Trevino - how much of his method useable by us in ABS ?

Public Forum—Concepts in Advanced Ball Striking
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I joined Mod.1 a few months ago, due to injury have only been able to grip the club again this week,
and carefully starting in with the impact bag.

Meantime, I’d acquired Trevino’s book “Groove Your Golf Swing My Way”,
studied it hard along w/ the great video posts in the Vault,
and I got a little chance to practice at the range using his method 2x the past couple days -
with really really good results as far as accuracy -

even reversed the thinking to the other side & hit very nice 10yd running draws (not runaway hooks)

I know how he is admired as a great ballstriker - but, how much of his approach is useable by us here doing ABS modules?
As in, would I have to quit it once I get further in modules? Thanks for the input

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Hi hybird.loft - check out the bonus videos part of the private student section. As well as Lags video on the “rotated release” you will find a great thread on the applicability of Trevino’s swing principles.

Cheers, Arnie

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Trevino’s method had no flaws. I would only suggest he was not as long as he could have been if his shoulder rotation had been more level.

Trevino slotted the club great. Struck through impact with an active forearm rotation. Played flat heavy gear, used his ground pressures very effectively and properly applied deviations in ball position. He shaped the ball properly as I would instruct also.

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Thx for your posts ~

I went back & made a study pdf from that thread
Hitting/ Swinging/ Rotated Hit (Trevino Release) ,
and my questions seem to be fully answered - with great hope for the now & the future !

One reason I posted this thread on the Public side, is for others who aren’t yet students -
but who have an interest or familiarity w/ the Trevino approach -
thinking that they could benefit from some answers to my questions.

  • On a slight different note, a careful reading of that thread shows just HOW MUCH Lag’s approach
    allows for individual differences - and is, imho, the very opposite of a 1-way “Method”.

(Homer’s spirit lives? … not a “THE WAY” … :slight_smile:

Of course, flaming debates are happening at this very moment on numerous other golf fora -
as to whether or not Lag/ABS is a “Method” -
much of it due to imprecision as to any particular poster’s DEFINITION of “Method” -
and therefore an abundance of arguments,
simply because the fundamental rules/definitions haven’t been made clear.

Oh, well … don’t really care.

It was an absolute treasure to read similar to :

“such-and-such is fine in your beginnings … don’t try to force yourself …
the further alignments and abilities must be EARNED …”

man, if that ain’t enough to make you happily hopeful, i don’t what is!

In reading of the Trevino-experiences of several others here - I have/had the same experiences -
so, alot of value in what’s shared there.

And also the mention of how several things in the mechanics could be progressed,
that would lead to a more Hogan-like experience (if desired).

Since immersing myself 1 more time in all the Hogan books during the past months,
I found I was able to pay very close attention in a way I hadn’t before -
especially with the aspects of the ball flight - not just starting & finishing direction/place,
but stuff like - *how MUCH did it curve *how FAR to either side did it reach *how LOW/HIGH did it go?

So much of this is artistry - it takes me back to hours & hours of shooting the bow as a kid,
mindless, just happy to do that thing over and over and over.

And to gain the ability to begin to work the ball - again like mastering different approaches to guitar -
speed-picking, Travis-picking, heavy-metal-muting, Doc Watson style - it’s all good, & it’s all fun :smiley:
`

5

A lot of golfers can have the same intentions… such as climbing Mount Everest. Lot’s of ways to get to the top… some easier than others… some will get there… some not… but all trying with the same intentions of arrival at the top.

Are there quicker ways or more efficient ways? Surely.

There have been some fine trail maps left for us to follow. Folks who have been there… or have been close enough to see a better way.

For most, it will take more than effort alone. It helps to have some guidance from someone with a bit of experience.

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Important to note that Lag says ‘Trevino was not as long as he could have been…’

I keep hearing that Trevino was short off the tee, but from every statistic I’ve seen, he was about average for the Tour in driving distance and that was in the early 80’s where he was past his prime. He was 67th out of 175th in driving distance in 1980 (when he was 41 years old) and was 12th in driving accuracy that year (hitting 72% of his fairways). I also bet he didn’t miss fairways by much when he missed them.

So yeah…not as long as he could have been is much more accurate IMO than saying ‘he was short off the tee’ because it’s apparent that he wasn’t.

3JACK

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If you take the time to watch the US Open at Shinnecock we have posted on the Classic Rewind, you will see Trevino hitting it right there with Bob Tway. Under US Open conditions, rarely is distance off the tee the main objective, rather positioning the ball into the correct part of the fairway. A concept that has been all but lost in today’s professional game. These great golf swings like Trevino and so forth evolved from a necessity to control the golf ball, not just into the greens but off the tee as well. Trevino could work the ball either way off the tee and into the greens.

I don’t think we will see great golf swings evolve anymore. The gear is too forgiving, which allows players to swing with far less precision and swing much too hard. The clubs are too light which doesn’t teach the players to transition the club properly and promotes over acceleration and premature loss of shaft flex. Courses are too wide off the tee. Rough is not high enough on tour so the younger players have no concept of golf being more of a game of strategy and position than the one dimensional power game.

Both games should exist, but there was nothing wrong with the more articulate version that the history of the game was developed upon. The USGA needs a competitor. Monopolies don’t have a great history of handling things responsibly.

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I know this is a different time, but I followed Trevino at the old Senior Tour Championship at the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach as ESPN hired guys on the Coastal Carolina golf team to carry the cable. I got paid $40 a day to do it, but I was mainly interested in being that close to the action. The guy I got to follow around was Trevino and he was, I think 55 years old at that point and was hitting it about where everybody else was hitting it and probably about where the average was for our team practices at the Dunes. I always found that funny when years later, after quitting the game for 8 years, reading on the internet that Lee was ‘a good ballstriker, but short off the tee.’ Kinda funny how people’s perception changes over time.

I agree with you on your notions on the golf swing. I think younger golfers mainly believe it’s all about hitting it long and bomb-n-gouging it. Of course, there will be some that will accept the fact that they can’t do it that way and will be determined to be a PGA Tour player one way or the other. But, the more young junior golfers I talk with, the more and more that seems to be the consensus.

I think it will be bad if Sadlowski makes it. To me, I think the golfer people forget about in influencing today’s game is John Daly. Sure, there were super long hitters before Daly, like DLIII and Couples. And they weren’t always accurate. But, they had fluid swings and looked like there was some attempt to hit the ball somewhat accurately and precise. I think once Daly came along, golfers started to realize that playing that type of game…was possible. I remember if you tried to play like Daly did before he won at Crooked Stick, it was scoffed at by golfers because it was just foolish to do. I think Daly showed the possibility of it being a way to win on Tour, Tiger popularized it and golf courses started to think that this was what people wanted to watch. Reminds me a lot of baseball where the MLB keeps telling people that ‘home runs are exciting’, yet the game still becomes less and less popular.

I think if Sadlowski makes it to the PGA Tour, all hell will break loose.

3JACK

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Well, MLB seems to have reined in the juice so I guess there is hope for golf.

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I saw Trevino many many times when I was a young man in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. He was not a short hitter by any means, and his trajectory had a lot of “personality” if you will. He was an awesome guy to watch…great sense of humor, always willing to sign autographs for the kids like myself. The coolest part to me about Trevino’s presence at a tournament was his old caddy Herman Mitchell…what an awesome guy. I used to get Herman’s autograph every year just for nostalgia, He always had some sly remark about me being the only goofy white kid who recognized who he was, and as he said “was willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel for an autograph”…he was awesome.

Andy