Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we have five secrets from Lee Trevino on conquering some of the most difficult shots in golf from our April 1970 issue. For unlimited access to the full GOLF Magazine digital archive, join InsideGOLF today; you’ll enjoy $140 of value for only $39.99/year.

Golf is a tough game — and that’s especially true when you find yourself facing a tricky shot. This game is hard enough already, but when you introduce difficult variables it can feel impossible.

Watching the pros play every weekend, you could be fooled. They make the extraordinary look easy on a regular basis. This is no fluke, though. The execution they showcase — even under difficult conditions — is the product of thousands of hours of practice.

Weekend warriors will never have as much practice time as the pros, but that doesn’t mean you can’t execute some of the shots they do. All you need to do is employ the proper technique.

Below is a story from the April 1970 issue of GOLF Magazine written by Lee Trevino. In it, he shares his secrets for hitting some of the most impossible shots in golf. Heed his advice and you’ll soon make the most difficult shots look like a breeze.

Trevino’s secrets for 5 impossible shots

Since I’ve been out on the golf tour, I’ve decided that without a doubt a lot of us pro golfers are spoiled. We’re used to playing on immaculately manicured courses, with smooth fairways, soft, velvety greens, and clean, well-raked traps. Let a pro get a bad lie and he’ll squeal like crazy. And, I’ll have to admit, I’m the same way a lot of times. But let me tell you, I know that most golfers don’t play under such ideal conditions. And I know, too, that most players don’t have much sympathy for us when they hear us talk about bad conditions. They’ve been trying to play from fairways full of bare spots, traps with not much sand (what sand there is usually has footprints all over the place), and bumpy greens. Man, that’s playing under a disadvantage. 

Now I don’t have the solution for all the problems that the average golfer faces, but I can say I’ve faced all of them myself at one time or another. Below are five common situations that golfers encounter on courses that are less than perfect, and how I handle them.

1. Hitting from a bare lie

I used to be pretty good at this shot, although I don’t see too many lies like this on the tour now. Unfortunately, the average golfer faces them too often. He hits a shot down the fairway, and with pure bad luck his ball happens to stop on a bare spot with no grass.

What does he do? The real problem on this type of shot, especially, with a wood or long iron, is getting the ball into the air. For that reason I play a little bit of a cut shot from a bare lies I open my stance by pulling the left foot back slightly so I’m aiming a little left of my actual target, and I also open the clubface a bit. Then I take a more upright swing and hit down sharply, more directly on the ball, playing for it to move left to right.

The key, as I see it, is not to sweep the ball, as you might on an ordinary lie. Hit right down on the ball, striking it first and then the ground. You can actually get a very crisp action on the ball if you contact it correctly.

2. Putting on bumpy greens

The golfer who plays on a course that has hundreds of players walking it every day is going to face the problem of putting on bumpy, spike-marked greens. It’s inevitable, especially toward the end of a long weekend. There’s really no total solution to playing on bumpy greens, but I can pass along a piece of strategy that I feel will help: be a bold putter!

With smooth greens you can hit that slow roller that takes the break and dies just as it gets to the hole. But on rough greens, where the ball is likely to be bouncing all the way, I suggest a firmer touch. Hit the ball harder and don’t allow for as much break. Irregular greens are next to impossible to read, so it’s hard to determine the exact break (or bounce) you’re going to get. Even if you do have the ball breaking toward the hole, if it’s moving too slowly the ball will be easily knocked off line by one bump or another.

On this kind of green I’d rather take my chances banging the ball at the hole, never “giving up the cup” unless the break is so severe as to dictate it. A ball that’s given a firm rap has more chance of getting past those obstacles that a spike-marked green present. I don’t think the finessed, slow roller is the answer.

3. Playing baked-out fairways

I hate to advise people on two different hames, but if you really analyze it, there are two distinctly different ways to play golf. For those who play on plush fairways and soft greens, one brand of play is suitable — a game with towering drives and high, soft iron shots. But for those who play on hard fairways and greens, it is an altogether separate game — one in which you need to knock it low and watch it run. 

I used to play a short, stocky guy in Dallas who could hit past everybody. He’d hit the ball about 180 yards in the air, then it’d roll about 120 yards farther. So, what I’m really saying is, if you want maximum distance on hard-baked courses, learn to hit the ball low. 

I play every shot this way, from the driver to the irons. It doesn’t hurt me much, except on certain courses where you have to hit it high to carry hills. The best way to achieve low trajectory and the roll that follows is to tee the ball slightly lower than usual and address it more toward the middle of your feet. Remember to keep the hands in a normal relation to the ball. That is, if the ball is moved to your right two inches, so are the hands. This assures that the straight line normally formed by the left arm and shaft will still be straight.

If you take your normal swing, and catch the ball at the very bottom of the arc, as this stance should make you do, the ball will shoot out low and give you the greatest possible distance. You also get an excellent wind cheater when you need it.

4. Bunker shot with shallow sand

The consistency of the sand traps on public and even some private courses creates a real problem. Generally the traps need more sand. What has filled them in the past has been knocked out or blown away, forever. What is left is actually just a shallow layer of sand and below that, just plain dirt. What the golfer needs to recognize in this situation is that he is not really playing a bunker shot. At least not as the pros play bunker shots. It’s almost the same as a little chip, and the equipment used must reflect this. So, I generally select a pitching wedge. 

Normally, with an explosion shot, it is critical to hit the exact distance behind the ball in order to get under it and lift it out of the heavy sand. But when there is only a shallow layer of sand, the hard base beneath keeps the blade from digging too deeply. Since this hardpan keeps the blade from digging in, the ball will pop out of the bunker, usually with a lot of good holding spin.

5. Shot from a divot

Nothing is more frustrating than to hit a good drive down the heart of the fairway and then discover that the ball has stopped squarely in someone else’s divot. Talk about a bad break! It’s the kind of thing that can be so discouraging a good round quickly turns into a bad one. 

When I’m faced with one of these situations, I employ a few basic technique changes. But let me be the first to say that I’m not always totally successful. It’s a chancy shot, because you can’t depend on how the ball will react coming out of a divot. First of all, with this lie you must not lay the clubface open; the flange of the club might bounce the blade into the ball, causing you to skull the shot. When in a divot, hood the clubface in a little, turn it to a closed position. Play the ball back toward your right foot in the stance, and hit down and through, with the hands well ahead. This will cause the ball to have a very low trajectory, but that’s best when coming out of a divot. Above all, never try to get the ball out by employing a scooping motion with the hands. Just let the club do the work. 

One last thought: when I hit down on the ball with this shot, I don’t mean a very sharp descent, because that causes the ball to spin off the clubface and rise sharply. Get those hands ahead with the clubface hooded, but try to make the last 12 inches before contact fairly level. That way the ball will move out low and with more control.