Motivation Quote by Lee Trevino

Even with trophies on the shelf, Trevino refuses the myth of the ice-cold pro. The line is funny because it’s bodily and a little gross: sweat, guts, mouth full of cotton. Golf sells itself as composed and tasteful, but he drags it back into the human body, where nerves live. That’s the intent: puncture the fantasy that experience erases pressure.

The subtext is pride disguised as complaint. “I still sweat” isn’t weakness; it’s a credential. Trevino is saying the stakes are real because he still cares, because competition still reaches him. The grinding-guts image turns anxiety into labor, as if his insides are doing the work before the club ever moves. Then he lands the punchline: so much cottonmouth he could “knit a sweater.” It’s an exaggerated domestic image that makes panic legible, even endearing. You don’t need to know swing mechanics to recognize dry-mouth dread.

Context matters: Trevino’s whole public persona ran on working-class candor and stand-up timing, a contrast to golf’s country-club polish. He came up as an outsider, and his comedy often doubles as a way to level the room. By admitting nerves, he also slips a message to other players: being rattled doesn’t disqualify you. It’s part of the job description, even at the top.

What makes the quote stick is its honesty dressed as a joke. He doesn’t romanticize pressure; he metabolizes it into something you can laugh at and keep playing through.