Harvey Penick

Harvey Penick's life in golf began when he started caddying at the Austin, (Texas), Country Club at age eight. Eighty-one years later he is still there, still dispensing wisdom to pros and beginners alike. His stature in the golf world is reflected in the remarkable array of champions he's worked with, both men and women, including U.S. Open champion and golf's leading money winner Tom Kite, Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, and LPGA Hall of Famers Mickey Wright, Betsy Rawls, and Kathy Whitworth. It is not for nothing that the Teacher of the Year Award given by the Golf Teachers Association is called the Harvey Penick Award. Now, after sixty years of keeping notes on the things he's seen and learned and on the golfing greats he's taught, Penick is finally letting his Little Red Book (named for the red notebook he's always kept) be seen by the golf world. His simple, direct, practical wisdom pares away all the hypertechnical jargon that's grown up around the golf swing, and lets all golfers, whatever their level, play their best. He avoids negative words; when Tom Kite asked him if he should "choke down" on the club for a particular shot, Harvey told him to "grip down" instead, to keep the word "choke" from entering his mind. He advises golfers to have dinner with people who are good putters; their confidence may rub off, and it's certainly better than listening to bad putters complain. And he shows why, if you've got a bad grip, the last thing you want is a good swing. Throughout, Penick's love of golf and, more importantly, his love of teaching shine through. He gets as much pleasure from watching a beginner get the ball in the air for the first time as he does when one of his students wins the U.S. Open. Harvey Penick's Little Red Book is an instant classic, a book to rank with Ben Hogan's Modern Fundamentals of Golf and Tommy Armour's How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time.

The first-ever biography of the iconic and beloved golf coach who caddied for Francis Ouimet, played with Ben Hogan, competed against Bobby Jones, shaped Ben Crenshaw, and distilled his golf wisdom into the Little Red Book, granting simplicity to a vexing yet beloved sport Millions of people were charmed by the homespun golf advice dispensed in Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, a sports classic that went on to become the best-selling sports book of all time. Yet, beyond the Texas golf courses where Penick happily toiled for the better part of eight decades, few people knew the self-made golf pro who coaxed the best out of countless greats — Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright — all champions who considered Penick their coach and lifelong friend. In Harvey Penick, Kevin Robbins tells the story of this legendary steward of the game. From his first job as a caddie at age eight to his ascendance to head golf pro at the esteemed Austin Country Club to his playing days when he competed with Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen to his mentorship of some of golf’s finest players, Penick studied every nuance of the game. Along the way, he scribbled his observations and anecdotes, tips and tricks, and genuine love of the sport in his little red book, which ultimately became a gift to golfers everywhere. Part elegy to golf’s greatest teacher, part inquiry into his simple, impactful teachings, part history of golf over the past century, Harvey Penick is an exquisitely written sports biography.

Contains stories about golf and golfers, golf instruction, and authors' personal insights into the sport.

Written by the author of The Little Red Golf Book, this volume picks up where the first book left off. It features the same blend of simple wisdom, sound golfing instruction and good common sense that made the previous title so popular with golfers of all ages and levels of ability.

Harvey Penick's life in golf began when he started caddying at the Austin Country Club in Texas at the youthful age of eight. Over the next eighty-plus years, he enlightened the members of that club with insights into golf and life. In 1992, at the age of eighty-seven, he offered the world that same wisdom in a timeless collection of pieces entitled Harvey Penick's Little Red Book. He followed that with three more books, all bestsellers, and all filled with thoughts, stories, and golf advice that had stood the test of time. Now, Bud Shrake, Harvey's friend and collaborator, gathers together the very best pointers, portraits, and parables from all four of Harvey's previous works. Filled with nuggets of wisdom from Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend, For All Who Love the Game, and The Game for a Lifetime and enhanced with dozens of personal photographs and keepsakes from the Penick family scrapbooks, The Wisdom of Harvey Penick is a lasting treasure from the most beloved teacher in all of golf.

TIMELESS LESSONS FROM THE MASTER OF THE GAME This, the fourth book by Harvey Penick, was nearly finished when he died in April 1995. A return to the timeless wisdom that has made his first bestseller, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a modern classic, The Game for a Lifetime does not contain the technical swing tips and stance aids of today's instructional guides, but dispenses a philosophy on golf, and on life. Harvey Penick knew that the teachings in his book would stand the test of time, and he spent his lifetime pursuing and enjoying all that the game has to offer -- physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The Game for a Lifetime, the final book by Harvey Penick, stands as a wonderful testimonial to this legendary career, his celebrated teaching style, and his ability to affect the lives of the people who had the good fortune to know him.

EVERY WOMAN CAN PLAY GREAT GOLF Known in the world of golf as one of the game's greatest teachers, Harvey Penick worked with U.S. Open winners, great champions, and five out of the thirteen women who are members of the LPGA Hall of Fame. Mickey Wright, Sandra Palmer, Betsy Rawls, Kathy Whitworth, Judy Rankin, and Betty Jameson all had the privilege and honor of working with Penick. While he was proud of their success and achievements, Penick took just as much pleasure from the accomplishments of the countless women who came to him hoping only to be able to hit a ball in the air for the very first time. In For All Who Love the Game, Harvey shares the lessons he's learned from female golfers: techniques to help women gain greater physical and psychological power, advice on the perfect swing, and tips for developing areas of the game where women can and should outplay their male counterparts. Interwoven with Penick's ever-present blend of common sense and insight, For All Who Love the Game is a gift to every woman who wants to enjoy the game of golf to its fullest.

The late Harvey Penick always told Tom Kite, "Take dead aim for the pin." In this unique memoir, Kite, captain of this year's U.S. Ryder Cup Team, tells the story of Penick, the greatest teacher golf has ever known, his golf secrets, and how he taught them; of Kite's own friendly rivalry with Ben Crenshaw; and of the special relationship enjoyed by all three men. In the same direct way he plays the game, Kite reveals who Harvey Penick really was, his humility and wisdom, and how he became a legend whose Little Red Book remains golf's biggest bestseller and the bible for golfers everywhere. With equal candor Kite takes us inside the world of golf: the dramas and pressures of the Ryder Cup, the rigors and mind games of the Tour, and the arrival of the amazing Tiger Woods. Not just another golf book, this is the story of the bonding of generations--the teacher who recently died at the age of ninety and two of the world's best golfers.