A Lesson Learned: Mickelson's great chip at The Tour Championship

September 28, 2009 -- Of all the magical shots we witnessed in the final round of the 2009 Tour Championship, Phil Mickelson's chip-in on the 16th is noteworthy. It was his fifth birdie of the day in a bogey free round. For years, Phil has been regarded as one of the greatest wedge players in the game. And, the chip on the 16th supports that belief and is this week's "A Lesson Learned."

Phil Mickelson's clutch birdie chip on hole no. 16 clinched his comeback win at The TOUR Championship presented by Coca Cola. (Courtesy Getty Images)

There are three things that enabled Phil to hole this chip. Firstly, he had a steep angle of attack. Before anyone panics because of the terminology, let me explain it. In order for the club to impart backspin on the ball, the club must go down. What goes up, must... you get the picture. The more steeply the club goes away from the ball, it will likely return on a similar angle. In order to create this steepness, we add wrist cock. Hold a hammer in your glove hand. If you move the hammer up and down, you are cocking the wrist. Cocking the wrist adds steepness to the angle of attack. If the wrist doesn't cock, it makes the angle of attack shallow. Backspin is necessary and is often missing in action in those that carry higher handicaps (you know that I'm talking to you). When the most backspin that you ever have is on a pop-up drive, you might be a hacker. The second sign that you might be a hacker is when the longest shot you hit in a round occurs when attempting a 10 yard chip. With the hammer analogy that I used earlier, if you move the hammer side to side, you're a high handicap. Surely, you don't think that I'm going to leave you in this condition.

Secondly, Phil used pure layback of the clubface. This also added backspin. If you noticed his finish position, it looked as if you could rest a champagne glass on his clubface. In other words, the clubface was facing the sky. In order to accomplish this task, the forearms must roll clockwise for the right handed golfer when striking the ball and counter clockwise for the left handed golfers. We call this reverse roll of the forearms. The real secret to accomplishing this task is keeping the glove wrist flat. The side to side motion of the hammer bends the wrist.

Lastly, he kept the clubhead below his hands on the follow-through. In other words, the clubhead was going down while the clubface was going up. If you watch the re-play, you'll notice that the backswing was twice as big as the follow-through. This was not because he was quitting. It was because of the reverse roll of the forearms.

Learning to do these things takes a few easy steps. First, experiment with shallow and steep angles of attack. Hit some chips and pitches with and without wrist cock. Learn the differences. Second, you must check your finish position. You have to look at these things or you'll change nothing. Freeze in your finish position, and look at the clubface. See if it's facing the sky. If it is and the clubhead is below your hands, your glove wrist is probably flat. If the clubhead is chasing the ball into the sky and finishes above your hands, the glove wrist is probably bent. Learn to check your positions and stop watching the ball. You'll learn much faster.

Ted Fort, Jr. was chosen by his peers to be the 2006 Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year. His home facility is Marietta Golf Center, in Marietta, Georgia. Fort can be reached attufpgagolf@yahoo.com