Lee Trevino swings, then watches, then smiles. His ball had just finished where he thought it would. 

“There it is,” he said.  

“It’s a very easy shot.”

But what about for you? 

Can you deploy an 80-yard bump-and-run shot, a play that can especially help when the weather is unfavorable, or if your wedges are problematic? Why not, Trevino believes. The six-time major winner and one of golf’s all-time great ball-strikers was talking on a recently posted video to the Golf Teachers App Instagram page, which you can watch in full below, along with an extended version of the clip. Below that, we’ll offer some thoughts. 

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How to hit an 80-yard bump-and-run, according to Lee Trevino 

In the video, Trevino had these thoughts: 

The grip 

To Trevino, the grip was key. He sugged turning your right hand clockwise, to where you can’t see any knuckles. 

“The problem is the grip has everything to do with it because your subconscious mind works here,” Trevino said in the video. “And what happens when people want to hit the ball low and keep it straight is that they use their regular grip. In other words, which you’re looking at a normal grip where you can see the hand. If you can see the right hand and the left hand, and the right hand is on top where it should be. 

“Well now to hit a bump-and-run shot, we’re talking about a whole shot, which means when you’re coming into the ball, you’re going to be holding this way [with a shaft lean at impact]. In order to do this, then you have to play with the right hand. You got to put the right hand underneath to where you can’t see any knuckles on the right hand. Now you have to think about this because if you don’t hold it and you let this hand go back up to this normal position, you’re going to hit yourself a low hook.”

Hands forward — and ‘you don’t pull, you don’t throw, you don’t release’ 

On the video, Trevino advised to keep the hands forward, then reviewed what to do at contact.  

Just keep turning, he said. 

“So in order to hit a little 80-yard, bump-and-run shot, say to that green that you’re looking at there,” Trevino said in the video, “is you take your hand here and you put your hands forward. Then, when you’re coming down, you don’t pull, you don’t throw, you don’t release. The only thing that you do with this shot is you hold on and you just keep turning. 

“It’s almost like an Annika Sorenstam shot, where she actually moves her head up. I always love that because she holds the angle longer. I thought that was one of her big deals about playing so well.”

The finish  

On the follow-through, Trevino showed that his left hand was in front of the clubface. 

“Now, notice, watch the body,” Trevino said in the video. “If you put this in slow motion, you can see that the body — now look, when I finish, look at where my hand is. My left hand is still in front of the clubface. Most people that try to hit their shot, when they finish, they’re in this position.”

Notably, in the video, Trevino hit again. 

Seemingly his ball took a bad skip on him, though at least his technique was sound. 

“Uh-oh, uh-oh, break ball,” Trevino said. “Ahh. You see that?”

Let’s keep the Trevino tip conversation going. Earlier this month, GOLF.com wrote an article headlined “Lee Trevino cautions on 3 bad habits players commit on the backswing,” and you can read that story by clicking here or by scrolling below. 

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Lee Trevino, in a sweet slow-motion video, rockets a tee shot down a fairway. He laughs. 

“Now there’s a perfect backswing,” he says.   

Indeed. There’s a bigger point here, though. Moments earlier, the legendary ball-striker, all-time talker and six-time major winner had dished on a trio of “bad habits” players commit on their backswing. 

And Trevino talked about how to make the “correct” one. 

The insight came via a recent post on the Golf Teachers App Instagram page, and you can watch the full video below. Below that, we’ll break it down.

3 ‘bad habits’ players commit on the backswing, according to Lee Trevino  

1. Wrists ‘break too soon’ 

“One of the bad habits that you have is that you break too soon away from the ball,” Trevino said. On the video, in demonstrating the point, he cocked his wrists before any other backswing movement. 

2. Club goes ‘too far outside’

“The other one,” Trevino said, “is that you pick the club up and you take it too far outside.” On the video, with the camera facing him, Trevino lifted the club, and it pointed at about a 7 o’clock angle. 

3. The elbow breaks 

“The third one,” Trevino said, “is you break the right elbow and pull the club back way inside.” On the video, the right-handed Trevino pulled his right arm backward.

So what was Trevino’s thought on the “correct” backswing?

He advised to match a righty’s left shoulder with the clubhead and to be cognizant of hip movement. 

“The correct backswing is actually it works from the left shoulder to the clubhead,” Trevino said on the video. “It works away from the ball all in one motion. 

“Now, if you want to take the club back inside, you have to close your hips because the club will only follow the alignment of the hips, so it’ll come inside. If you want to go straight down the line, you square up your stance and you go straight back. If you want to go a little outside the line on the way back, you open up your stance and you go a little outside.”

From there, Trevino hit his tee ball and laughed. 

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