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.

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.

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.

In a collection of inspirational golfing wisdom, the author provides entertaining recollections and practical advice for golfers of all ages.

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

Half of all new golfers are women, and here Harvey Pennick directs his advice to meet the unique needs of the woman golfer.