Golf Pro Bubba Watson: Instinctive Shot Making (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Pro Bubba Watson: Instinctive Shot Making (Video) - by Pete Styles

So I’m sure the 2012 Masters wasn’t the first time everyone had found out or heard about Bubba Watson. Bubba’s made quite a big name for himself as a bit of a flamboyant character out until you know, the clothes, the dress stance, the cars he drives, but also the golf he plays. But the 2012 Masters was the first time the spotlight has really been shone on him at the most intense of pressure. And his game stood up to it. He wasn’t just shot making and hitting different shots for fun. He actually used his shot making ability to sort of tame Augusta National, to play some of the most consistent golf, to play some of the most consistent good swingers in the game. Louise Hansen, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, with people like that who…he really got his game on top of their game and played some brilliant golf. And he really stood up under pressure even on the play-off. Okay, he hit a bad tee shot on 10, but the recovery shot from 10, who’s ever going to forget whether where that shot happened? The big slinging hook out the trees on hole 10, right on to the green.

And Bubba Watson’s thinks that if he can see the ball and he can get a swing, then he’s got a shot. He actually says to his caddy, “As soon as I can get a swing at this, I’ve got a shot at it.” So his caddy and him work on different visualizations of different shots, drawing it, fading it round certain dog legs. Drawing it and fading it to certain flags. And he probably takes on a more aggressive style of play more than any other player out on tour at the moment. And Augusta National kind of suits that style of play. It’s a really sort of shot makers golf course, particularly in the setup. They had it in the final round as well where there’s lots of flag positions where you can be aggressive and play the risk and reward style of play.

Then they tell me that Bubba Watson’s never had a golf lesson. I think that’s evident in his swing. Obviously left-handed, very big high long swing, high left elbow going on the back swing, lots of fancy footwork on the down swing, trying to just create space basically to get the club into position and manipulate it back round onto the fairway. But it’s something that we can certainly learn from with Bubba Watson’s swing, and certainly his imagination, his ingenuity, and the way he takes on the shot. He doesn’t just look at straight shot after straight shot. He sees different ways to play the game. And I think that’s something that we can learn from as well.

Maybe next time you’re on the driving range, you can pick a pen out there a hundred and seventy yards away. Take a 7 iron, and pitch a different ways to hit your 7 iron up to that flag. Try and hit the four different basic types of shot: the high shot, the low shot, the right to left, and the left to right. If you can master all those shots, it will help with your creativity. It will also help you understand your golf swing a lot better if you can hit a fade on demand, hit a draw on demand, hit a high one, hit a low one.

Next time you make a mistake with your game, and it does one of those things by accident, already you’ve got an understanding of what did I do deliberately to make that happen? What can I do deliberately to make that stop happening? And that’s one of the things with Bubba’s game is, that whenever he hits a bad shot, he immediately instinctively knows what he’s done wrong, because he can hit all the different shots deliberately so we can stop hitting them if they happen accidentally. And he’s certainly one of the most ambitious and flamboyant characters out onto, and I wish him all the best with his golf in the future. He’s exciting to watch and I enjoy watching him.

[playerProfile url="https://golf-info-guide.com/pga-players/bubba-watson/"][/playerProfile] 2012-05-24

So I’m sure the 2012 Masters wasn’t the first time everyone had found out or heard about Bubba Watson. Bubba’s made quite a big name for himself as a bit of a flamboyant character out until you know, the clothes, the dress stance, the cars he drives, but also the golf he plays. But the 2012 Masters was the first time the spotlight has really been shone on him at the most intense of pressure. And his game stood up to it. He wasn’t just shot making and hitting different shots for fun. He actually used his shot making ability to sort of tame Augusta National, to play some of the most consistent golf, to play some of the most consistent good swingers in the game. Louise Hansen, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, with people like that who…he really got his game on top of their game and played some brilliant golf. And he really stood up under pressure even on the play-off. Okay, he hit a bad tee shot on 10, but the recovery shot from 10, who’s ever going to forget whether where that shot happened? The big slinging hook out the trees on hole 10, right on to the green.

And Bubba Watson’s thinks that if he can see the ball and he can get a swing, then he’s got a shot. He actually says to his caddy, “As soon as I can get a swing at this, I’ve got a shot at it.” So his caddy and him work on different visualizations of different shots, drawing it, fading it round certain dog legs. Drawing it and fading it to certain flags. And he probably takes on a more aggressive style of play more than any other player out on tour at the moment. And Augusta National kind of suits that style of play. It’s a really sort of shot makers golf course, particularly in the setup. They had it in the final round as well where there’s lots of flag positions where you can be aggressive and play the risk and reward style of play.

Then they tell me that Bubba Watson’s never had a golf lesson. I think that’s evident in his swing. Obviously left-handed, very big high long swing, high left elbow going on the back swing, lots of fancy footwork on the down swing, trying to just create space basically to get the club into position and manipulate it back round onto the fairway. But it’s something that we can certainly learn from with Bubba Watson’s swing, and certainly his imagination, his ingenuity, and the way he takes on the shot. He doesn’t just look at straight shot after straight shot. He sees different ways to play the game. And I think that’s something that we can learn from as well.

Maybe next time you’re on the driving range, you can pick a pen out there a hundred and seventy yards away. Take a 7 iron, and pitch a different ways to hit your 7 iron up to that flag. Try and hit the four different basic types of shot: the high shot, the low shot, the right to left, and the left to right. If you can master all those shots, it will help with your creativity. It will also help you understand your golf swing a lot better if you can hit a fade on demand, hit a draw on demand, hit a high one, hit a low one.

Next time you make a mistake with your game, and it does one of those things by accident, already you’ve got an understanding of what did I do deliberately to make that happen? What can I do deliberately to make that stop happening? And that’s one of the things with Bubba’s game is, that whenever he hits a bad shot, he immediately instinctively knows what he’s done wrong, because he can hit all the different shots deliberately so we can stop hitting them if they happen accidentally. And he’s certainly one of the most ambitious and flamboyant characters out onto, and I wish him all the best with his golf in the future. He’s exciting to watch and I enjoy watching him.

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