Top Three Tom Watson Golf Tips to Lower Your Handicap

Having turned professional in 1971, Watson’s approach is built on fundamentals, feel, and a deep understanding of how to score in different types of conditions. Tom Watson has continued to share his valuable insights over the years, and the best part is that his tips aren’t just for pros. They’re practical, repeatable, and perfect for everyday golfers, who can improve their game without changing too much in their swing or spending hours on the range.

Let’s break down three of Watson’s best tips to improve your game in the areas that matter most — Chipping, Putting, and Driving.

Chipping:

Tom Watson was a wizard around the greens, and chipping was one of his superpowers. Whether you’re a high handicapper or a seasoned player, improving your short game, specifically your chipping, is a fast track to lower scores. According to Watson, the secret starts with the left arm. He emphasizes that the left arm should control the chipping motion, both on the backswing and the follow-through.

Imagine your left hand and arm working as one unit, hinging the wrists slightly on the way back, and leading the clubhead into the ball on the downswing. This will help you visualise the triangle you need to maintain with your arms and the club, swinging it through the ball, almost like how a pendulum swings.

Another tip, as Watson highlights, is — “Keep my head still by looking at a dimple on the back of the ball and hit that dimple with the center of the clubface.” This will help avoid those frustrating fat or thin shots that ruin good rounds, and you have to think of the chipping stroke as merely just brushing the grass with the club.

And don’t forget one of Watson’s favorite mental cues, to pick a landing spot. Too many golfers only focus on the hole, but Tom Watson suggests visualizing exactly where you want the ball to land on the green. Keep your grip light, choke down on the club, and let the feel of the clubhead do the work.

Putting: 

Another crucial area to improve your game and lower your scores, putting is often overlooked by many. You can hit the fall as far as you want, but if you walk away with three-putts every time, there’s no use in anything else working out for you. Many club golfers fear hitting the putt past the hole, often leaving it short, sometimes even by an inch. Watson calls this the “amateur side”—and that’s exactly where you don’t want to be. Instead, he urges players to “miss on the pro side,” or the high side, which at least gives the ball a fighting chance to drop in.

Tom Watson, 1982. pic.twitter.com/E63oUcKLPV

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) July 16, 2025

So, how do you fix that and get better distance control? The first and most important step is to adjust your grip. Watson suggests modifying your left-hand position based on the break of the putt. On left-to-right putts, move your left hand slightly to the right on the grip, so you can see one or two knuckles. This is a “strong” grip that helps prevent the putterface from opening too much. The opposite, for putts that break from right-to-left. Shift the left hand towards your left side, so you hide the knuckles instead of making them more prominent. This “weak” grip prevents the face from shutting down too early. It’s simple, but powerful.

And when the wind picks up, Watson has another little trick — widen your stance and bend a bit more. This stable posture is crucial for making solid contact and avoiding unnecessary body motion on extremely windy greens.

Driving: 

If there was one part of Watson’s game that was wildly underrated, it was his ability to adapt off the tee, especially in tough conditions. He has won the Open Championship five times in his career, and if you’ve ever played a links course, you know the weather there doesn’t just test your swing, it tests your sanity. And Watson couldn’t have earned those titles without knowing how to hit drives in extremely windy conditions.

Tom Watson’s tip to play a lower ball flight in such conditions is simple. The standard rule, he advises to tee it up half an inch lower than usual and choke down the grip. The shorter grip will give you more control of the clubface and will avoid a whippy shaft in otherwise windy conditions. Then, make a shorter backswing and focus on making a level strike through the ball. Usually, when we hit driver shots, we have an intent to slightly hit up on the ball to give it the launch angle for more distance. But in windy conditions, you want to do everything but hit up on the ball.

Another key swing thought Watson recommends? “Quiet the wrists.” Avoid excessive wrist action on both the backswing and follow-through. That keeps the flight lower and reduces spin, helping the ball cut through the wind like a missile.

What makes Tom Watson’s advice so valuable is its simplicity. These aren’t major swing changes but small, targeted tweaks that give you long-term results. From mastering your chip shots to sinking more putts and controlling your drives, Watson’s tips are rooted in decades of experience and proven success.