Tom Watson profile

[Stretch]

In the NYT today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/sp.../15watson.html One bit that made me smile, talking about the rejuvenation of his game.

Watson remembers exactly where he was, Harbour Town on Hilton Head in South Carolina in 1994, when he discovered what he now calls the Holy Grail of golf, though it’s really just the venerable principle of keeping your shoulders level and maintaining a constant spine angle through the swing.

Here's the image that accompanies it. For two brownie points, has he either maintained his spine angle from address, or kept his shoulders "level"?

[James_Black]

Shoulders are level.
Not sure about spine angle since it doesn't show him at address but it looks good.

If they used that photo it must've been a perfect swing.

[Harmonious]

In the NYT today:

There have been several interviews by Watson regarding his swing changes, with pictures showing the changes he made. They give a much better description of what he has done with his swing. CHeck those out if you want to learn more, before you start looking for flaws.

[Stretch]

I wasn't dissing his swing keys, I was dissing the very poor description of them in the article. But whatever.

[JWL1957]

Who cares about his swing :)

I love the way Tom plays. He plays fairly quick and has a short game to die for.

[DavidFehertysBike]

It looks like his shoulders are still level, reletive to whatever spine angle he has going on. Watson's current mature swing is one of my most favorite swings out there.

[Harmonious]

Here's Watson explaining his "new" swing in detail. Watch and learn:

[iacas]

Here's Watson explaining his "new" swing in detail.

The problem with that is feel ain't real: he does not stay in his "spine angle" or swing over the top.

Tom's shoulders have stayed "too level" but they're not level, and though he translates off the ball a bit he's not maintained his spine angle (as no good golfer does).

[Harmonious]

The problem with that is feel ain't real: he does not stay in his "spine angle" or swing over the top.

If he had said he"maintains his spine inclination to the ground" rather than "spine angle", would he have been correct? In either case, I understood what he meant. Hopefully, others did too.

[iacas]

If he had said he "maintains his spine inclination to the ground" rather than "spine angle", would he have been correct? In either case, I understood what he meant. Hopefully, others did too.

That's the problem, though - people try to maintain their spine angle when in reality they need to stand up and tilt to the left to while rotating maintain their inclination.

Tom could use a little more extending and side tilting to keep his head steady - but he's obviously made a decent career out of translating off the ball a bit.