Spatial coherence describes how strongly the electric field fluctuations of light at one spatial point are correlated with those at another. This fundamental property determines the ability of light to interfere and has played a key role in advancing modern optics and technology. While highly coherent sources such as lasers have found numerous applications owing to their precision interferometry, this high coherence can also introduce speckle and other unwanted interference effects and hence degrade image quality. Effective control of spatial coherence is therefore crucial in practical optical systems. Even though there were studies synthesizing desired spatial coherence distributions tailored for specific applications, the focus has mainly been on controlling its magnitude. The phase of the coherence function, which is an important degree of freedom, remains comparatively unexplored. This talk will highlight the potential unlocked by engineering the phase of spatial coherence and how it offers applications in optical metrology.