Phil Mickelson says renowned coach didn’t try to change his golf swing, as he did with Tiger Woods

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were two of the most successful students of renowned swing coach Butch Harmon. At different stages of their respective careers, both stars turned to Harmon to improve their golf performance.

However, the training methods were not the same for either player. In a recent guest appearance on a video on Grant Horvat's YouTube channel, Mickelson stated that Harmon never tried to change his golf swing, as he did with Woods. Mickelson also explained why.

Here's what Phil Mickelson said:

“No [no-one’s tried to change his golf swing]. They’d be wrong because there’s a lot of ways to swing a golf club. There’s a lot of ways to play the game and everybody’s swing is personal to the way their body works and who they are, and there’s no right or wrong way to swing a club, you just find out what’s best for you." [23:15 onwards]

He added:

“So I’ve worked with Butch Harmon and he’s always had some of his other students like Greg Norman and Tiger [Woods], he’s always shortened them up. But he didn’t try to shorten me up, because he knew that’s the way I swing.” [23:38 onwards]

Butch Harmon is one of the most recognized coaches in the golf industry. He is most famous for having worked with Tiger Woods from 1993-2004 and Phil Mickelson from 2007-2015. However, his long list of former students includes other Major champions such as Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Justin Leonard.

The rivalry of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is the most decorated player of his generation and one of the most decorated players in the history of golf. Although he has won almost twice as many PGA Tour tournaments and 2.5 times as many Majors as Phil Mickelson, it was 'Lefty' who was his main rival at the height of their careers.

So much so, in fact, that Mickelson surpasses Woods in the number of tournaments in which they have completed a one-two finish. This has happened a total of nine times, with five wins for Lefty and four for the Big Cat:

Mickelson's wins with Woods as runner-up:

1998 Sentry Tournament of Champions
2000 Farmers Invitational
2000 Tour Championship
2007 Deutsche Bank Championship
2009 Tour Championship

Woods' wins with Mickelson as runner-up:

1999 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
2001 Arnold Palmer Invitational
2002 U.S. Open
2005 Ford Championship at Doral

Mickelson and Woods first played in the same group at a PGA Tour event at the 1997 NEC World Series of Golf. Since then, they have shared a group on 36 other occasions through 2022, when Mickelson went to LIV Golf.

According to Golf Digest, Woods outplayed Mickelson in 18 of those editions. Mickelson was better 15 times and they tied four times.