Last year, at 59, Tom Watson came within one shot of winning the British Open golf tournament before losing in a playoff to Stewart Cink. In the 2010 Masters, Watson carded a 67 in the first round, his lowest score in 20 years.
His ability to disregard age makes studying Tom Watson an exceptionally worthwhile endeavor. If success leaves clues, Watson’s career puzzle should be quite easy to solve.
In his new two-disc DVD set, Lessons for a Lifetime, Watson sticks to what made him great. His strict adherence to the fundamentals many not be entirely engaging, but its definitely honest.
“When Ben Hogan wrote his book,” Watson said Monday, “it was a small book. He basically said, ‘This is how you do it. You have to start with the fundamentals.’ ”
Hogan’s book, Five Lessons, was published 53 years ago, but it was one source of information that Watson used to build a golf swing that won eight major championships and made him a premiere player on the PGA Tour in the 1980s.
Watson cites some of the great names in golf for his progress, but the man who gave him his introduction to the game was his father, Ray, an amateur and club champion.
“He taught me two fundamentals,” Watson said. “The grip, or how you hold the club, and the stance, or how you stand to the ball.”
Watson was just a child when he got those lessons but as he progressed through junior golf, college golf and the pro tour, he got more lessons from Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson, Lee Trevino and many more players.
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