Why does Phil Mickelson use a blade putter?

US golfer Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship in May 2021. With that astounding triumph, he became the oldest major championship winner at the age of 50 years, 11 months and seven days.

Over the years, Mickelson has experimented a lot with the kind of putters he uses. He has tried his hand at mallets, White Hot inserts and updated versions of the wand, but the blade profile has always remained his favorite. Suffice to say: that has served him well for almost three decades. In fact, he won the PGA Championship last year using the Odyssey “Mickelson” blade prototype with a SuperStroke Pistol GT Tour grip.

Back in the day, blade putters enjoyed tremendous popularity, but lately they've been on the wane. Now, Mickelson is probably one of the few golfers who prefers blade putters. They are the most traditional type of putters, although the modern editions have slightly deviated from the traditional design.

Compared to the more popular mallet designs, blade putters can provide better distance control and accuracy on longer putts. The weight distribution also yields more precision in feel. It's more beneficial for golfers with an arc swing stroke, as most of its weight is concentrated more towards the toe.

The type of putter a golfer uses depends heaviliy on their style, technique, stance, ball position and several other aspects. So why does Phil Mickelson love his iconic flat-stick so much?

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Phil Mickelson and his blade putters

Phil Mickelson (Image via Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images)

Phil Mickelson grabbed headlines with his PGA victory last year. However, he wasn't the only one enjoying the attention, as his iconic blade prototype turned quite a few heads too.

Naturally, his blade putter was custom-made for him by Callaway Golf. Mickelson's clubmaker at the company, Gerrit Pon, and the company's senior product designer for putters teamed up to create the flat stick.

An average blade putter with a long hosel tends to have its center of gravity somewhat closer to the heel. The idea behind Mickelson's putter design was to move the center of gravity closer to the center of the face.

Some steel in the heel was removed and replaced with lighter aluminum to achieve the shift. The designers also added weight in the toe area by using heavier tungsten there. It also features a milled. The putter was more upright and offset than Mickelson's previous gamer.

The blade putter gained so much traction that Odyssey released a small batch of the iconic flat-stick with the exact specifications in October last year.

While this putter enjoyed a lengthy run in Lefty's golf bag, Mickelson only used it for a short period in early 2022. Always experimenting and swapping equipments, he's currently using an armlock putter.

Although the transition hasn't served him very well so far, Phil Mickelson has said that he's still getting used to it. According to Essentially Sports, he said:

"It takes a little getting used to, but it seems like I’ve had moments where I just start rolling it in from everywhere,"

Phil Mickelson didn't play the Maters and the PGA Championship this year before returning to action in Centurion.