20 Questions: Tom Watson

Tom Watson, a 14-year veteran of the professional golf tour, is regarded as the natural successor to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Perhaps the most consistently winning player in the game today, Watson is a six-time recipient of the annual Byron Nelson Award for the most victories on the P.G.A. Tour. His career wins include such major tournaments as the U.S. Open and the British Open (five times) and the Masters (twice). He is currently the second-ranking money winner of all time; but then, he's only 35, and golf is the proverbial sport for life. Warren Kalbacker met with Watson at his home course, the Kansas City Country Club, before the start of the season. "It was a cold day and the links were deserted," says Kalbacker. "But Watson displayed top form in that other major area of golf competition: clubhouse talk."

[Q] 1. Playboy: Does professional golf offer the middle-class kid a chance to escape a life in the suburbs and the inevitable career in law, medicine or finance?

[A] Watson: The golfer's percentage of winning is not very good. In the modern era, you don't have the type of season where a Byron Nelson can win 18 tournaments out of 35. You have "in the money" and "top ten" finishes, which are indicators of consistency or good play. On the other hand, you take a guy who finishes second all the time and say that he's just not a winner.

Golf is too expensive for the average person to play. I was very lucky. I grew up playing at a country club. It was my playground in the summer. Four or five times a week, I'd go out with my canvas sack of clubs. I started with just a five iron, a three wood and a putter. I'd take a baloney sandwich with me.

[Q] 2. Playboy: Did you develop a hunger for competition at an early age?

[A] Watson: I was always trying to beat my older brother, and that's one reason I became very competitive at the game. I wasn't that good a player. But we had a junior golf program and I went around to area country clubs to compete. That's when I first learned about nerves. My father told me that anybody can be a good player on his own golf course, but a really good player can play other courses as well.

[Q] 3. Playboy: Did you father encourage you to learn golf because a lot of business deals are made on the back nine?

[A] Watson: Golf lends itself to that. But I wanted to play golf because he did. My father was a very good player, and he made it fun. He taught me the right way: the grip, the way to hook the ball and slice it. He got a big kick out of watching me maneuver the ball. Golf should be started in the years when you're a very good mimic. I'm a good putter and a good chipper, and those are the things I learned first.

[Q] 4. Playboy: Is straight shooting a highly overrated concept?

[A] Watson: A straight shot is usually a missed hit. The essence of golf is the ability to curve the ball the way you want it to go. When you can work the ball one way or another, you can play in windy conditions. If you learn how to hook the ball first, that gives you an inside-out type of swing, and then you can work from there--work back to hitting the straighter shot. You have a left-to-right wind and you can work the ball from right to left--hook it--and the ball actually ends up going pretty straight. If you're a slicer and there's a left-to-right wind, that wind accentuates the slice and makes the ball go even farther to the right. The slicer usually has inherent problems with the timing of his swing.

[Q] 5. Playboy: Did you want to be a professional golfer when you grew up?

[A] Watson: I was definitely hooked, but it wasn't an all-consuming type of thing. I grew up in Kansas City, where it's cold in the winter. I developed other athletic interests--football and basketball. And I was always an outdoors type of person.

[A] My first three years at Stanford, I didn't think I would be a golf professional. I wasn't given a golf scholarship. But in my senior year, I asked myself what was my best talent, and my only real talent was golf.

[Q] 6. Playboy: Top golf pros blend rather well into the general population. Do they share some subtle physical characteristics?

[A] Watson: It's hard to pick out the ideal body. You want somebody who's not particularly well built in the shoulders and has a lot of muscle through the chest area. Strong legs are a must, because you have to have a firm foundation. Look at the great players: Jack Nicklaus isn't six feet tall. Neither is Sam Snead. Ben Hogan's 5'8", Arnold Palmer 5'10-1/2". But I asked Hogan if he thought there would ever be a great 6'8" golfer. He said that a tall guy will come along, develop a great golf swing and hit the ball farther than anybody.

[Q] 7. Playboy: Golf isn't exactly fast-moving. Do you play other sports to keep in shape?

[A] Watson: I keep in shape by practicing. I ride a bicycle in the summer. I don't do a lot of exercise in the winter. I like to hunt birds. Swimming and tennis are two country-club sports that have always been taboo for golfers. Swimming stretches the muscles and makes you too loose. The serve in tennis--the overhand motion with the right arm--is not a very good motion in golf.

[Q] 8. Playboy: Do you ever get in some last-minute practice putting into a glass on your hotel-room carpet?

[A] Watson: Sure. You can learn whether you're pulling or pushing the ball. Some hotel rugs are impossible to putt. The Dallas rugs aren't too bad. San Diego's are pretty good.

[Q] 9. Playboy: Will you replay your favorite shot for us?

[A] Watson: Twenty or 30 years from now, they're going to be asking me about that chip on the 17th hole of the 1982 U.S. Open. I hope that sometime in my career, I can top it. That was a miracle. I was staring a bogey right in the face. It was a very difficult shot, because my ball was on a downward slope, which meant that the chip would have a lower trajectory; it would hit the green harder and roll farther. And I was hitting to a down slope that steepened past the pin, so the ball would roll pretty far if it got past the hole and I would be faced with a difficult eight-or ten-foot putt. Something happened mentally that told me I was going to sink it: I wasn't going to get close. I was going to sink it. I took a couple of practice swings. When I addressed the ball, first I was aiming too far left. Right before the shot, I adjusted--closed up, because I had to play about a foot-and-a-half break. And I hit the shot. When it hit the green, I knew it was going to be near the hole. About a foot away, I knew it was going to go in. I knew it was going to hit the flag. It was just (continued on page 188)Tom Watson(continued from page 149) a matter of whether or not it was going to stay in. It did.

