Could Phil Mickelson's coffee boost your game?

Twelve years ago, Phil Mickelson suffered a health scare. He was just shy of his 40th birthday when his body started sending warning signs: joint aches and pains, which, at times, became excruciating

- Michael Weston

The diagnosis was psoriatic arthritis, a condition that causes joints to become swollen, stiff and painful. Not nice for anyone, and especially troublesome for a professional athlete. These days, however, ‘Lefty’ is never ill. Couldn’t tell you the last time he was. He’s actually full of beans – coffee beans, in fact.

Mickelson’s health scare triggered a change in lifestyle, and put him on a pathway to better health and wellness. In 2021, aged 50, he became the oldest Major Championship winner in the history of the game when he lifted the Wanamaker Trophy at the 2021 US PGA Championship. How much of it came down to pure talent and how much can be attributed to what he puts into his body is hard to quantify, but Mickelson will tell you a lot of it comes down to the latter, as will his friend and world-renowned performance coach Dave Phillips.

Phillips is the co-founder of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), the largest golf, health and fitness organisation in the industry Known as a visionary thinker with a passion for teaching, he’s also something of a coffee connoisseur. When Mickelson was going through his health struggles, Phillips, who was introduced to coffee at a young age when living in Kenya, went in search of answers – or, as he puts it, he started to concoct recipes like a “grandma in the kitchen”. He arrived at a special blend that would be called ‘The Good Stuff’, and from there For Wellness was born.