Gary Player is well known for his outspoken nature and the fact that he never holds back from airing his honest opinions.
It’s fair to say that Phil Mickelson is cut from the same cloth, and as a result, both have become divisive characters in the game throughout the years.
However, it’s worth remembering that the South African and the American are two of the greatest golfers in the history of the game.
Player won 159 tournaments worldwide, including nine major championships, while Mickelson racked up 45 PGA Tour wins as well as six major titles.
Gary Player has been an outspoken critic of LIV Golf, while Mickelson obviously thinks very differently, having joined the Saudi-backed outfit in 2022.
They do have huge respect for one another, though, and rightly so.
However, Player believes that Mickelson and everyone else from his generation onwards had things so much easier than he did.
Gary Player claimed Phil Mickelson used a club that made golf easier
When speaking to Golf Digest back in 2020, Player suggested that things were a lot easier for Mickelson than they were for him during his prime.
“I had to become a good bunker player because I had to play under so many different conditions, even on the same course,“ Player insisted.
“Nothing was the same. You had to figure it all out, and that skill is getting lost. The ball goes 50 yards longer now, so the emphasis is all on power and not on the mental test as it should be.
“Phil Mickelson has a 64-degree wedge. You take a swing, and the ball comes out. You used to have to manufacture that yourself.“
In Player’s day, they didn’t even have 60 degree wedges, let alone 64 degree wedges!
What the data says: 64 degree vs 56 degree wedges
Back in 2012, data was carried out by Cobra Golf with the Arccos shot-tracking system, using four handicap groups – two, five, 12, and 15.
Each golfer hit numerous shots from 20 yards with a bunker separating them and the flag with 56 and 64 degree wedges.
On average, from all of the handicap groups tested, the 64 degree wedge came up trumps.
With the 64 degree, the players averaged 13.3 feet from the hole, compared to 21.1 feet with the 56 degree.
However, when hitting full shots into greens, the 56 degree wedge outperforms the 64 degree wedge.
Amateur golfers who use 64 degree wedges when hitting approach shots only hit the green 44% of the time.
That figure rose to 54% when amateurs used a 56 degree wedge.
So the end result is that 64 degree wedges are better to use around the greens when you have a hazard between your ball and the flag while the 56 degree is the better option when hitting approach shots into greens.