[Q] 10. Playboy: Does the pressure increase when you're playing a tournament and you hear applause from somewhere else on the golf course, from another player's gallery?

[A] Watson: Only in the last round of a championship or on the last nine holes does it really affect me. A lot of times, people don't really know what to clap for. Golf is certainly not like any other game. The only perfect shot is the one that goes into the hole. That's why you see so much putting on television. There are different ways of looking at other shots. The most knowledgeable golf galleries are those in Scotland and England. No question. Most people over there understand golf whether or not they play it.

[Q] 11. Playboy: You have won the British Open five times. Do you feel a special affinity for that island where the game has its roots?

[A] Watson: When you play in Scotland or England, you're playing on what some people say is hallowed ground. Plus, the history of the game is part of my life, because when I was growing up, my dad talked about it and I read books about it.

[A] When I first went over there, I didn't like the condition of the golf courses. The grounds definitely come more into play. The greens are firm and the ground is firm and you have to invent more shots. You have to run the ball. It's more of a challenge than picking a club for yardage and then merely playing that club for yardage on a soft wet course. At first, I didn't like the luck of the bounce. Now I think it's the ultimate in the game.

[Q] 12. Playboy: Do you keep your eye on the ball or do you have something more important to do when you're playing a shot?

[A] Watson: I've looked at the ball for 30 years now, and I have a pretty good idea of what it's like. The important thing is the lie: How is the ball sitting on the ground when you're on the fairway or in the rough? When you get grass between the club base and the ball, it makes the ball go farther and takes the spin off it.

[A] An accomplished golfer is basically instinctual. The player who has too many thoughts gets confused and gets hung up mechanically. If you've got tense muscles, you can't swing the club as fast as you can when you're relaxed and can use your hands and arms to release a really tremendous amount of speed in the club head.

[Q] 13. Playboy: Choking--falling apart on the course--is the bane of the professional golfer. Are there any techniques you use to keep going when the going gets tough?

[A] Watson: I have to make sure that I get a full breath. That's why sometimes you'll see me yawning on the course in the middle of a competition.

[A] The most effective way to deal with stress is to do something well. In the 1982 U.S. Open, I was under tremendous pressure for the first 13-1/2 holes. On the 14th, I made a putt and it was the shot that did it. It wasn't some mental trick I could bring about to reduce the pressure.

[Q] 14. Playboy: How do you deal with the irritation of the occasional imperfect shot?

[A] Watson: Every golfer has a temper. It's an intrinsic part of every game. But you have to be controlled. You vent your anger. Count down. Temper is fine on the golf course as long as you don't let it get out of hand and don't start cartwheeling and helicoptering golf clubs into the gallery.

[Q] 15. Playboy: You have a reputation for particularly fast play. Do you ever tell yourself to slow down a bit?

[A] Watson: I've always been a fast player with a fast swing. But that's my nature on the golf course. If I tried to slow down and play at the same speed as Nicklaus, I probably wouldn't be able to break 80.

[Q] 16. Playboy: You score well in weather that would keep most people indoors. Are you trying to inject a macho element into golf?

[A] Watson: It's just the challenge of it. I was at Pebble Beach and played in a 50-mile-an-hour wind with rain. You can't see; the rain hurts your eyes. It's going into your ears. You have to invent some type of shots to play golf that way. I hit one of the great shots of my career from about 50 feet away from the hole. How do you judge a shot with a 50-mile-an-hour wind? I played a 20-foot break; the ball went up; it just went straight down about a foot from the hole. People ask what you're doing out there under those conditions. It's the supreme challenge, and I love it.

[Q] 17. Playboy: Do you ever play a relaxing round with friends for a dollar Nassau?

[A] Watson: I'd guess that most people play for something. I don't care if they're 100 shooters and it's a dime or a nickel or whatever. Then there's something on the line to keep your interest. Golf is a very clear-cut sport: You can play one on one or two on two. You can play a two- or a four-ball match, a threesome or a foursome. But basically, it gets down to you against the golf course.

[Q] 18. Playboy: Do M.D.s call in the middle of the night and ask you to cure their slices?

[A] Watson: You get to the point where you're called in your hotel room three or four times a night by fans. They want to know what to do about their slice. They want to get together for a drink. Obviously, you have to acknowledge that well-wishing, but the machinery gets too clogged up with incidentals. You need a buffer.

[Q] 19. Playboy: Ever invite a top woman golfer to play a round?

[A] Watson: No. I grew up a male chauvinist as far as what boys do with girls. Women golfers are not as strong and they can't hit the ball as far. A guy's drive averages something like 45 yards longer than a woman's. There are some women who play very well around the greens. But even there you need some type of hand strength, and a lot of women don't have that.

[Q] 20. Playboy: Jocks often tout the spiritual benefits of their particular sport. Would you give us a pep talk?

[A] Watson: Golf is a test of character. I've seen businessmen who I thought were very, very good people get on the golf course and it's a Jekyll and Hyde situation. They get very angry at themselves. You've never heard them swear, but all of a sudden, every other word is a swearword. I've played with certain amateurs who cheat, break the rules or don't even know the rules. That gives you a pretty good indication of what that person is like off the course, too. If you kick a ball out of a bad lie, you may cheat at other things, too. Could be the IRS. Or your wife.

[A] I would love to see every kid in the world get out on a golf course and learn to play. It's a fair game. There's one set of rules. Learn those rules and play by them. Video games develop skills, but golf develops character.