This is what ‘bad putters’ do, according to Lee Trevino

Scottie Scheffler’s putting woes this past summer were well documented as the World No. 1 putt together one of the best ball-striking years of all time on the PGA Tour but won just twice.

His struggles on the greens even caught the eye of a fellow Dallas-area resident, Lee Trevino.

Trevino was the guest on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar as he got ready to play in this week’s PNC Championship for the 26th time. He told co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that Scheffler was struggling with a mistake a lot of golfers deal with.

Lee Trevino on the first tee before he teed off during the Friday pro-am as a preview for the PNC Championship
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“He’s a hitter. He hits [putts, as opposed to stroking them]. And when you don’t stroke a putt and you take a putter back and you hit it, you can’t have the ball too far forward, that’s where you make the mistake,” Trevino said. “Bad putters, when you start having putting problems, generally it’s because the ball is too far forward in your stance.”

Trevino said he talked about the issue with Scheffler’s coach, Randy Smith.

“You’re a tree with 2 limbs. Your limbs can only go that far that way” Trevino said. “In other words, the trunks not moving. So in putting, if the arms can only go so far out and if the ball is way up there, it’s going to start rotating. The putter will start rotating to the left. Then you’ll try to compensate, then you’ll push to the right.

“If you noticed, he pushed a lot of putts, pulled a lot of putts, and then he got it straightened out.”

Scheffler definitely had things straightened out by the Hero World Challenge two weeks ago. He and new putting coach Phil Kenyon seemed to have the issue resolved as he put on a clinic with the flat stick over the first three rounds, coasting to a three-shot win.

For more from Trevino, listen or watch the entire episode of Subpar below.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.