The Watson Way - Tom Watson interview

Q. Your Lessons Of A Lifetime DVD takes a colourful approach crediting the top players who have passed on their technical skills to you first hand throughout your career.
It's a compilation of the best instruction I've received over the years. Starting with the lessons from my father who was a really good amateur. When I was 6 years old he cut down a hickory-shafted 5-iron and proceeded to teach me the correct grip and how to hook and slice. I was always encouraged to watch and play with the best players to see what I could glean for my own swing. And so I include the tips I went on to receive from players like Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus and Claude Harmon, saying “this is the right way to do it”. Some elements are obviously similar to instruction that has been tried and tested, but I put it in the order in which I think is most important.

Q. Do you think you would have made a good teaching pro if you hadn't made it on tour?
I truly enjoy teaching amateurs. Even in Pro-Ams I enjoy helping players to line up their putts and give them simple tips. I'll say “Would you mind me saying something about your golf swing?” – though sometimes I'll get a little stiff with them and say “Frankly, your grip sucks and if you don't change it you cannot play to the best of your ability!” But helping them to play better golf gives me great satisfaction; whether I'm on the course, or giving clinics where I basically go through the key elements of Lessons Of A Lifetime.

Q. The DVD finds you just as enthusiastic about the grip, as say, the subtleties of shot shaping.
Some of the fundamentals may seem boring compared to the dynamics but they are essential to developing a good golf swing. My father was unforgiving in the way he me taught me the grip right from the start. And I always stress that, too, particularly the right grip pressure that you need in order to feel the clubhead. That's just as important. I remember having dinner with Jack Nicklaus in the dining room at the Turnberry Hotel at the 1986 Open, the evening before Greg Norman's victory. When Greg walked into dinner, Jack called him over to our table and whispered something quietly to him. When he left, I asked Jack what he'd said…. “I just told him to remember to maintain a light grip pressure throughout the final day!”

Q. Viewers will be tempted to skip straight to Disc 1, Chapter 8, which is titled, tantalisingly, “The Secret”.
The Secret is about keeping the shoulder plane on the same level on the downswing as you do on the backswing. It's not really a secret – that move is one that most modern players use, though it dates back to Sam Snead. But incorporating into my swing in 1994 has been the single most important technical change I have made in my career.

Q. You were inspired to make that change by Corey Pavin's eccentric pre-shot routine. Tell us about that.
I had struggled with my game from around 1984 and got very frustrated. At one point I hated the game and even took a few months off to see if I could rekindle the fire. I was tired of getting the club stuck behind me and hitting the ball out to the right. I was beating my head against the wall and nothing worked. But then I pictured Corey Pavin's practice swing where he goes way inside and then comes way over the top to make a big loop. It gave me the down swing thought I needed to turn my upper body with my right shoulder higher and eliminate the pronounced ‘Reverse C' shape of my downswing in my previous swing. I immediately hit two perfect 3-irons and then played the Pro-Am and the tournament wonderfully.

Q. So you needed to imagine a highly exaggerated movement just in order to initiate and feel any change?
Yes, it seemed like a completely new golf swing to me but it really wasn't that much of a change.

Q. To what extent has this swing change been responsible for helping you to compete at the highest level for so long?
The new swing is much less physically demanding, there's no question. There is less stress on the body. Instead of ‘slide and tilt', with my back arching through impact and my shoulders getting steep, I rotate around the spine. That has helped me from a longevity standpoint. But I also don't prepare as strenuously as I used to. I used to play three practice rounds – particularly for a major. I don't always do that any more. I always warm up and do a lot of stretches and never hit balls cold. I also have to thank my parents as they were very flexible later in their lives. My dad would do calisthenics exercises and that kept him going. It's probably in the genes. And, of course, I enjoy the competition and, at some courses, I still have the ability to compete against the younger players – ‘the kids'.

