Phil Mickelson: Why 2011 Could Be a Monster Year

Phil Mickelson is eating meat again.

That alone should be enough to convince us that 2011 is going to be a big season for Lefty.  

Add in a healthy family, an arthritic condition that is now under control, a renewed love for the game and a struggling Tiger Woods, and 2011 could very well be the biggest year of Mickelson’s career.

There have been two quotes made by Mickelson over the past two weeks that lead me to believe he is exactly where he needs to be, both mentally and physically.

The first quote came prior to the start of last week’s Farmers Insurance Open.

When asked about his outlook for the 2011 season, Mickelson said, “I feel like I've worked on some things now with Butch Harmon to get my swing to where I want it to be. I've worked with Stockton and Peltz to get my practice sessions the way I want them to be, as well as my short-game putting technique. I feel this is a year where I don't have to have any change. It's a year of refinement. Developing touch, developing shot-making and getting into the nuances of hitting great shots and not having to worry about technique, and it's a good feeling.”

Mickelson is finally comfortable with all aspects of his game, and he is simply going to go out and play golf in 2011 without stressing over the minute mechanics of his golf swing.

This mindset will allow Mickelson to be relaxed on the course while focusing all of his attention on the ultimate object of the game—getting the ball in the hole while taking as few strokes as possible—rather than the angle of his shaft one-third of the way down to the impact zone.

The second quote came just yesterday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

When asked if he was as excited about the game of golf today as when he first came out on tour, Mickelson responded with the following:

“In the last year and a half I realized how much I love golf and how much I have used it throughout my life as a way of dealing with things on and off the golf course. It's a place where I'm at peace and it's a place that I am constantly wanting to be. And so even though it's been my job in theory for many years, I've never felt like it's a job. I just—I love the game of golf. I love the opportunity to compete, and the last year and a half as we've gone through kind of an interesting or difficult time, if you will, that's become even more aware—I've become even more aware of how much I love it.”

What some people tend to forget is that Mickelson began the 2009 season on a tear, prior to his wife, Amy, being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mickelson came into the 2009 season hitting the ball longer than ever, and between February and mid-April, he won the Northern Trust Open, the WGC-CA Championship and finished fifth at the Masters.

Amy was diagnosed with cancer in late May and Mickelson still somehow managed to finish second at the U.S. Open while Amy’s then-unknown prognosis was weighing heavily on his mind.

After the U.S. Open, his time away from the game and lack of practice began to affect his performance. Mickelson would not win again until the Tour Championship in September. He then followed that victory up with another win at the WGC-HSBC Champions in November.

Mickelson began the 2010 PGA Tour season slowly, before winning his third green jacket in April and finishing second at the Quail Hollow Championship.

Things were once again looking up for lefty, that was, until he was afflicted with his own health issue—Psoriatic Arthritis—prior to the 2010 U.S. Open, where he still managed to finish fourth.

For the remainder of the 2010 season, Mickelson experimented with being a vegetarian—which was nothing short of comical for a guy who is part-owner of the Five Guys burger chain—while getting used to the medication he will likely need to take for the rest of his life.

Any diet and lifestyle change will inevitably cause a transformation to the body.

In Mickelson’s case, he found that he lacked the same physical strength and energy he had enjoyed prior to being diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis.  

That has now changed.

“I learned a lot about diet and what works for me,” Mickelson said at the Farmers Insurance Open.

“What I found is that if I eat a little bit of light protein and a lot of green vegetables, my body feels great. I've been able to gain that strength back and recuperate the abilities in the gym and so forth that I was able to do before all of this.”

The moral of the story is this: Over the past two years, when Mickelson has been happy off the golf course and healthy on the golf course he has probably been the best player in the world.

A healthy Mickelson + a healthy family + a new appreciation for the game of golf and the life it has given him + a complete level comfort with his golf swing = A MONSTER SEASON. 

If there was ever a perfect storm of mental and physical health both on and off the golf course for Mickelson, this is it, and it couldn’t come at a better time for golf.