Lee Trevino’s Signature Sequence

Here I’ll overlay the technical framework I’ve presented previously with one of the greatest ball strikers of all time — someone I’ve studied closely.

Before taking the club back, Lee Trevino would make a distinctive three-step sequence: front foot forward, back foot forward, and then the front foot forward again.

In doing so, he intentionally moved the ball slightly farther back in his stance — exactly where it suited his eye. Perhaps a version of the release window I've described previously.

By finishing with his lead foot, he was doing what I refer to as pressurizing the lead side — the final move before taking the club back.

Meanwhile, his trail foot motion — intermediary, not final — could be seen as priming the trail side: establishing the timing and intensity with which the trail side will engage. I’ve demonstrated various tempos previously while shot-shaping; it’s the trail side that ultimately dictates tempo.

Those steps might look like just a quirk, but the timing of that motion mirrored the rhythm of his actual backswing — giving him flow, consistency, and synchronization. He was resolving the takeaway, weight transfer, and transition all in one shuffle.

A lot of great players have some kind of signature — a motion that condenses and previews the full swing about to occur. You might just see it as a waggle, a press, a shift, a foot tap. More is going on.

Very few great ball strikers stand cold turkey over the ball.