Phil's Phrankenwood at The 2013 Masters

[inthehole]

Saw last night he's had the boys at Callaway cob together a custom 9 degree 2 wood out of a 3 wood body & a driver face (he won't be carrying a driver).   He's calling it a frankenwood.       Could you imagine if he won the Masters with it, the stores would be filled with racks with new 2 woods ...

[atb5079]

wtf why? is he really that lost with the driver these days? he always has tended to over think everything. he just needs to chill out and play some golf. he always kicks it up another notch at the masters each year anyway.

[newtogolf]

Yeah, they are calling it a Frankenwood.  The USGA has certified it as a driver even though it's being called a 2 wood by Callaway.

[thanw]

8. Phil Mickelson , 2006 U.S. Open
Mickelson started his career 0-for-46 in majors, then changed his approach. He dialed back the aggression and started making much better course management decisions. And it paid off: He entered the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot going for his fourth career major and third in a row.

And he almost got it. But then he reverted to his previous form. His driver deserted him all through the final round (he even hit into a trash can on No. 17), yet he kept hitting it; and his decision-making deserted him on the final hole.

Mickelson had a 1-stroke lead as he stood on the 18th tee. Despite hitting only two fairways all day, he pulled the driver again. And again, he missed - only this time badly, his drive hitting the roof of a hospitality tent and bounding into the spectator area.

Mickelson had a decent lie, but a bad idea. Rather than advancing the ball a short distance but getting it back in the fairway - where he might make par the hard way, or, at worse, bogey to get into a playoff in which he'd be the heavy favorite - Mickelson attempted a huge slice under and around tree branches. It didn't work. The ball hit a branch and stopped 25 yards in front of him.

He hit another big slice, but this one plugged in a back bunker, and not even Mickelson's short-game magic could save him from there. He double-bogeyed and finished one shot out of a playoff.

"I am such an idiot," he succintly said afterward. http://golf.about.com/od/historyofgolf/a/worst_chokes.htm

[chriskzoo]

Phil is an idiot - he as admitted as such.  How about not carrying a driver at Torrey Pines in 2008 when it was playing 7600 yards (if my memory serves)?

[jamo]

Every time Callaway makes him a new wood or driver, he talks about how he's hitting it 20 yards longer. He's got to be up to, what, 450 by now?

[Zeph]

It's just Phil being Phil. What you call a club doesn't matter all that much as long as it works.

[nevets88]

I don't like the name although I see the social and commercial appeal it. It's not ugly. It's smaller. Other names:

Throwbackwood

Miniwood

Dudeyoustolemygrandpaswood

Dudewoodswerentalwasygargantuanwood

Flaccidwood

[cipher]

In his press conference he said they took the 3w body and made it slightly larger(8.5) with a driver shaft I think.  Has anyone seen any photos yet?

Edit:  I imagine it just looks like an older TM Bubble shaft driver or something.  I wonder how it can be low spinning like he is saying it is though?

[jamo]

In his press conference he said they took the 3w body and made it slightly larger(8.5) with a driver shaft I think.  Has anyone seen any photos yet? Edit:  I imagine it just looks like an older TM Bubble shaft driver or something.  I wonder how it can be low spinning like he is saying it is though?

Internal design, the shaft, etc. That's not that hard to do.

[RPMPIRE]

I'm surprised Phil is doing this again. He did something similar in the 2008 US Open when he made some type of hybrid driver/3 wood and he suffered greatly off the tee. Here's the picture of it.

[chriskzoo]

The thing about Phil is that, no matter if he's in the room talking finances with Warren Buffet, he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.  Maybe one of these times he will hit on something like these foolish club experiments, but until he does I will just chalk them up to hubris.

Keep in mind this club is 250cc - it is essentially the same size as a Great Big Bertha.  Here is a good picture of the face - it's a mid-90's era driver, nothing more.

[Chas]

Originally Posted by chriskzoo

The thing about Phil is that, no matter if he's in the room talking finances with Warren Buffet, he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.  Maybe one of these times he will hit on something like these foolish club experiments, but until he does I will just chalk them up to hubris.

I'm mostly a Phil supporter but I think there's some truth to this.  But also, he seems to feel the need to tweak his game much of the time - he has said as much himself.  Can't leave well enough alone, but then again I suppose he doesn't feel things are 'well enough' when he makes a change.  He's a risk taker, that much is clear.

[inthehole]

Perhaps even bigger news ... he's going with the same fat grip on his putter that he used last week, BUT WILL BE ABANDONING THE CLAW GRIP - his grip will be conventional this week !!

[Chas]

He is incessantly changing his putter/putting stroke, nothing new there really.  I've never seen a guy so pi**ed off with his putting stroke as when I followed him for a few holes at Torrey this year.  He kept pulling out the putter and taking practice swings, even when waiting around near the tee box.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Perhaps even bigger news ... he's going with the same fat grip on his putter that he used last week, BUT WILL BE ABANDONING THE CLAW GRIP - his grip will be conventional this week !!

I thought he already did?  I mean, wasn't he using a conventional grip last week along with the fat putter grip?

[Dave2512]

Wasn't he raving about his new driver just a few weeks ago?

[reedf]

I believe this actually stems from a tournament late in the season last year when Phil showed up with a TM 3 wood. Phil was out driving the others that were using driver and hitting way more fairways. Obviously Callaway is paying him too much to carry that club every week, but I think they're still trying to re-create one for Phil.