Meeting golfers who want to get better the gist of my job, but there’s a real difference between wanting to get better and being willing to put in the work necessary to get better. My student Tim Watts certainly falls in the latter camp.
When he walked into one of our camps at Ocean Reef Club last August, he wasn’t looking for a few tips or a quick fix. He’d just retired after a career in the military, and he had goals, a timeline, and the kind of mission-oriented mindset you don’t always see on a practice tee.
Tim came to us as an 18-handicapper who struggled to break 90. He was also carrying some significant physical limitations — damaged sacroiliac joints on both sides, three bulging discs in his lower back, a history of ankle surgeries, and about 40 extra pounds. He was in real pain. You simply can’t build a better golf swing in a body that can’t support it.
What makes Tim’s story worth telling is that there wasn’t anything heroic or complicated about what he did, that is, other than his admirable commitment and work ethic. Before he ever touched a golf club with us, he went to his doctor, got on a nutrition plan, and committed to daily aerobic exercise. He managed his back pain through a pain clinic and underwent spinal ablation procedures in June and August of 2025. Over the year, he lost 40 pounds, moved better, and had significantly less pain. The swing he couldn’t make at 230 pounds with a damaged back became one we could actually develop.
The golf plan had a simple theme: work on every part of the game, every day, with intention. Tim built a daily routine that combined aerobic exercise, functional strength training with bands and kettlebells, and golf-specific work he could do whether or not he could get outside.
When it was too cold or wet, he worked inside. He used the Dewsweeper pivot pack with a resistance band across his chest and a larger band across his knees, rotating back and through to train the sequencing pattern. He also worked through my friend Kolby Tullier and Morgan Hale’s resistance band rotation drills. Below is the video outlining some of the exercises Tim used. The movements are designed specifically to help you build the body mechanics your swing needs, not just general fitness. If you’re putting time in at the gym, these exercises can make that time count for your golf game too.
When Tim could get outside, he followed a structured routine: prescribed drills first, then slow swings with and without a ball, then half-speed swings, and finally full swings. He even practiced with his eyes closed to develop feel for the sequencing. This wasn’t a guy squeezing in range sessions twice a week. This was a seven-days-a-week commitment.
For the full swing, we focused on balance, pressure in the feet, and proper sequencing to get Tim moving to his left side. He had the common pattern of lateral slide and poor sequencing that plagues most recreational players — the body working against itself rather than in the right order.
The drills we gave him were designed to train the rotary pattern and get him feeling what it looks like to shift pressure and fire through the ball correctly. The results became measurable fast. His driving distance went from around 210 yards to 240. He started breaking 80. He was posting nine-hole scores in the mid-to-high 30s. The swing we were building was showing up under real conditions.
I’ve said for years that the players who make the biggest handicap jumps in the shortest time are almost always the ones who take the short game seriously. Tim understood that. He worked through putting, pitching, chipping, and bunkers with the same focus he gave the full swing.
In putting, Tim had drifted into one of the most common putting problems I see — standing too far from the ball, where your eyes come off the target line. Top 100 Teacher Wayne Flint caught this immediately during a session and got Tim back to basics: closer to the ball, eyes directly over the line. Wayne also installed a consistent pre-shot routine, and this is where a lot of the real improvement happened. Tim reads the putt from five to ten feet away while holding the putter extended above parallel, then lets it drop to parallel to feel the weight of the head. He picks a target line and an aim point close to the ball that he can see at address. He moves in, aligns the putter, places his right foot first — square to the line and one foot-length away — then brings the left foot in. He takes one look at the target, one look back to the ball, and he rolls it by moving the left shoulder down and back up through the stroke.
One thing I’ll say about Tim is that he’s honest with himself. He’ll tell you his chipping is still a work in progress. Distance control from around the green is something he’s still developing. That kind of self-awareness is a real asset in a player. He knows where the gaps are, and he’s not pretending the work is done.
One year after walking into that camp at Ocean Reef, Tim is at an 8 handicap. He’s lost 40 pounds. He’s broken 80. He’s targeting getting below a 5 index by this July and eventually wants to compete in his club championship from the tips at nearly 7,000 yards. Those aren’t the goals of someone going through the motions. Those are the goals of someone who decided to play offense in retirement.
What Tim’s story really shows is that a ten-shot improvement in a year doesn’t happen by accident, and it doesn’t happen from working on just one thing. It happens when someone addresses their physical condition, builds a training routine they can sustain, and gives real attention to every part of the game — including the parts they’d rather skip. The plan has to cover everything. Miss any piece of it and you’re leaving improvement on the table. It also shows that physical issues don’t have to be limitations.
If you put in the work, it’s there for you too.
The post How this golfer went from struggling to break 90 to shooting in the 70s appeared first on Golf.
