Tom Watson - Lessons of a Lifetime?

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Shankapotamus

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Hello all,
New member here and want to say how much I love this site and all the great information that is exchanged here. I have been wondering if anyone happened to see the Tom Watson special on the Golf Channel a week or so ago. I was taken back by something that Mr. Watson said. If I am not mistaken, he made the claim that if you gripped the club to tight, that would cause you to get your hands out ahead of the ball at impact, and that was a bad thing. I have to tell you that upon hearing this I was shocked and upset. I know that gripping the club to tight is wrong, but hands ahead at impact is not a good thing? I have played golf off and on for nearly thirty years. During that time the best score I could manage was an 88. The one and only time I broke 90. As far as I am concerned, one of the prime reasons for this was my lack of ability to hit a wedge/ short iron. I would chunk it 20 feet or skull it over the green nearly every time to the point that recently I considered giving up the "four letter word" for good. I was taking lessons from a local pro. He told me that the reason I could not hit the short clubs was that I was tall (6' 4") and I would always struggle with these clubs. Fortunately, I continued to search the net for the answer to my woes and ran across a couple YouTube clips by BMan and John Dunigan extolling the virtues of a flat left wrist at impact. I mean that not only did they say this was a good thing to do, they actually had the audacity to show you how to do it and provided a few drills to help you with it! Three weeks later I went out and shot an 84. Actually birdied a hole that required a pitching wedge over water.

So this brings me back to Mr. Watson. Why is one of my life time idols, in my all be it humble opinion, dooming an untold number of poor golfers to what I am convinced is failure?

Good to make every one's acquaintance, Shankapotamus.

P.S. I sincerely apologize to any one taking offense to me busting on Tom. Trust me, I love him too.
 
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Shankapotamus

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Yes Steve, I am sure you are correct. But in a way, this reinforces my concern. I am not a rocket scientist by any means, but I can tie my shoes. When I watch that clip (I recorded on to my DVR), I swear he is saying that the club shaft should be perpendicular to the ground at impact. After all, he picks the ball clean off the turf like no one on the planet.
 
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teeithigh

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yep he is simply releasing the shaft thru impact- does not mean a bent left wrist- nicklaus said you should start releasing from the top as long as your lower body starts first-from the ground up.....make sense?
 
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Shankapotamus

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Hate to be disagreeable, but unless the shaft has some type of hinge on it alla the medicus, you cannot “simply” release the shaft unless you begin to unhinge the wrists. If you unhinge the wrists to the point that the shaft is perpendicular to the ground at impact then, to me, the wrists have broken down. Nicklaus says to release from the top. Brian says to drag the club head down the Coke machine. I don’t see how you can do both. For now, I am going to stick with the shaft tilted forward at impact. At least I am hitting the little ball before the big ball for once in my life.
 
Chip Putterman

Chip Putterman

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I believe his use of the word "out" meant out across the plane; an over-the-top move. In NO WAY is he implying that the clubhead be ahead of the hands at impact.
 
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Kevin Shields

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Nicklaus had such a good change of directions and shaft bend that he felt he started force across the shaft right from the get go. Has been very helpful to me and many of my good athletic, super pulling students.
 
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Shankapotamus

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So if you have excellent change of directions and shaft bend and you are a good athletic super puller, then the Coke machine image from COFF does not apply?
 
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softconsult

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Self-mastery, sometimes an observation can be used in a conversation. A variation on the open ended question technique, if you will. An answer is not a requirement.
 
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fronesis

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To the OP:

I think what Watson is saying is confusing for you (and I'm sure for many) because it's not a very good piece of advice or swing instruction for the majority of amateur golfers. The percentage of golfers on your average driving range in north America who have the problem of *too much forward shaft lean* is very close to zero. So Watson is giving a piece of advice to correct for a problem that almost no one has.

On the flip side, almost every pro already knows how to hit the ball with a flat left wrist. For them, Watson might be saying something helpful. But as far as I'm concerned, you (and most others) should ignore what he's saying and go back and re-watch COFF.

PS: On the Golf Channel coverage this weekend, they had Mickelson give the "how to hit out of a fairway bunker" instruction. His tip: "cast from the top." Seriously, that was his advice. If you watch the whole thing, nothing he said was technically all that wrong, but for most players the advice he gave would lead to a terrible, ugly-looking flip and either a very thin or very fat shot.
 
self-mastery

self-mastery

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FLW instruction only helps hackers.

Fronesis is correct.

I over did the whole FLW TGM garbage thingy, and ended up with a swing that was only good for hitting bullet iron shots. I couldn't play driver or fairway woods. Now, I basically freeze my left arm to my chest, and throw the club with an EARLY release. I hit it longer, straighter, and shoot lower scores.

FLW is for hackers, and polishers of the ball.

Watson was speaking of a form of mastery that Golf Digest readers do not know!
 
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