Golf fans love a good debate, and Lee Trevino just gave them a big one. The Merry Mex has long placed Jack Nicklaus in golf’s highest tier, alongside names like Sam Snead and Bobby Jones. But according to Trevino, one glaring weakness cost Nicklaus a real shot at rewriting the record books.
Trevino did not hold back when explaining that flaw to Golf Digest a while back. He believes Nicklaus could have finished his career with an almost unbelievable 30 major championships instead of 18. That single claim has golf fans talking again about what truly separates great golfers from legends.
A bold claim from golf’s sharpest tongue
Trevino has always called Nicklaus the greatest golfer who ever lived. Yet even legends carry cracks somewhere. Speaking with Golf Digest, Trevino delivered a striking verdict on what held his friend back from total domination. His words carried the weight of a man who battled Nicklaus fiercely for two decades.
If Jack had a real wedge game, Trevino said, there is no doubt in his mind that Nicklaus would have won 30 majors. That single sentence has traveled across golf media for days. It reframes one of the sport’s most decorated careers as one that could have gone further still.
Nicklaus’s legendary major championship legacy
Nicklaus sits atop the record books with 18 major championships, a number no man has matched since. He also collected 73 PGA Tour titles across his long career, placing him among the winningest players in golf history. Most golfers would sign up for a fraction of that resume instantly.
Trevino is not dismissing those achievements at all here. Instead, he argues Nicklaus left points on the table through one specific weakness. Given how dominant Nicklaus was everywhere else off the tee, with his irons, and on the greens, that missing piece stands out as genuinely rare among true legends.
The 1971 US Open playoff that exposed it
The clearest example came during the 1971 U.S. Open playoff at Merion. Nicklaus led early after a birdie on the first hole, then found trouble in bunkers on the second and third holes. A bogey and a double bogey followed quickly, handing the advantage to Trevino for the rest of the round.
Trevino shot 68 that day, 3 shots better than Nicklaus, to claim his second U.S. Open title overall. The playoff became one of the clearest examples used in later debates about Nicklaus’s short game. Fine margins like these separated 2 icons who were otherwise remarkably close in major-championship moments.
Why Nicklaus never fixed his short game sooner
Years later, Nicklaus explained why his short game never matched the rest of his arsenal. He said his old thinking was that he did not really need one. His plan relied on hitting 14 or 15 greens, reaching some par-5s in 2, and making putts inside 10 feet.
That philosophy worked well enough to win 18 professional majors, which is nothing short of remarkable. Still, Nicklaus later admitted it was not ideal and said he should have spent more time on his short game. Over time, that imbalance became the one dent in an otherwise remarkable golfing career.
The fix that finally arrived
By 1980, Nicklaus finally admitted the gap needed closing and turned to short-game specialist Phil Rodgers for direct help. The partnership paid off quickly, sharpening touch shots that had frustrated him for years. It proved that even the greatest players can still find room to improve.
The results after that were still mixed. Nicklaus won the 1980 U.S. Open, the 1980 PGA Championship, and the 1986 Masters, but his short game remained a common part of the debate around his career. Even with that flaw, his late-career major wins showed how much the rest of his game could still carry him.
Every legend seems to carry one weakness
A recent Golf Digest feature made the same broader point: even the greatest players usually carried one weakness. Harry Vardon, Sam Snead, and Ben Hogan were linked with short putting, while Walter Hagen, Tom Watson, and Seve Ballesteros were linked with driving accuracy.
Gene Sarazen and Gary Player both fought a low hook at times, while Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman were linked with a high block. Trevino himself struggled to hit long irons with enough height, distance, and stopping power. Complete golf, the argument goes, might simply be impossible for anyone to sustain forever.
Little-known fact: Trevino was struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open near Chicago and suffered serious injuries to his spine.
How Nicklaus compares to Tiger Woods today
Tiger Woods often gets credited as the more complete modern player in the Nicklaus comparison, especially because of his short game. In his legendary 2000 season, Woods won 9 PGA Tour events and posted a 68.17 actual scoring average, listed by his official site as the lowest in PGA Tour history.
Woods currently sits with 15 career majors, 3 behind Nicklaus on the all-time professional major list. Trevino still ranks Nicklaus among the very top tier of golfers who have ever lived, alongside Sam Snead and Bobby Jones. Whether completeness alone decides greatness remains an argument golf fans will keep having forever.
The roses that kept Jack off the senior tour
Once both men turned 50-years old, Trevino found a rather clever way to limit his old rival’s senior tour appearances entirely. He quietly promised to send Barbara Nicklaus a dozen fresh roses for every event where she kept Jack at home instead of competing against him out on tour.
That season, Trevino played 38 tournaments total and sent thirty dozen roses in total, since Barbara kept Jack home for thirty of them completely. He finished as the leading money winner that year. It remains one of the more charming and mischievous stories from professional golf’s long history books.
Little-known fact: Long before turning pro, Trevino used to hustle golfers by betting he could beat them using only a taped-up soda bottle instead of a real club. The trick later led to a real advertising deal with Dr Pepper.
TL;DR
- Lee Trevino believes Jack Nicklaus would have won 30 majors with a better short game.
- Nicklaus already holds the record with 18 majors and 73 PGA Tour wins.
- Nicklaus lost the 1971 US Open playoff at Merion after two bunker mistakes cost him bogeys.
- Nicklaus admitted he never prioritized his short game because his long game carried him.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.
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