“He would just go around the backyard and hit shots” – Phil Mickelson’s brother and caddie, Tim

“He would just go around the backyard and hit shots” – Phil Mickelson’s brother and caddie, Tim

Phil Mickelson with his brother Tim

USA’s Phil Mickelson is expected to be seen this week on the 18th hole on the Kapalua Plantation Course at the ongoing 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions. 

Meanwhile, his brother and caddie, Tim Mickelson has talked about a 30-yard green behind their childhood home on his appearance at the Under the Strap podcast on their win at the PGA Championship late last May.

“I didn’t use it nearly as much as my brother. I mean, Phil was out there all the time,” Tim said of the backyard green.

“It’s only about — from the very back edge of the tee box to the back edge of the rough behind the green, it might be 35 yards. So it’s not like it’s super long. But my dad used to have this thing cut very short on the green, and he had, at times, 6 to 8 inches of rough around the green, and Phil would just go around the backyard and hit shots, and we had a — well, we still do, we have a tangerine tree, and Phil would go on the hardpan behind the tangerine tree and hit a flop shot over the tangerine tree.”

“Phil would just go spend an hour chipping and create little games around the green”

Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson

The youngest of three Mickelson children, Tim further went on to talk about how Phil used to make the most out of the backyard. He further shed light on how the ‘Lefty’ learnt and practised many of his shots at their childhood premises. 

“The bunker we have there is where he learned how to hit the backward shot over his head. We’ve got a canyon behind, so we actually could hit up to a 9-iron if we wanted just to hit shots. And my brother loved to hit, but my dad loved it just as much because my dad, that’s just what sort of my dad would do at night. He’d just go turn on the lights and go spend an hour chipping and he’d create little games around the green. And it wasn’t always about trying to make it. It might be how many shots can I hit in a row that stop just past the last ball. Little games like that. He loved it.”

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