I was at the Buick Classic Sunday and was amazed when I saw Mickelson's warm up routine at the range. First of all, he doesn't use the provided bag of range balls like all the other pros. His caddy Bones walks onto the range carrying a huge Titleist bag filled with balls which must be the Pro V 1's he uses on the course. They go all the way to the end of the range far away from the other players. Bones then goes out into the range and stands there while Mickelson hits wedge shots. Bones doesn't have to move and catches all the balls on one bounce. When Phil switches clubs, Bones moves backward to the certain yardage and continues to catch the shots on one bounce, rarely having to move at all. I think I saw him have to run for a ball once. As he catches them he collects the balls and drops them back into the bag. When I stopped watching, Bones was way out into the range, still catching the shots on one bounce. It looked like a mid iron at that point. I saw them walk off the range, Bones carrying the big Titleist bag of Pro V 1's, and Verplank said something to Mickelson about using his own balls on the range.

Hogan used to practice this way, too, or at least that's the story. Wish I could hit nothing but ProV1s when I practice....

And also one time when he was in so. cal i think at avira cc he plays catch with baseball and glove right handed with his caddie he is right handed he does everthing right handed except golf well he plays catch first then goes and hits his own balls cool stuff i have'nt seen him lately to see if he has a new style of doing things .

Hogan used to practice this way, too, or at least that's the story.  Wish I could hit nothing but ProV1s when I practice....

...and i wish i was good enough to hit them all to just one spot LOL like phil

Hogan used to practice this way, too, or at least that's the story.  Wish I could hit nothing but ProV1s when I practice....

The last Masters Hogan played, 1967 I think, I watched him practice though his entire bag on a late Tuesday afternoon the same way. Just me and my Dad and another lucky spectator sitiing on a bench about fifteen yards away from Mr. Hogan. His caddy never took a side step...one bounce and in the shag bag, except for his driver, which he was hitting into the ivey on the back fence! Incredible experience.

Hogan used to practice this way, too, or at least that's the story.  Wish I could hit nothing but ProV1s when I practice....

The last Masters Hogan played, 1967 I think, I watched him practice though his entire bag on a late Tuesday afternoon the same way. Just me and my Dad and another lucky spectator sitiing on a bench about fifteen yards away from Mr. Hogan. His caddy never took a side step...one bounce and in the shag bag, except for his driver, which he was hitting into the ivey on the back fence! Incredible experience.

What a great memory...thanks for sharing it... :smile2:

I was at the Buick Classic Sunday and was amazed when I saw Mickelson's warm up routine at the range. First of all, he doesn't use the provided bag of range balls like all the other pros. His caddy Bones walks onto the range carrying a huge Titleist bag filled with balls which must be the Pro V 1's he uses on the course. They go all the way to the end of the range far away from the other players. Bones then goes out into the range and stands there while Mickelson hits wedge shots. Bones doesn't have to move and catches all the balls on one bounce. When Phil switches clubs, Bones moves backward to the certain yardage and continues to catch the shots on one bounce, rarely having to move at all. I think I saw him have to run for a ball once. As he catches them he collects the balls and drops them back into the bag. When I stopped watching, Bones was way out into the range, still catching the shots on one bounce. It looked like a mid iron at that point. I saw them walk off the range, Bones carrying the big Titleist bag of Pro V 1's, and Verplank said something to Mickelson about using his own balls on the range.

Don't forget though, the pros aren't hitting normal range balls out there either. They're hitting pro v1's or whatever else they're playing in general. Nike, Precept, Callaway etc.

If I had a caddie do that for me they wouldn't be catching balls on one bounce but running for their lives so they wouldn't get hit in the forehead :smile2: :spit:

Maybe you didn't read the post Rbl690, but a good chunk of the story was about how Phil uses his own Pro V 1's on the range instead of the range balls.