The Game for a Lifetime: More Lessons and Teachings

by Harvey Penick, Bud Shrake (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780684867359
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	10/15/1999
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	465,697
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Harvey Penick lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Helen. This is his first book.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

The Dreamer Sees the Real Thing

A fellow drove into the parking lot of our Pete Dye course beside the river. He parked his Mercedes-Benz with California plates in the shade of our live oak trees and walked into the golf shop and asked to see my son Tinsley, the head pro.

This visitor was a good-looking man with an athletic build. His clothes were top quality. His shoes were shined. His face glowed with health. Tinsley invited him into the grill room so they could have a glass of iced tea at a comfortable table while he waited to hear what the man wanted.

"When I was a kid, I was a terrific player," began his story. "Junior championships, state high school champ, played for a university team that did well in the nationals. Got married my senior year. I wanted to try the pro tour, but instead I started in sales for my father-in-law's company and made more money playing golf with clients my first year than any rookie on the pro tour made grinding his heart out.

"I've kept my game in good shape. My handicap is a traveling 4. In the last year, I've had a 68 at the Old Course, a 70 at Pebble Beach, a 70 at Pine Valley, for example, and there was one great day when I shot a 67 at Riviera. For a CEO who has made more money than he knows what to do with, and also has a handsome wife and family, I can really play golf."

Tinsley congratulated him on his success.

"But I'm not satisfied," the fellow said.

"Why not?" Tinsley asked.

"I still want to play on the pro tour."

Tinsley drank his tea and waited.

"This is no pipedream," the fellow said. "I'm talking about the Senior Tour. I'm forty-three years old. I have sold my company for a very large sum. I'm free now to do whatever I want. My plan is to move my family here and buy a house beside your golf course.

"Every morning for the next seven years I will show up on your doorstep, rain or shine. I want daily lessons from you, and I'd like your father to check me every week or so. I'll hit five hundred practice balls a day. I'll play golf every day from the tips on this very tough course. Soon as I reach the age of fifty, I'll turn pro and join the Senior Tour. I'll pay you and your father whatever you ask, if you'll agree to get me ready. What do you say?"

Tinsley didn't need long to think it over.

"Let me tell you about one of our club members," Tinsley said. "Like you, he's forty-three years old, and he's made all the money he'll ever need. He has a handsome wife and family. He practices golf every day, and he plays golf nearly every day. He's getting ready for the Senior Tour in seven more years. At this tough golf course, his handicap is a plus-4. He is your competition. He is the player you are going to have to learn to beat if you are going to go on the Senior Tour. I really don't want to spend seven years of my life trying to help you to do that. Not for any price.

"There's the man I'm talking about — he's sitting over by the window, eating a club sandwich."

Tinsley gestured toward Tom Kite.

Copyright © 1996 by Bud Sharake, Helen Penick and the Estate of Harvey Penick

Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword

The Dreamer Sees the Real Thing

What a Good Grip Can Do for You

Keeping the Edge

Point of View

Jackie's Way

Leaping Lucifer

The Natural

The Barbed Wire Line

Make the Course a Pleasure

Crushed by Crunch

Mental Cases

Where Your Hands Should Be

Rock Solid Putting

To the Finish

Have Fun

Matters of Style

Under Pressure

Sending For John

A Good Day at Cherry Hills

Your Game Can Fit the Course

Fairway Bunker Play

Greenside Bunkers

The Left Wrist

A Visit with Young Hal

Match Play

Bucket Head

Ezar the Wizard

The Boy from Missouri

Practice? What's That?

Jess Kept Playing

Counting Greens

Cotton on the Steel Shaft

Short Game Touch

So Use a Broom

The Right Way to Waggle

Learning Young

Advising Kirby

Helen, the Recruiter

Yoga

I Wonder Why

Pick It Up

The Great One's Tricks

Impact Drills

Try a Little Closer

A Grip Check

Reassurance

Jones's Rules and One More

Luck

A Word from the Wise

Get It Close

The Remarkable Cherry

Thumbing It

Waxo's Puzzle

The Cookie Bakers

Observation

The Initiation

The Path to Success

She Learned the Best Way

A Motto

Walter's Way

Forty More Yards for Bobby

The Lesson for Today

Be Mindful

Make It a Game

Three Most Common Faults

Fifty More Yards for John

Practice It First

Take It to the Course

The Gold Dust Twin

Treat the Easy Ones with Respect

Scholarships

Bibb's Cure for Lungers

You're on Your Own

His Money's Worth

Hit the Can

More Distance

Saving the Cow

Jimmy Would Have Changed His Grip

The First Team

Jimmie Connolly

Look Again

Hazards

Strike a Match

Not Quite Gentlemen

Salute from a Friend

Willie the Weeper

Too Far Forward

Ralph and Howard

Harvey Penick Award Dinner, 1994

A Mystery Is Solved

Solid

Check Your Hips

The Trouble with Money

Reading the Mountain

Good Putters Have Faith

In Byron's Prime

Who Is Talking Here?

Use a Tee

Charlie the Ballplayer

Brownie

For the Tall Player

Thoughts on Taking Dead Aim

A Bow to Jack O'Brien

Talking to Terry

The Bullfighter

Just an Inch or So

Born in Scotland

Memorial Park

Wild Bill

Horton and Lema

Horton and Grace

The "I" in Maxfli

Bob Watson

The Masters champion

Helen

Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

This is the last collaboration between Penick and Shrake (Little Red Book), since America's most famed golf coach died last year at age 90. Here, he restates the linchpin of his philosophy: namely, that golf is primarily a mental game and good shots are envisioned before they are made. But he also has valuable pointers on such matters as grip, stance, backswing and follow-through. However (and this may explain his greatness as a teacher), Penick has no hard-and-fast rules. On many occasions in this collection of anecdotes and bits of advice, he tells of encountering a beginner with unorthodox techniques who nonetheless posted great scores and advises such players never to let anyone fiddle with their games. Among Penick's favorite students in his last years were Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw and Kathy Whitworth, so there seems no room for argument about his pedagogy, just as there is no disputing the love of the game conveyed in this memoir. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Your last shot at getting golf guidance from a pro (and Ben Crenshaw's mentor) who just died this year.

Library Journal