Q. Jim Hardy describes you as a perfect example of a Two Plane golf swing, with your hands and arms working on a different plane to your body rotation. Do you accept that distinction?
I don't make that particular distinction between swing planes – all I care about is the shoulder plane, rather than the hands and arms. If you have the symmetrical shoulder plane, which I call ‘The Secret', it doesn't matter so much what your hands and arms are doing; the correct shoulder rotation will naturally encourage the clubhead to come back to the ball square at impact. A great example is Miller Barber. He had a weird swing with wild arm movement, but he had the correct shoulder plane. He once asked Ben Hogan about his swing, and Hogan said “Don't change a thing”. Hogan understood the key role of the shoulders.

Q. Any particular swings that you most admire on tour?
I like Rory McIlroy's swing a lot. Also Ryo Ishikawa – great posture, great grip. Ernie Els has beautiful rhythm and gets the club in a great position. Those are my top three.

Q. You started golf at age six, and we're hearing about Tiger's son who apparently has great swing at 18 months. Is there a best age to start?
Between the ages of 6 and 10 you can mimic what you see. That's a good time to start, as long as you have a good example to follow – you don't want them to mimic someone whose shooting 100. My father loved Sam Snead's swing and that gave me something to follow – though I did develop a faster tempo. I always wanted to hit the ball hard. You want parents to encourage their children to hit the ball hard and long. You can always straighten them out later.

Q. How much has the game changed over the last two decades as a result of equipment technology?
The skills required to play the game have changed. The players of today are not as concerned about slicing or hooking the ball as in the days when the ball curved a lot more and was more affected by the wind. The whole idea about the game of golf is the risk factor: how can you play a shot with the least amount of risk? To do that you had to be able to curve the ball, and hit it high and low. Today, that is not necessarily the case. That's what I admired about Jack Nicklaus. He had the talent and the mentality to play the shot with the least risk possible.

Q. Do you think something should be done about the distance of the golf ball?
Yes, without as doubt. [A reduction of] 10% would be the number that I would put on it. After all, from 1993-2001 driving distance increased by 26 yards in respect of a 109MPH swing speed, as measured on the Iron Byron. That's almost 10% right there. Today, I can carry it 260 yards through the air, whereas I probably used to carry it 250. But I wouldn't have one ball for the pros and one for amateurs, I'd like to see everyone playing the same type of equipment so that they can make comparisons. Having said that, nothing will be done because of the threat of lawsuits.

Q. What else would you do on the equipment side if you were USGA chief for a day?
I would address the groove issue but they've already done that. The long putter from the chin down, I don't think that's a stroke of golf. I would also reduce the maximum size of the big-headed drivers from 460 back to 240cc. When you miss-hit a drive on a big-headed driver it goes almost the maximum distance.

Q. What is your approach to testing and choosing your own equipment?
I don't do that much detailed launch monitor testing. I will occasionally check, for example, that the spin rate off my driver is in the 2,500-3,000RPM range that suits me. But I rely very much on the experts at Adams to come up with the best equipment for me. They know my swing. They'll bring me a prototype of a new club and, if I like it, I'll often put straight in the bag even if I've only hit 10 shots with it. I've done that a bunch of times – it doesn't matter if it's the day before the Open.

Q. Turning to the Open – despite five victories, you weren't an immediate fan of links golf. Though you're in good company with Bobby Jones.
I admit that, when I first played over here, I didn't like it all. I felt that you didn't have control of the ball with links golf. You could hit the best shot and end up 30 yards from where you tried to hit. I didn't like that at all – even though I won my first two Open championships thinking like that!

Q.Was there a particular moment when you saw the light?
I had an epiphany at the 1979 Open at Royal Lytham. One day I played the par-5 7th hole: driver, 3-wood, 5- iron. Next day, I played it driver and a 9-iron from 210 yards to 10 feet. I had to land it 50 yards short of the green. It was then that I thought: now I understand…you cannot be in control, but the challenge is to use all your powers of imagination, do your best to figure it out and accept the luck of the bounce. Good luck and bad luck. My friend Sandy Tatum then took me to play Ballybunion, Royal Dornoch and Old Prestwick. That's when I truly fell in love with links golf.

