"Has anybody here taken an old persimmon head driver and hit it recently?" Watson asked at Turnberry before the tournament. "I couldn't hit the sweet spot if it saved my butt. No way I could hit the sweet spot. They have that big old thing about like that, and you swing it as hard as you can, and if you mis-hit it off center it still goes out there. It makes you sloppy. The big-headed clubs make you a little sloppy."
Sloppy, maybe, but it got him into a playoff for a major championship he should have been commenting on from the announcer's booth.
A second boon to Watson's game at Turnberry was the hybrid. Instead of a bag that included a 1- and 2-iron, Watson now carries an 18- and 20-degree Adams Idea Pro hybrid. A bigger, forgiving head with a much lower center of gravity (data from Adams engineers suggest the center of gravity on his hybrids is almost 25 percent lower than it was on his old 1-iron), coupled with a lighter, longer shaft means more consistently successful shots. Even Watson's irons in 2009 have moved away from muscleback blades to Adams Idea Pro cavity backs that lower the center of gravity to make it easier to get the ball up in the air.
When Watson won the Open at Turnberry in 1977 in his epic battle with Jack Nicklaus, he closed the day with a 1-iron off the tee and a 7-iron to two feet. Flash forward 32 years and the hole, playing nearly 30 yards longer, was a 20-degree hybrid and an 8-iron for Watson. In retrospect, he could -- and probably should -- have even played it with a 9-iron.
Finally, there's always the golf ball. Watson's solid core Titleist Pro V1x is a far cry from the wound balata ball he played three decades ago. Not only is it longer, it's better in the prototypical British Open conditions, says Watson.
"The ball goes through the wind better, just that, which is a lot," he said last week.
Not to be diminished either is the new piece of internal equipment Watson is sporting. His hip replacement surgery last October surely allowed him to continue to play competitive golf. Watson's hip surgery involved a groundbreaking technique that included the use of a robotically controlled operating table at the Saint John's Hip and Pelvis Institute in Santa Monica, Calif.
So while Watson did nearly everything right at the British Open last week, it was his use of modern technology that may have been just as significant in his near victory.
Of course, there was one club that Watson had in the bag 20 years ago but doesn't carry now that might have come in handy Sunday in Turnberry. A 58-degree wedge, which was his sand wedge back in the day. Watson only carried a 56-degree last week, and a 58-degree might have been the club he needed for that delicate chip shot from behind the 18th green.
But then again, maybe not every shot in golf can be solved by technology.
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