Tom Watson on the Golf Channel

Tom Watson's timeless swing

Every time I need a little uplift in my game (which is often), I turn to my copies of the Tom Watson DVD set, Lessons of a Lifetime.  Tonight, I'll be tuning in to the Golf Channel to watch the eight-time major champion and 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain on a special instruction episode of the Golf Channel Academy with Martin Hall. The segment will air 13 times through the end of September including July 16, 18, 20 and 23rd.

In the hour-long episode, Watson reflects on several memorable moments that helped establish his career and demonstrates the keys to developing a strong skill set and mindset on the golf course. Watson and Hall also discuss the tools necessary to creating an ideal swing and highlight the fundamentals for developing an excellent touch around the green.

Watson also discusses the time he spent with his first swing instructor, Stan Thirsk, at Kansas City Country Club, as a youngster trying to mimic Jack Nicklaus' swing. Since Tom and I are about the same age, that would have been about the same time in not-so-recent history when I was learning the game as a caddie at Fairview Municipal Golf Course about fifty miles away in St. Joseph, Mo. The Golf Channel episode was filmed at Loch Lloyd, a course Watson designed in his native Kansas City.

"One of the many great things about golf is that it can never be mastered," says Watson, who is also promoting his brand-new Tom Watson Lessons of a Lifetime II DVD set. "Sure you can have a good run of play, but sooner or later the wheels will come off. I've been experiencing the game for half a century, and I promise you I'm still learning."
 
His new DVD set is an addendum to the very popular original that was released in 2010. While that rendition has become one of the best-selling golf instructional video programs of all time -- selling 70,000 DVD sets in 40-plus countries -- the new series covers many advanced topics, including pre-shot routine, the importance of the bottom of the arc, head movement, getting maximum benefit at the practice tee, handling pressure, the 40-yard wedge shot, controlling trajectory on chips, chipping with a putting set up, and much more.

These DVD programs are available at TomWatson.com, Amazon.com, and select golf and sporting goods retailers. Both programs can also be purchased by calling 800-993-5589. A portion of the proceeds from all sales will be contributed to the Bruce Edwards Foundation for ALS Research.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf