Lee Buck Trevino ... Ultimate Golf Talker

On the golf course, Lee Trevino has a signal for the media and fans alike. If the bill of his cap is tilted up, the door is open to conversation. However, if the hat is pulled down low and his eyes are not in view, the message is, ‘Do not disturb.’
 
On Monday’s Golf Talk, Lee threw the doors wide open and provided us with one of The Golf Channel’s all-time interview sessions. Trevino didn’t simply provide conversation - he joked, laughed, opined, and revealed to us some of his very private and personal information. In 21 years of sports broadcasting, this was some of the best television with which I’ve been associated.
 
At age 63, Trevino showed he remains one of the dominant personalities in all of golf. He has been able to strike the perfect balance of showmanship and skill and parlayed both into one of the finest careers in the history of the sport. He is unsurpassed as a shotmaker, using that unorthodox swing to do magical things through years and years of practice on the windy West Texas plains.
 
Trevino didn’t know it, but he was driven to succeed in the sport as a way to turn himself into a man of respect, to overcome a poor childhood as a boy raised by a mother and grandfather in a house with no electricity or running water.

When he began playing regularly on the PGA Tour, Lee used humor and a strong personality to help him fit into a country club world, “so people wouldn’t ask questions” about his background. Even a breakthrough victory at the 1968 U.S. Open at Oak Hill wasn’t enough to convince a 29-year-old Lee Trevino that he belonged. “I never thought that my game was good enough” he said.
 
That is, until Jack Nicklaus took Trevino aside and told him, “You don’t know how good you really are.” After hearing it from Nicklaus, a young champion was validated.
 
Lee again shared his respect for Jack, Arnold, and today’s dominant force Tiger Woods. He also talked about his friendship with the legendary Ben Hogan. In researching the interview, I found that Lee was the first player whose recollections seemed to give warmth to the often gruff and surly Hogan. “He liked me,” said Lee, who came to find he shared more with The Hawk than a Texas upbringing.

Both wanted to be left alone during marathon practice sessions; both spent their childhoods without a father; both sought respect. Trevino told the story of Hogan and Byron Nelson both working as caddies in Fort Worth and how Nelson was the favorite son. It was Nelson who was cheered at the caddie tournaments and it was Nelson who came to eventually work in the pro shop. Only an outsider can relate to the feelings of another outsider, and so it was that Hogan and Trevino formed a special bond.
 
How deep do the scars run? Trevino found himself having trouble with the demands of his fans. He didn’t like the crowds, the intrusion, the rudeness of fans who would not respect his privacy. At the urging of his wife Claudia, Lee saw a psychiatrist who told him for that brief moment while receiving an autograph, the fan in his own mind IS Lee Trevino. It is an escape. Lee understood and adjusted.
 
Through two failed marriages and money lost, Trevino kept moving ahead. At long last he has found happiness with a third wife and their children, 11-year-old Daniel - “a good little athlete” - and 14-year-old Olivia, whom Lee says will be guarded by shotgun when the boys come calling. These days Trevino is a carpool dad at school and squeezes in practice and Champions Tour events when he can. He often references his wife, who is 18 years his junior and the most influential person in his life.
 
Some quick hits from the interview:
 
…. on Annika Sorenstam at Colonial: “She’ll do well, make the cut and if it rains, should be able to hit the corners” on the tight layout.

… on the Masters, “the eighth wonder of the world in golf courses.” Spectacular, but it never fit his style. He is a lowball hitter and Augusta doesn’t reward that type of play. Members' wives should be allowed to join.
 
Trevino confessed that he’s a “wedge freak” and can play most any type and degree of wedge, including his all-time favorite “Helen Hicks” model circa 1938. “Helen” helped Lee win plenty of money in friendly games and in majors. He bought “Helen” at an old pro shop in New England for two dollars.
 
Oh yeah, one more signal. My Golf Channel colleague Brian Hewitt pointed out that the more comfortable Trevino gets while talking, the more he slouches. As our interview went along, Lee was sinking in his chair….relaxed and loose. As his fans, Trevino has been making all of us feel that way for years.