I have swung better, and I wanted an honest appraisle and Lag let me have it.
More than once, Lag has told me he thinks that a lot of the things Lee Trevino does would suit my swing. Everything from my over hooking, and my sometimes steep look…Oddly enough I told a friend that, and he said, ‘Why on earth would you want to emulate Trevino’s swing?’ lol … I’ve been trying, but it’s very hard to find anything on the internet about Lee that is considered ‘good’ footage, or instruction.
At about 53 seconds into the video it shows a pretty good footage of Lee DTL. His shoulders end up quite steep, and talk about ‘squatting’ through the hit… I intend on making a ‘swing’ sequence through screenshots unless anyone has anything better? Any thoughts?
You could probably download it from you tube to help you slow it down etc.
I remember Two Masters mentioning a Trevino VHS (3 parts) called Trevino - How I Swing and Play. Mght be the same as the golf tips series with Trevino that you can see on amazon.
Actually I looked for Lee’s book and it was priced amazingly high…too high for me. For some reason it would be cheaper for me to buy it from the U.K. than North America. I’m not sure why, but last time I hunted for it, that was the case.
I did find many ‘bits’ of his VHS instruction on Youtube. Some really good stuff.
I do have a copy of Lee’s book and will be doing a book review of it as I did Knudson’s here on the site. I’ll be doing both Hogan books, TGM, and many others as time allows…
It’s good to keep an open mind, and I really enjoy reading and getting into the heads of the great players and trying to make sense of what they are feeling and how it relates to what we are doing here.
Once I started scoring lower, I would bounce around a bit between what worked and what wouldn’t. I realized that my ‘problem’ was… that I really didn’t have a pattern, I just tried to repeat certain moves, and that really doesn’t work…at least for me.
Throughout the season Lag recommended the basic idea of Lee’s fade to me. I tried it a few times…thinking it would be an instantaneous success!!! And of course it wasn’t. It wasn’t until I dabbled with it more and more that I realized how well it -could- work for my swing type if I dialed it in more.
As time went on, I kept getting a little more successful with it. Eventually (my last few rounds) I started to actually rely on it on the course. I had some friends even notice that my hook almost entirely left me. Not only that but the ‘fade’ trajectory helps me a lot… in so many ways, I never thought of. First off, I think it helps a low ball hitter like myself because the fade gets me a few more degrees vertical. Plus it’s almost a perfect ‘preset’ ideal for greenside bunkers. I’ve improved on greenside bunkers immensely. Also fairway bunkers. I now take a slightly stronger iron than I used to (I ditched hybrids entirely… don’t hit them as well anymore) and I plan the fade. This lets me hit slightly stronger irons -closer- to the lip of the bunkers… because I have confidence the fade flight will get it up quicker. I just put it back in my stance a touch more…
Driving too, has been… amazingly improved. I haven’t come close to perfecting it, but my driving last round, I really, really tried to stay on the Trevino fade ‘pattern’ if you will, and my driving accuracy was through the roof. I recall having one bad hook off the tee all game. This is much better than before.
So for a while I kept coming back to the stuff Lag recommended, and each time it got a bit more comfortable. My biggest struggle is actually I’ve redone my grip for reasons I won’t get into… let’s just say it’s weaker, and not comfortable yet…
Now I find I’m looking for any tid bit I can on what he did. I found some video where Trevino admitted he simply planned to ‘block’ the ball onto every fairway. It seems to be working for me. Like I said, my ball striking 100 yards and out has gotten a lot better with this method.
Arnie’s video on YouTube had some great footage of Trevino. I’m not great at this but I made a very basic sequence out of a Trevino (5 iron?) shot on a par 3. I think he puts this within a kick in of the pin.
Oddly enough I was looking for my Matt Kuchar swing diagnosis post considering this last week’s tournament. But instead I came across this and it is ironic that I have been thinking a lot about how well I played with Lag’s recommendation of hitting a bit more like Lee.
In the summer that plagued me with a wrist injury and a grip that actually “adjusted” itself in the backswing… well I was in a massive hole. No one could catch it. I missed it, Lag didn’t see it in videos I sent him. But a local pro saw this DEVIOUS tweak I would do in my backswing. I just read Ben Hogan did it too and a pro saw it and he had no idea he was doing it.
The -culprit- of all this? Over practicing. Sorry Ben, but over practicing (which I do) is the devil.
Anyway, it was actually Styles who had a neat recommendation of holding a blade of grass within my grip and making sure I didn’t tweak my grip during the swing. That was such a hard habit to break! Lag confessed to me he had a high school teammate run into this and he never really got over it. But I did.
It was shortly after this that Lag really felt I should try Lee Trevino’s push/fade action. I started scoring much lower again. The distance wasn’t quite there but the accuracy was. In the closing of the 2010 season, I thought a lot about this forum topic. I don’t know how “right” the Lee Trevino fade is for a guy like me but I do know I had my best year (of 5 years of golf?) in 2009.
I am heavily considering going back to this for 2011, but I have been training instead to roll my forearm open more on the way back since this post started. And as a result I feel like I enjoy that range of motion MORE than I do the Trevino fade. My grip is weaker, but the motion of my forearm feels more powerful, and more… forceful closing the face on the way down as well.
Anyway this was a great “lightbulb” thread for me. I may revisit this in 2011 because I refuse to have another 2010 repeat itself.
that’s interesting, i played yesterday, i found i hit the 5 wood ok but my hybrid (which used to be pretty reliable) i hit it 3 times & they were all shockers !
is it just the way those hybrids are set up that you can’t come in flat with them ? - i couldn’t find any lie angles for mine when i searched - guess they are very upright. Perhaps investing in a 7 wood until i get strong enough to hit the long irons might be a plan ? has anyone done similar ? that or hit 5i & wedge it on.
And of course it wasn’t. It wasn’t until I dabbled with it more and more that I realized how well it -could- work for my swing type if I dialed it in more.
