Tom Watson’s Secret to the Golf Swing
Posted on
March 24th, 2011
by golfswinghelp
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The problem you will continuously face when using a body part as the initiator of the golf swing is over dominance . Pretty soon you find what you believe is the correct answer and that will be another body part you are living in a vicious cycle .
Perfect. Thats really the secret of the swing, folks!
There’s so many ways that we try to hit consistent golf shots,for me none of them work.lol
Confused.com
@cockywatchman1976 Feel vs.Real… I prefer to feel as though the left shoulder is starting things off to produce the proper sequence in the swing. “One Move to Better Golf”, by Carl Lohren, now out of print, never caught on at the time(70′s)because of other more popular swing gurus. Deane Beman was his business partner; a number of PGA tour players subscribed to his “MOVE”, called it a cornerstone. Why after considerable research can only find a mention of it by John Jacobs.
@sweetswingin Again a lot of this comes down to feelings, swing thoughts and how a player visualises-it’s often not what really happens. Zero players on tour move their shoulders first-just does not happen!
@sweetswingin Tom may feel he does this, and certainly the shoulders turn. But the shoulders follow the arms. If you dliberately turn shoulders to move the club arm unit, then thats wrong. If you atch in slo mo, he will move his arms first. Most average players will benefit from moving the arms up, and limiting early shoulder turn. Also Tom shows his shoulders turn back and thru exactly the same-Im sure it feels like this, but in reality this just doesnt happen
@cockywatchman1976 Turning the shoulders at a 90degrees to a fixed spine angle is the secret according to Watson, quote,” the arms can go anywhere, they will follow the shoulders”. I have seen the “average player” improve dramatically with the simple swing thought of starting the left shoulder at the ball (Carl Lohren). Winding and unwinding in this fashion is repetitive and satisfies four major fundamentals. Check my other posts.
@seattle2062
He is, and what he’s doing at this age is Snead-like.
@cockywatchman1976
…Anybody who’s reading this can prove it to himself by making a backswing and then making only a slight rotary motion forward with the shoulders without swinging the arms down at all, and then look at the path the clubhead will have to take to the ball–almost straight down.
Sorry, but you really got me going…because you’re SO right.
@cockywatchman1976
I don’t think it matters much whether the shoulders are fractionally open or closed (or square) at impact, but it does matter whether they’re dragging the arms, and if they’re much open at impact that’s a good indication of it. You just can’t be anything but steep and outside on the ball if your shoulders dominate your downswing…
…the other night, in fact, and on that tape Leadbetter (whom I respect greatly, don’t get me wrong) says not only the lower body but the upper needs to be open at impact, and then uses Nick Price as a model–but when you go look at the actual vids of Price, he’s slightly _closed_ at the last point in the downswing when it could be perceptible to him, and square at the moment of impact….
@cockywatchman1976
To me, that fact of the shoulders not dragging the arms through, of power being transferred _through_ the shoulders and out through the arms and hands without making the rotary movement of the shoulders the motivating force but rather following the needs of the arms and club to swing on the right path and plane, is the biggest all-but-unknown common factor to great swings, despite current theory to the contrary. I was looking through an old Leadbetter instructional VHS…
@cockywatchman1976
Sorry, but just one more to prove your point,: If you look at other vids of Watson or other top players, you’ll find that virtually all the best ballstrikers not only show that separation of arms and hands from the shoulder socket on the downswing (visible best on a DTL view), but also have the shoulders still closed to the target line nearly until impact or even slightly beyond impact, at times…
Point is, Watson has learned to swing his arms so fast and so on the right path, and to release the club so well from his hands and forearms, and he’s done this for so many years, that I’d put better-than-even money on the proposition that it’s all become so second-nature to him that he’s aware only (or primarily) of the controls on that motion. I think that’s what you see when players go to a top teacher and go too far with corrective or balancing advice, then suffer a real career slump.
@cockywatchman1976
…as happens, e.g., when a player who releases hell out of the clubhead with his hands says he’s “taking hands out of the swing” (which never actually happens, btw). Also, a player who’s made the basic movement of the swing second nature may not be aware of what is actually primary in the swing anymore. It’s a little like a great runner saying the secret to winning races is how you pump your arms or hold your head, as opposed to moving your legs and feet really fast…
@cockywatchman1976
…because their tendencies are running so strongly the other way, but an average player who’s already swinging over the top will get killed by advice to “cover the ball with the chest,” etc. I’m working on a theory right now that a lot of the advice given by top players is actually _opposite_ what a developing player should do, because what a top player “feels” in his swing or has to think about is so often the counterbalance to his natural tendencies…
@cockywatchman1976
True, and observable in literally every great player’s swing. I think what you see with Watson here–who previously said that his main swing thoughts were only path (from the inside) and release–is a guy whose tendencies to swing from the inside became too great, which is NOT the average player’s problem or even most tour pros’ problem. You can tell a Watson or a Faldo to “get on top of the ball” or “get the chest over the ball”…
@sweetswingin Golf swing starts with the arms-they pull the shoulders. Shoulders don’t deliberately move to start the swing.
His right foot is also turning. You have to do that too.
I don’t know who this guy is. But, I have been a tennis pro who now have hip problem. Can’t run but I can still swing the racket. Just decided to take on golf. With watching this I picked up a 7 iron for the first time in my life and hit that ball 170 yards with a nice draw. There is nothing else more true than what you see here.
i watched tom watson recently at the senior open at sahalee in 2010, for anyone whose ever watched tom in person; his swing is absolutely mesmerizing, i have never seen such an effortless swing. this guy is a champ
Holy shit! I just practiced this along with hitting down on the ball, works.
1:12 describes exactly my golf swing.
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