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Summary
Summary
The final work from the legendary teacher.
His gentle demeanor and timeless wisdom made Harvey Penick America's best-loved teacher of the game of golf. At the time of his death in April 1995, Harvey was well along in the work on this, his fourth book of golf instruction. Like his classic Little Red Book, The Game For a Lifetime is filled not so much with swing tips and stance aids, but with a timeless philosophy that seeks to improve your play by improving how you feel about your game.
Harvey tells us about the different methods he used to help his pupils find twenty more yards off the tee; about the sweet-swinging students whose swings he could remember and recognize without having seen them for thirty-odd years; and he advises the seasoned golfer -- whose seasoning is measured not in years, but in experience on the links and at the practice tee.
Harvey always said that he knew that his teachings have stood the test of time. His was truly a lifetime spent pursuing the best the game has to offer us: physically, emotionally, spiritually. The Game For a Lifetime is a fitting testament from this remarkable man.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
The late Harvey Penick, homespun philosopher and beloved golf teacher to such pros as Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite, is perhaps the most unlikely of best-selling authors. Filled with aphorisms like "Take Dead Aim," his Little Red Book (1991) of golfing anecdotes and advice became a runaway best-seller a few years ago, and he followed it with two similar and nearly as successful volumes. Now this posthumous effort adds more of the same. What's the appeal? Perhaps it's that golfers, confronted with the infinite frustration of repeating so complex a maneuver as the golf swing, crave the simplicity of Penick's commonsensical approach. In addition, his palpably genuine love of the game can't help but strike a chord with anyone who has ever felt, however fleetingly, the exhilaration that comes with hitting a golf ball as it was meant to be hit. With the upcoming Masters Championship, Penick's name is certain to be on golfers' lips even more than usual, given his close relationship to defending champion Crenshaw, whose triumph last year came in the wake of Penick's death. Expect demand to increase when the azaleas bloom in Augusta. (Reviewed March 1, 1996)0684800594Bill Ott
Library Journal Review
Your last shot at getting golf guidance from a pro (and Ben Crenshaw's mentor) who just died this year. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
