Trevino still shoots from the lip

Lee Trevino - scathing of modern courses

Lee Trevino has always been my kind of guy - he's a marvellous golfer and can shoot from the lip!

Though conversation with him is perpetually one-sided, as a six-time major winner he still talks a lot of sense.

This week he has been particularly scathing about modern golf courses, created by modern architects, many of which he believes are too difficult for modern golfers.

The 69-year-old Texan legend still makes occasional appearances on the Champions (Seniors) Tour and in charity events in the US but is close to fading from the scene because the courses used are not to his taste.

"This stuff that we're playing today, it's just not my cup of tea," Trevino says. "They're not traditional golf courses, they're modern golf courses, and they're made to punish golfers. And it's too bad. Since the year 2000, golf has declined in this country."

Trevino prefers courses for example designed by the Scots-born Donald Ross, which can be challenging without being punishing.

Lee Trevino - in his hey-day

"The blue-collar guy is getting to the point to where he can't afford to play. Even the public courses are too expensive to play. I tell people every day, I've never seen a Donald Ross course go broke. These modern architects, they've got so many golf courses that have gone broke, it's unbelievable. They're too difficult, they can't get members and if they can get members the scores are too high, they discourage people form playing.

"If you go to a golf course, get punished and lose two dozen golf balls, do you think you're going to come in and have a beer and want to go play again? No, you're out of balls."

Trevino told the Standard-Times in Massachusetts, where he was playing in Billy Andrade's charity event at the Rhode Island Country Club (a 1911 Donald ross design) that he was particularly frustrated with the 2002 US Senior Open at Kiawah Island - ranked one of the most difficult in the country.

"I begged them to have somebody take roll call every day when they finished because some of those guys are still going to be in those bunkers. It was a very, very difficult golf course. Not fun to play."

Greens at Oakmont 'too difficult' says Trevino

"The greens weren't just fast, they were the fastest greens I've been on," he recalled. "Sam Snead used to say 'you hover the putter over the ball and hit it with the shadow.'"

However, when Trevino hears complaints about US Open courses, it annoys him that no one ever complains about Augusta National, a course he always found difficult.

"What bothers me is that the same players complain like hell when they go to play the US Open and they never say a word against Augusta. They're scared to death of Augusta. They have no guts when it comes to Augusta.

"The same guys putt the ball right off the green, they say 'Hooo, man, I must have hit that a little hard.' They never complain. They go to the US Open and they go, 'Oh my God,' like you killed a member of their family."

Tell us on the forum if you consider Trevino's comments truthful or sour grapes. Are the courses we play too modern, too difficult? Should course architects return to some of the traditional styles, without massive bunkers and deep rough. Tell us about the courses you play - indeed submit a to user-review for the chance to win prizes every month, courtesy of The Golf Vine.