Q. Talking of the luck of the bounce, how do you look back on what must have seemed a perfect approach to the final green at Turnberry in the 2009 Open?
Andy North, who was commentating for American television, told me that it had landed one foot on to the front of the green. I said “that's exactly where I wanted to hit it!” But he also said there was a hell of a gust of wind at that moment. And I later met a photographer who had been taking a picture from behind the 18th who explained that the gust of wind was so hard it moved the camera lens in his hands. That is the luck of the bounce, as in golf generally, but especially in links golf. I was fortunate to win the Open in ‘82 when Nick Price had some troubles on the back nine; and also in ‘83 when Hale Irwin whiffed that putt from two inches or he would have been in a playoff.

Q. Of your five Open victories is there one that stands out in your memory?
The Open at Turnberry in 1977. That was one of the very few tournaments when, going into it, I really thought I could win. I always make an inner evaluation of my chances but there's only been perhaps a handful of times that I have felt that confident. I was playing really, really well that year. It was pretty special playing with Jack for 36 holes, right up to the final hole when he made that huge putt. That was his ‘exclamation mark' saying “you're not going to win it that easy, Watson!” When it was 10 feet from the hole I knew it was dead centre and that I'd have to hole mine to win.

Q. That Duel In The Sun has long been regarded as one of the greatest moments in Open history. Were you aware at the time this was such exceptional sporting drama?
I was just trying to beat the best in the game in a ‘manoa-mano'. I'd had a little success earlier that year at The Masters, but I honestly felt that there was more pressure on Jack than there was on me. He was expected to win and I wasn't. That was the psychological state I put myself into when trying to block out any misgivings before playing the final round of an Open championship.

Q. Do you think golf needs a rivalry like that today?
Yes, I think it does. Tiger has dominated the sport so long. When he first came along as a kid he was so much better than the rest. I think he's had some difficulties with his swing and his life is obviously a lot more complicated now. He's got more going on in his mind. He doesn't hear that absolute ‘silence' that he did when he was playing his best.

Q. What's the secret to your mental approach?
My competitive spirit was nurtured very early. I had a brother who was older and stronger and I always wanted to beat him. But the mental side is generally a function of how you are hitting the golf ball. If you're hitting the ball well then your frame of mind and confidence are high and the fear factor is low. I've always been good at recovering from a bad shot – like a cornered cat – getting the ball up and down to make a ‘Watson par' that kept me in the game. I had good ‘bounce back' statistics on tour. But my Achilles Heel was often that, after I played a great shot, I would often follow it with a bad shot. I would let my guard down and think, “well this is easy now, you don't need to worry about it!”. At important times I would try and be fully aware of Byron Nelson saying that he scored best when he was just a little unsure about his golf swing as it kept him focused on every shot. For example, after that chip-in at the 17th at Pebble Beach [1982 US Open] I didn't get caught up in what I'd just done. By the time I got to the 18th tee I was fully focused on the next shot.

Q. That 1982 chip-in has been dubbed The Shot Of The Century and, for the short game section of your DVD, you go back to Pebble Beach to recreate it – and you hole it again for the camera. How many attempts did it take?
I'm not going to tell you! Golf Digest actually approached me and said, “to show how lucky that chip shot really was, let's take you out there and see how many times it takes for you to make it”. I said “No…let the magic continue….”

Q. Could you nominate your most memorable shots from your Open championship portfolio?
The 7-iron to the final hole at Turnberry in 1977. The putt which I holed from off the green at 15th in that same round. The [2-iron] approach to the final hole at Royal Birkdale in 1983. The 12-foot putt on the 18th at Carnoustie that got me into the playoff for my first Open victory in 1975. Those four could all qualify as my top Open shot.

