Collection of memories help pass on Penick's philosophy on game

GOLF BOOK CLUB: The Game for a Lifetimeby Harvey Penick

LIFE’S LESSONS are very often the best way to learn and, in this book, the master uses stories and anecdotes – rather than a straight-on instruction manual – to pass on his wisdom. The master, of course, is Harvey Penick and this offering (in conjunction with writer Bud Shrake) is what was occupying him at the time of his death.

Although Penick's Little Red Bookis seen as the bible when it comes to passing on instruction to amateurs and pros alike, this collection of memories is a nice way to absorb golfing messages into your psyche, be it about the swing or, more often than not, the short game, which this particular teacher sees as by far the most important aspect of golf.

When he died in 1995 following a brief battle with pneumonia, Penick had Tom Kite by his bedside and, then, the following week, probably his most famous pupil, Ben Crenshaw, won the US Masters at Augusta National. In truth, Crenshaw couldn’t but be the great putter he was throughout his career as Penick put a huge emphasis on putting and credited many famous exponents, for example Horton Smith, with influencing him.

This is a book which can be put down and picked up for a few minutes at a time, which in these days of time management is a terrific asset.

What it does, in a simple and at times beautifully-written way, is to pass on Penick’s own philosophy on how the game should be played . . . . but there are also some wonderful anecdotes, which also enable the reader to absorb things without having to strain the old grey matter too much.

Some of the information passed on is simple in the extreme. In one nine-line “lesson”, for instance, Penick makes this observation. “Suppose you are strolling along the road with a walking stick in your hand. You see an old tin can in the road. You decide on impulse to give the can a hearty two-handed whack that will knock it into the grass. How do you do it? Do you tense up and worry about keeping your head still? Of course you don’t, but your fundamentals are always sound when you whack a tin can. That’s the free-wheeling feeling you should have when you hit a golf ball.”

Penick liked to keep things simple. One training aid he used with college students was a box of kitchen matches. Basically, Penick would take the pupil out to the car park, scatter matches on the ground and get the player to, as he put it, “strike fire from those match heads with his golf swing, a sure cure for hitting behind the ball and also a great aid to concentrating on the point of your aim. If your mind wandered, you could sprain your wrist or put a nasty mark on the bottom of your club.”

The beauty of this book is that Penick and Shrake more often than not use real-life instances to back up the coach’s philosophy, more often than not with players who graced fairways on tour and knew the art of winning. Byron Nelson. Ben Crenshaw (whose brother Charlie, Penick reckoned, could have been just as good a player). Jimmy Demaret. Horton Smith.

But it was his work with college players like Bobby Moncrief that truly showed Penick’s mastery. In fact, Moncrief would tell anyone who listened of Penick’s “wizardry”.

Penick’s response provides an insight into the man himself, someone acknowledged as one of the game’s greatest ever teachers but very much a modest man.

As Penick put it when hearing of Moncrief’s description of him, “it’s not wizardry. It’s my craft. When you have seen many thousands of hands gripping golf clubs for decades, and you know the swing of the player you’re observing, it is a simple thing to see a grip that does not fit.”

This book is a nice and gentle read. And, you never know, it could even help your golf game; if not, it will definitely help your understanding of the game.

Questions for Readers

1Do you believe Penick's philosophies on the game hold true for mediocre amateurs as much as they do for tour professionals?

2Penick believed anyone serious about playing golf – be they tour players or club golfers – should put more emphasis on the short game, putting the time spent on chipping and putting at 90 per cent. Do you agree?

3What do you make of Penick's use of anecdotes to illustrate his point?

4Penick was one of those coaches who didn't see anything wrong with the "waggle" as long as, one, it was used as a way for a player to loosen tension and, secondly, it was a player's way of rehearsing the beginning of a swing. Does this apply to the ordinary club player, or just to tour players?

5How would you rate this book out of a top mark of 10?