Phil Mickelson ROASTS Luke Donald over green reading books & slow play

Phil Mickelson roasted Luke Donald on Twitter on Wednesday night following their brief discussion about whether or not green reading books are contributing to slow play on Tour. 

Mickelson, an advocate of green reading books, strongly defended them by tweeting: "For anyone to say they slow up play is flat out idiotic."

Those last few words were just teeing up a fellow Tour pro to respond to Lefty's tweet, and it was former World No.1 Luke Donald who bit first.

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Donald made a case that banning green reading books would definitely help speed up pace of play. 

"Guess I'm an idiot then," tweeted Donald.

"One thing I don't understand here is for a greens book to be effective you have to know exactly where your ball is on the green relative to the hole - how can you have done 80% of your read then before you've even got to the green?? #banthemisay"

Mickelson then fired back later in the day with a classic Mickelson response.

"We agree on one thing at least," tweeted Mickelson.

Guess I’m an idiot then



One thing I don’t understand here is for a greens book to be effective you have to know exactly where your ball is on the green relative to the hole - how can you have done 80% of your read then before you’ve even got to the green?? #banthemisay https://t.co/aVcz3ICMlK

— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) 13 August 2019

The issue of slow play is one of the strongest criticisms of the game today, and it has risen in stature in recent weeks following the slow play of JB Holmes at The Open, and Bryson DeChambeau at the Northern Trust where the American was seen taking 2 minutes 20 seconds over a 10-foot putt and more than 3 minutes to pace out a 70-yard wedge shot.

DeChambeau has been slammed for his actions last week, and despite claiming he has felt "attacked" by golf fans and players for his slow play, the man nicknamed the 'Mad Scientist' has responded by telling everyone he is going to work with the PGA Tour to find a solution.

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Gary Player went on an epic rant last year about Tour professionals who use green reading books, claiming he was "flabbergasted."

The South African legend said: "I’m not gonna criticise it, but I find it hard to understand when you have in a tournament, I see these guys bringing out a book when they get on the green to look where to putt.

"Really I find this very hard to understand. I and Jack [Nicklaus] have played many golf courses and exhibitions that we never played the golf course before we broke the course record.

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"I go to a golf course, you can put me on any golf course in the world, I can read the putt as well as if I played it 10 times. I’m a professional golfer, this is something I’ve got to be able to do.

"When I go to a golf tournament and you see guys having three practice rounds, then they play two rounds, that’s five rounds on a golf course. Now they’re playing in the tournament and they look at the book where to putt. But I’m not gonna criticise it."

Major record holder Jack Nicklaus was also in agreement with Player. 

"I think it’s absolutely absurd," said Nicklaus, winner of 18 majors.

"You’ve got a swing coach, a mental coach, a chef, a pilot. You have got everything. Now you’ve got a book to tell you how to do it, and it's also done by somebody who can’t break 90."