“Nobody’s ever copied it” - Lee Trevino comments on Jack Nicklaus' ‘flawless’ putting skill

Veteran golfer Lee Trevino feels that Jack Nicklaus was the greatest putter in the history of the game, but he wasn't that good at wedge play, a skill that he rarely felt he needed.

Trevino appeared on the Golf Subpar podcast, hosted by Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. He spoke about many things in the sport, including Nicklaus' putting game.

Trevino said:

"Still, at the age of 80, he's going to be 84 on January 20 and still can putt the same way. The method that he has is flawless, you know. Nobody's ever copied it, and it's flawless the way he does it."

Trevino shared that he once asked Nicklaus why he was such a bad wedge player. The 18-time Major champion replied that he never had to hit one. Trevino reasoned that it was because the courses at that time weren't that big.

"I mean, you never saw a 400-yard par-four back in the old days," said Trevino. "And Jack's hitting the ball 300 yards with the old stuff, a 42-inch Club, 11 degrees on the driver. And he's hitting it 300 yards. He's the only one that can hit it 300 yards."

Lee Trevino also mentioned Nicklaus' interview in Kingdom magazine, where the latter revealed that he never used his whole power.

"And that's what he did. He lined up to the left down the row. He would hit, would aim down the left side of the rough and move the left shoulder as fast as he could. [Scott] Simpson has a fast left shoulder but Jack had the fastest left shoulder I've ever seen."

"What do you have when you have a fast left shoulder? You hold the angle longer. The hands don't have time to go this way, you understand? You hold the angle. And so he hit a fade. He hit a high fade every time to the green. He always aimed down the left side. Jack was a fader. Everybody thinks he drew the ball. He never did that. He faded everything. You know, just a small fade, hit it higher than I did. But he moved it from left to right," Trevino added.

The 84-year-old stated that wedge play was something Nicklaus lacked, as he felt it was pretty difficult.

"Finally, later in years, he went to Phil Rogers in San Diego, and Phil helped him a little bit, and he got better with it," Trevino revealed.

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How many titles has Lee Trevino won on the PGA Tour?

Lee Trevino has won 29 titles on the PGA Tour, including six major championships. He won the US Open, the PGA Championship, and the Open Championship twice each, but couldn't finish better than T10 at the Masters Tournament.

Lee Trevino's last win came at the 1984 PGA Championship, after beating Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins by a four-stroke margin.

Here are all the wins by Lee Trevino on the PGA Tour:

1968:

• U.S. Open
• Hawaiian Open

1969:

• Tucson Open Invitational

1970:

• Tucson Open Invitational (2)
• National Airlines Open Invitational

1971:

• Tallahassee Open Invitational
• Danny Thomas Memphis Classic
• U.S. Open (2)
• Canadian Open
• The Open Championship
• Sahara Invitational

1972:

• Danny Thomas Memphis Classic (2)
• The Open Championship (2)
• Greater Hartford Open Invitational
• Greater St. Louis Golf Classic

1973:

• Jackie Gleason Inverrary-National Airlines Classic
• Doral-Eastern Open

1974:

• Greater New Orleans Open

1975:

• PGA Championship

1976:

• Florida Citrus Open

1977:

• Colonial National Invitation

1978:

• Canadian Open (2)

1979:

• Colonial National Invitation (2)

1980:

• Canadian Open (3)
• Tournament Players Championship
• Danny Thomas Memphis Classic (3)
• San Antonio Texas Open

1981:

• MONY Tournament of Champions

1984:

• PGA Championship (2)