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COACHING—ONE-TO-ONE LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER 10
be $85,000. Harvey was aghast: “Bud, I don’t think I can raise that kind of
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money.” What this story says about Penick is this: He was humble (a pub-
lisher wants to pay me!), and he was a teacher (he wanted to share the
lessons he had learned himself and imparted to his pupils over a long life-
time of teaching a game he loved). The first tome, Harvey Penick’s Little
Red Book, became one of the best-selling sports books of all time and led to
a series of subsequent books, television appearances, a video, and eventual
worldwide recognition.
LESSONS FROM THE GAME
Simplicity is something Penick strove for always. Golf is a game of feel: Feel
the grip, feel the club head, feel the swing. Most students respond to the sim-
plicity, but Penick recalls the example of the woman who became flustered
because he would not add more technical advice. But that was not his style. 20
“Playing golf you learn a form of meditation . . . you learn to focus on the
game and clean your mind of worrisome thoughts.” 21
Penick was earnest about his teaching and prayed before beginning one
of his teaching clinics; his reason was that “few professions have as much
influence on people as the golf pro,” and so he wanted the help of the
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Almighty in this endeavor. At the same time, Penick was perpetually hum-
ble about his role in the game, referring to himself as a “grown caddie still
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studying golf.” About his own teaching style, Penick uses the tools of all
successful teachers—“images, parables and metaphors.” 24 In this way, he
could make his pupils see both physically and metaphysically how they
could improve their game.
TRIBUTE TO TEACHER
Penick’s students who have gone on to excel in the professional game are
themselves legends. Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw were two of his favorites.
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Kite won the 1992 U.S. Open and gave his trophy to his tutor to hold. And
most movingly, Ben Crenshaw won the 1996 Masters shortly after Penick
died. “I could definitely feel him with me. I had a fifteenth club in the bag. The
fifteenth club was Harvey.” 26
Shortly before the 1995 Ryder Cup matches between the best American
and best European golfers, Penick’s son, Tinsley, summed up his father’s life
in a kind of elegy delivered to the players on the eve of the match. Some of the
players knew Penick personally; all of them knew him in some way, if only
through the lessons imparted in his books. In his talk, Tinsley spoke of his
father’s commitment to differences: Each player has his own unique style, and
he would not try to change it. And he mentioned Harvey’s sense of profes-
sionalism, never speaking ill of fellow pros. 27