Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons and Teachings from a Lifetime in Golf

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Harvey fetched a sheet of paper — Austin Country Club letterhead, to be sure — to compose his reply. He tried to keep the pen steady in his hand so that what he wrote didn’t look like nervous scribble.

In the end, this is a good read--equal parts golf HOW-TO book and golf memoir by one of the true greats. This short book is worth the read--and the re-read. Now it’s as easy as making a normal swing, but with one key caveat — hit three or four inches behind the ball.

The driver and a teed up 3-wood are clubs that its a good idea to play off the left heel. This is true because you want to hit the ball slightly on the upswing or at the lowest point of the swing with these clubs. So evolved the potent magic of the Little Red Book. From the moment their collaboration began, the conversations between Harvey and Shrake were layered in meaning — exemplifying Shrake’s favorite quote about life and golf from Wodehouse. Until the Little Red Book, golf instruction had been written literally, procedurally, mechanically, and often too narrowly. Golf books had propounded theories but done little to engage the reader along any other dimension. Then, of course, there was that temper waiting to erupt. Like at the 1987 Ryder Cup, when, during his final-round singles match against Eamon Darcy, he broke his putter in a fit of pique on Muirfield Village’s 6th hole. Unable to replace the club, he putted first with a sand wedge, and then with his 3-iron, somehow taking the match to the final hole where Darcy was forced to hole a slippery six-footer for victory.

Split the ball in half in your mind and play the inside half; the outer half shouldn't be entertained...just hit it. I said, yeah, I could do this, and all of a sudden I felt like I had been called upon to do this for some reason,” Shrake recalled in 2009. “The fates had transpired to put me with Harvey.” My intention was to pass my Little Red Book on to Tinsley, who is the head professional at Austin Country Club. Tinsley was named to that post in 1973, when I retired with the title of Head Professional Emeritus after holding the job for fifty years. Aim - One may tell where they are aimed by taking their stance and holding a clubshaft along the front of your thighs. Look at where the club is pointing, and you will see where you are aimed. However, laying a club at your feet will tell you very little. Hit the ball solidly, and I can show you where you were aimed. Once you learn this, your mind will tell you where you are aimed.

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Harvey told Shrake about his years as the head coach at Texas. He affirmed what he had told many others. “Boys would come from all over the state,” Harvey told him. “The local pros helped these boys. I took thirty-two years of knowledge from these golf pros all over the state.” Then Morris Williams came along. Everybody thought he couldn’t be beat. He had such a fine character.