Welcome to Play Smart, a column to help you play smarter, better golf from Game Improvement Editor Luke Kerr-Dineen (who you can follow on Twitter right here).
He’s 82 years old, with a career that would be the envy of golfers throughout history, and a legendary reputation as perhaps golf’s best-ever ball striker.
Yet Lee Trevino is, above all else, a golf nerd. Endlessly fascinated by the game, even though you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s already learned everything there is to know about it.
This infectious quality of Trevino showed itself once again on Monday, while the legend was on site at the 150th Open Championship. He’s was making the rounds on the range when at one point he stopped to talk with Brian “one putt” Harman. That’s what Trevino calls him, he revealed to Harman, because Trevino says every time he sees Harman he’s making putts.
But the conversation quickly shifted to talk of the full swing, says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Justin Parsons, Harman’s coach who was on the ground for the conversation. He snapped a picture of the moment, and shares what Trevino told his student.
Trevino’s swing thought
Harman and Trevino are both similar heights and Trevino was built similarly in his prime. That lends itself to some technical similarities.
“They’ve both got a very square trail side [at setup] and a very open lead side,” Parsons explains.
For both players, standing slightly open allowed more hip rotation through the ball. That’s part of what they talked about, Parsons said, but it also led to Trevino sharing a crucial swing thought that made it all work.
“[Trevino] said he felt he kept the pressure inside his trail foot,” Parsons said. “He would load up in that position and then spring off it.”
Pressure in this context, for reference, is the feeling of pushing down into the ground. When Trevino says he’s keeping the pressure on the inside of his trail foot, he’s effectively saying he’s keeping keeping his weight on the inside of his trail foot throughout his swing.
That feeling allowed Trevino to load his trail leg, without drifting too far off center. And that’s what he shared with Harman during Open week.
“What you’re seeing in that picture is Harman explaining something similar, what he’s feeling during his swing.”
