Every now and again I’m tasked with covering a golf tournament where Lee Trevino is playing, and you can’t help but get pulled into his orbit whenever you do.

The six-time major champion is still an avid range rat who holds court whenever he gets the chance. In honour of his 84th birthday this week, I wanted to share a tip of his from one of those holding court sessions, which happened at the PNC Championship last year.

Trevino rose to dominate golf with a trusty fade. But as he told Golf Digest in 1992 he switched to a draw as he got older to prevent himself from losing too much distance.

But of course, a fader at heart, he always knew how to dial-up a left-to-right ball flight on command. And that was the subject of Trevino’s advice from the PNC last year.

Trevino’s “Long Thumb”

Mike Ehrmann

You can hear him talking about below, but Trevino says if you’re struggling to fade the ball — or worse, a hook — his advice is surprisingly simple: To extend the thumb on your lead hand down the middle of the grip.

It’s important to keep as much of the surface area of your thumb in contact with the grip, Trevino said, which is only possible when you rotate your hand into a “weaker” position.

With your long thumb running down the middle of the grip, feel like you keep it there as you swing. That’ll keep the clubface open.

“It’s gotta’ go right when you run the thumb down,” he says in the video below.