Cut Out That Risky Business

But in the third round of the '07 Players, Mickelson never considered playing out to the fairway on 10, and he only half-listened as Bones recited yardages to the second-safest destination, the greenside bunker. Phil had perceived an opening high in the palms and pines, and he envisioned a flight path that would miss the trees, fade, clear the greenside bunker and grip the plateau green. He took his normal lusty swing with a seven-iron, and his ball rolled dead 30 feet, one inch from the hole. The crowd went nuts, and Lefty eventually tapped in for par. Phil and Bones had a good laugh. "Sorry," Mickelson said to his caddie. "I simply didn't feel like telling you what I was going to do." Now there's a bronze plaque in the bunker commemorating Phil's feat.

"I don't like risks like that," Pelz says. "He still only made par. I believe in taking a chance only when you can save a shot." The instructor pauses. "I haven't gotten him to play more conservatively."

For short-game tips from the master, Dave Pelz , go to GOLF.com/pelz.