Tom Watson warms up previous to the 2019 Senior Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in England.
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What’s the best tip the best lecturers within the sport have ever heard? Whatever it is perhaps, it probably carries lots of weight, and it was a query we requested a handful of them at GOLF’s Top 100 Teachers Retreat at The Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, Ariz., in December.
Andrew Park is a Top 100 Teacher at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla., however he beforehand labored for legendary teacher David Leadbetter. It was throughout that point, round 2002 or 2003 he says, when Tom Watson was on the town.
Standing on the vary, Park stated they needed to observe Watson hit a 6-iron, 9-iron and driver, however the eight-time main champion wasn’t prepared to do this but. He was nonetheless warming up with the primary membership he had picked out of his bag: a 3-iron.
Park stated the interplay nonetheless sticks with him because the best tip he’s ever heard.
“He was hitting these 3-irons, full swing, only 100 yards,” Park stated. “And he stated to me, ‘The reason why I do that is because the contact and the timing of your body has to be absolutely precise,’ and that meant he was accountable for his physique. And I believed, Oh, that’s attention-grabbing. Because everyone at all times begins off with the straightforward golf equipment, the wedges that you would be able to hit excessive, and that results in the longer golf equipment.
“He was taking a normal setup, full swing, but he was swinging so slowly it would just go 100 yards,” Park continued. “Sometimes it landed 100 yards or sometimes it rolled to 100 yards. It also helped him time up the synchronizing between the club and the ball so you have everything timed correctly.”
Now, take into consideration the issue of this for a second. Most amateurs don’t even carry a 3- or 4-iron, as the bulk would have hassle hitting them anyway. Then throw within the self-discipline essential in each the thoughts and physique to hit 3-iron pictures at that yardage. Park stated it was an excellent warm-up device. He added that Ben Hogan used to do one thing comparable, typically electing to observe hitting 150-yard drives as an alternative of full-send drives, simply to get his timing down.
But right here’s the opposite a part of this: who of their proper thoughts begins a warmup with a 3-iron anyway?
GOLF.com caught up with Watson on the vary in October 2021, though this time he elected to begin his warmup with a hybrid as an alternative of a 3-iron (he stated he goes backwards and forwards). Watson defined he needs his first swings of the day to be “bigger swings” that can get him free in a rush, one thing he wouldn’t obtain by hitting “little wedge shots.”
That stated, there’s additionally a psychological edge he features right here.
“If I don’t hit the hybrid good then who cares?” he stated. “It’s a hard club to hit, and it’s the first swing of the day. If I can hit [my hybrid] well without warming up, I know it’s going to be a good day.”
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