Callaway’s Mack Daddy Wins at Muirfield

Ted Johnson

That Phil Mickelson won the Scottish and British opens in successive weeks suggests he wears kilts at home and regularly eats haggis. But after watching him for two weeks strike the ball so well on firm, tight links fairways, we do know he has near-magical ball-striking skills.

Though the final round – and the final six – holes of the British Open rank, in his words, as his best golf ever, his ball-striking ability is best seen here, the decisive shot that enabled him to win the Scottish Open on July 14.

It’s difficult for us in the U.S. to understand the challenges. The ball lay on a flat lie as tight as a cement driveway. The green was a few yards in front of him but stretched about 35 yards or so to the hole, and it was about eight feet above his ball.

Mickelson’s shot came off flat and low, pitched about 15 feet short of the pin, the spin rapidly slowing the ball on the first and second bounces as it fell over a ridge in the green, kicking the ball toward the hole. Finally, the backspin reversed the ball, which stopped six inches from the edge of the cup.

Only dead-on ball striking produces such a shot; it’s the perfect interaction of carbon steel, urethane cover and tightly mowed fescue turf.  Mickelson carries four wedges, including a 64-degree Callaway Mack Daddy wedge with unique groove structure. They performed well.

The new grooves rules of 2011 have had little effect on scoring. These wedges, designed by Roger Cleveland, are unique in that they have grooves that are wider apart than the USGA regulations. But each channel is also wider. This allowed Cleveland to shape the walls of the groove – we’re talking tenths of millimeters in depth here – deeper and steeper. That creates the sharper edges on each groove for more spin.

The first time Mickelson hit the prototype of this model, the shot sailed 40 yards in the air and backed up 40 feet. A clean white stripe remained on the wedge’s face, the paint taken off by the edges of the grooves.

“That’s my Mack Daddy wedge,” Mickelson said, giving the model its name.

 

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