INTRODUCTION
Golf is a disease. Not a game. Especially when you take the “game” up in your fifties, as I did. After a series of injuries stopped my recreational tennis play, and my retirement from a lifetime of coaching and teaching tennis, I tried golf. It didn’t take long to realize it was not an easy endeavor. Someone said “… you can’t learn anything from a golf book, but you have to read a lot of golf books to find that out!” I found the “gurus” of golf instruction: Ledbetter, Pelz,. Hogan was said to have written “the book” with ;”the secret”! I did find one that really attracted me. But in a somewhat different way.
HARVEY PENICK’S BOOK…show more content… Penick, the long time golf coach at the University of Texas and golf professional in Austin, describes the book’s origin in the first part of the book:
Mr. Penick’s words: “An old pro told me that originality does not consist of saying what has never been said before; it consists of saying what you have to say that you know to be the truth. More than sixty years ago, I began writing notes and observations in what I came to call my Little Red Book. Until recently I had never let anyone read my Little Red Book except my son, Tinsley… My intention was to pass my Little Red Book on to Tinsley, who is the head professional at the Austin Country Club… With the knowledge in this little book to use as a reference, it would be easier for Tinsley to make a good living teaching golf no matter what happens when I am gone. …there is only one copy of the red Scribbletex notebook that I wrote in. I kept it locked in my briefcase. Most of my club members and players who came to me for help heard about my Little Red Book as it slowly grew into what is a slender volume considering that all the important truths I have learned about golf are written in its…show more content… Jim Leighton. Coach Leighton was Harvey-in-tennis. Perhaps not as well-known but the same kind of effective teaching techniques. And, as I read coach Harvey's book i was stunned by the similarities with Coach Leighton and the career experiences I had gathered over 50 years of teaching and coaching. Coach Leighton finished his career at wake Forest University. The tennis stadium is named for him. His own book,” Inside Tennis: Techniques of Winning” (Prentice Hall) is a stellar tennis work. My own writing is limited. I tried to compile a guide to coaching college tennis in the early 80s, but abandoned the effort until 2007. ” Play Is Where Life Is" was about one third tennis. Like Coach Penick, I thought that was it. However Coach Penick published three more books. I like all of them especially the title of number two; “ If You Read This Book You Are My Pupil, And If You Play Golf You Are My Friend". My Son, Dan, says that I am “,,,on the other side of the Digital Divided, and introduced me to the blog concept. The Little Red Book of Golf may be the first golf blog. I doubt it Harvey realized that was to