Q. How about your favourite courses?
Muirfield, Turnberry, Ballybunion, Portrush. But I've enjoyed so many great links courses. One day I'd love to come back and do a complete tour of the coast and play ‘em all. Westward Ho! and the little 9-hole course at Tobermory…..I love the quirkiness. Just turn up at the starter's shack with my clubs over my shoulder. I'm told that I should play Castle Stuart, and Brora, near Dornoch, where the sheep graze on the fairways.

Q. Finally, a year on, how do you look back on the drama of the 2009 Open at Turnberry?
It would have made a great story, tying Harry Vardon's record and winning at age 59. But it didn't happen. But I honestly don't think about it. It's a like after a double bogey, my caddie Bruce Edwards would say “don't think about it, get on with your life”. I had so many e-mails during the week that my Outlook Express crashed and I had to get the IT people to retrieve them. Many were from people of my age – old and long in the tooth! – saying “you've given me a second breath of life. I thought I was too old to do what I used to be able to do – but now I'm going to restart”. It was an unexpected pleasure. It was a nice comment on human nature.…never give up.

Tom Watson – Lessons of a Lifetime

Among the glut of instructional videos and DVDs over the last 20 years, one particular masterclass has been conspicuous by its absence. But then, as Tom Watson says disarmingly, “To be honest I'm still learning the game myself and, until recently, didn't feel I should teach people how to play when I didn't understand how my own swing was working! ”

It was well worth the wait as the 60-year-old, five-time Open champion dissects his unfeasibly youthful swing over the course of 44 lessons on this lavish 2-DVD package shot on location at The Greenbrier. It's all here from the fundamentals of the grip, alignment and ball position through to the nuances of shot shaping, playing in the wind and fearless putting.

Watson brings clarity and enthusiasm to the task of distilling half a century of technique into a concise and colourfully presented format. Part of the charm lies in the way he passes on top tips he himself has received first hand over his career from players such as Jack Nicklaus on down. Claude Harmon's one-handed bunker escape is one such highlight, while the explanation of the symmetrical shoulder plane turn (inspired by Corey Pavin and dubbed The Secret) is worth the price of the DVD alone.

With an extra-long rod over his shoulders as a helpful prop, Tom demonstrates the essence of this Holy Grail move that rejuvenated his career and which clarifies the true meaning of golf's most confusing cliché, 'keep your head down'.

Meanwhile, footage of the younger Watson arching his back in a pronounced 'reverse-C shape' - so fashionable in those times of more 'legdriven ' golf swings - shows how much he and other top players have changed down the years. While it's obviously recommended to start with the fundamentals, you can dip into any lesson for some instant inspiration. The Takeway, for example, illustrated with a simple graphic tracking the correct angle of the clubface during the first two feet of the backswing, is immediately enlightening.

The contents list may seem extensive – even daunting at first glance - but each chapter shows Watson's knack for nailing the nuggets and closes with a summary checklist of the key points that are repeated in the accompanying booklet. In this regard, credit to Executive director and producer, Terry Jastrow, who ran ABC golf for 12 years and the man behind instruction packages from such stars as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson.

Clocking in at 2 hours 44 minutes, Lessons of A Lifetime provides a comprehensive package on how to recreate one of the most envied swings of all time - but it is not Watson 's last word on the subject, with an instruction book (that will be more than just a companion guide to the DVD) in the pipeline.

The set closes with a tribute to Bruce Edwards (Watson's long-time caddie who died of Lou Gehrig's Disease [ALS] in 2004), set musically to a song written by Tom's step-daughter, Kelly Paige. The small print explains that a portion of the proceeds goes to the ALS research foundation which Watson helped set up. It's a touching end to a DVD that captures Watson's passionate approach to every aspect of the game.

To learn more or order your copy, please click here.