launch angle of the ball is not the same as the loft of the club. For example, in a recent Golf Magazine article where they had Paddy Harrington compare old clubs to new, the launch angle of his (current) 9i with 44 degrees of loft was 23.1 degrees. And the difference between loft and launch angle increases as you get to the higher lofted clubs.

Certainly you can increase launch angle by opening the face, but you're implying that launch angle = loft which is not true. Even if it were, your implication that it's not hard to take a stance and swing on a 45 degree upslope is also flawed. (Maybe not that hard for you Eric, but it would be for the majority of golfers.) Bottom line, I'm impressed by Phil's shot. - Bill

[Zeph]

I've done that, not too hard with some practice. Paddy's launch angle is lower because he deloft the clubs. While this is common also with a wedge, for a flop shot you want more height and release the club under the ball, which would add loft rather than decrease it.

[imtomtomim]

Truthfully, I don't use the flop shot enough. For some funny reason, it seemed to be the most natural golf shot when I first picked the game up and it has become my most reliable shot. Crazy eh? It shows off well in bunker play. Just chop right under it. Distance control is all based on feel and imagination so you really got to pay attention to your practice swings.

[iacas]

  sacm3bill said:

The launch angle of the ball is not the same as the loft of the club.

For that shot, and for all intents and purposes, it is. You're not compressing the ball and you're swinging very flat (up the slope). If you can find a 45 degree slope or more, you can probably pull the shot off too.

[sacm3bill]

Fair enough, I'll have to try it someday.

[kris]

  iacas said:

Not that hard to do if you can find a slope. 45 degrees or so plus 60 from a lob wedge is 105 degrees, or backwards by 15 degrees.

Yeah maybe so, but I'm still highly impressed.

[is2linda]

i hate flop shots. You need like 100% confidence to pull it off. Phil, being the crazy person he is, always pulls off the flop shot magic because he has like 100% he can do it. Hes such a fun player to watch.

[B-Con]

Despite being a junior golfer, I could feel that the PW wasn't giving me enough loft on some closer shots. I really wanted something with more loft, so I got a LW. (Part of the reason my PW was annoying was that it had 14* of bounce -- annoying to hit off a groomed fairway.)

It's been a mixed blessing. I did not anticipate the difficulty in determining how far the ball would actually go when struck. I'm inconsistent, and it's proved annoying. A good shot has great payoff, but a bad shot... Sometimes I might as well have just used my putter and whacked the ball. But overall the LW has made harder lies and working around the green a lot more manageable, I'm definitely thankful for it.

[misty_mountainhop]

  B-Con said:

...Sometimes I might as well have just used my putter and whacked the ball...

Therein lies a lot of golf in a nutshell - percentages and picking the shot

you can pull off with the highest likelihood. Just because the average amateur can pull off a decent flop shot once, doesn't mean they can do it all the time. Same undoubtedly applies throughout the game but I guess that makes golf fun....and frustrating. A realisation of capabilities would, I think, benefit us all! Let's see "Oh, here it is. Not too bad a lie in the semi. Hmm, distance about 180 with water up the left-hand side. Earlier in the year I hit a great 4-iron from a similar position; I can do this! Damn, better find another ball........". Been there; done that .

[B-Con]

  misty_mountainhop said:

Therein lies a lot of golf in a nutshell - percentages and picking the shot

Yep, very true. Some of my inconsistency is because I try to play to the shots I know I *can* hit, rather than what the shots I probably *will* hit.

Just got a 52* GAP wedge (the PW is close to landing in the water, it's annoying to hit) and I immediately felt better consistency with it. Some time on the chipping greens should help me sort out which one to use in which situations.

[Hyper X Crusher]

Here is the video of Mickelson's backwards shot. Pretty awesome!!