Lee Trevino says he treats golf as “a never-ending process,” as does his idol, Ben Hogan.
Getty Images/Sports Illustrated
In the 67 years since its publication, the teachings of “Ben Hogan’s Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” have not changed.
But the writings around them have.
A new edition of the landmark book has just been released (publisher Avid Reader Press is hailing it as the “definitive edition”), featuring never-before-seen photos and memorabilia from the archives of the Hogan estate.
There is also a new introduction by Lee Trevino.
As personalities, the charismatic Trevino and the stoic Hogan couldn’t be more different. But they share defining characteristics like the Texans who rose from nothing to get into golf by caddying and teaching themselves to play by drilling answers into the wall. And there is no end to the bonds between them.
Another link is the debt Trevino says he owes Hogan for helping put him on the path to success long before the two met.
It’s the story that Trevino tells in his introduction, beginning in December 1957. At the time, 17-year-old Trevino was already showing promise in the game, but he was also restless and misunderstood. He writes: “I was feeling lost and starting to get into trouble. Wanting to get in shape, he ditched his clubs and joined the Marines, leaving his hourly job as a pilot for 13 weeks at boot camp at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. After that, it was off to Yokohama.
As Trevino boarded a troop ship for a 22-day voyage from San Diego to Japan, “golf,” he writes, “was the furthest thing from my mind.” However, that changed when he wandered into the ship’s library and found a copy of March 11, 1957 Sports Illustratedfeaturing the first installment of a five-part guide series by a certain famous Texan.
At the time, Trevino knew the name but little else about Hogan. But the bootcamp, he writes, “has given me a crash course in structure and behavior for the first time in my life.” A few pages into the article, Trevino felt that he had received a kind wind and felt “the golf bug stirring again.”
The rest is history, with colorful side notes. Trevino would go on to join the Marines golf team, playing in his first tournament and winning his first major. A star was born.
After his military discharge, Trevino returned to Dallas with renewed fire and focus. When he was not on the range or playing money matches, he would light up by himself playing two balls, telling himself that one of them was Hogan’s. In time he would cross paths with this man.
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Trevino tells the repeated story of going to play a round at Shady Oaks Country Club, Hogan’s home course, and seeing Hogan on the range, smashing balls at the caddy until he had to leave to get the shots off. Watching from a distance, Trevino says he noticed that Hogan was “controlling his gun with his lower body.” And that the more he led with his hips and his legs, the more he faded the shot from left to right.” In those days, Trevino played a draw that often betrayed him under pressure. Hogan’s method of producing a fade was another basic lesson. “What I’m saying,” Trevino wrote, “is that Hogan is the reason I’m improving my game.” His gratitude was so great that after winning his first major, the 1968 US Open, he dedicated his textbook to Hogan.
The two ended up being members of each other’s compliments club. Although their primes did not overlap, they were paired together in the final round of the 1970 Houston Champions Invitational, when Hogan was 56. They finished joint, tied for 9th place. Hogan, for his part, makes a special effort to watch Trevino play whenever the Colonial Invitational rolls around. According to Trevino, whenever Hogan was preparing to release a new line of his namesake clubs, he would give one of his representatives the following instructions: “Take this set to Dallas and let this little Mexican boy hit them. You will tell me if they are strong.”
“And I had no problem with that,” Trevino said.
In closing, Trevino shares one last pearl of truth he took from Hogan. “Whether you are practicing or playing, teach yourself to think about the cause and not the effect.” Trevino caught that. “I called myself an uneducated engineer who can dissect a problem, find out why and fix it,” he wrote.
But the process never ends. Even after dark, Hogan remained a versatile mouse. Like the man he learned so much from, Trevino is the same.
As he put it: “I’m still trying to figure it out at eighty-five.”
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