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The Harvey Penick Golf Academy strives to perpetuate the teaching
legacy of a legendary golf professional. Harvey Penick gained the
adoration of millions through the instructional tips and genial
philosophy he imparted in his golf lessons over a lifetime, and
most recently in a series of little books.
 From
his position as head professional at Austin Country Club, Mr. Penick
tirelessly made better golfers of countless beginners as well as
many famous touring professionals for seven decades. After caddying
for ten years, he became head pro at age 18, and eventually laid
claim to having “seen more golf shots than any man alive,” adding
with tongue in cheek, “most of them my own.” He is regarded as one
of America's finest teaching professionals ever, and indeed was
the first American teaching pro to achieve national recognition
who was not a native of Scotland.
As a golf instructor, he was famed for successfully adapting his
teaching approach to each individual's abilities and needs. He often
said that he enjoyed working with famous golf professionals, but
the real thrill in teaching was to see a beginner get the ball airborne
for the first time.
 He
coached the University of Texas golf team for 35 years, leading
his young players to 20 Southwest Conference championships. Along
the way he developed an impressive list of students, including former
U.S. Open Champion Tom Kite, two-time Master Champion Ben Crenshaw
and four of the 13 members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association
Hall of Fame: Kathy Whitworth, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright and Betty
Jameson.
Mr. Penick assumed the position of pro emeritus at Austin Country
Club in 1971, and remained vary active in teaching and course management.
Even in his later years he still visited the course regularly and
gave occasional lessons up to within a few weeks of his death. On
one such visit in 1991, he and author Bud Shrake, a club member,
developed the idea of publishing a book containing some of the teaching
notes that Mr. Penick had been compiling in a little red notebook
since the 1920s.
The resulting “Harvey Penick's Little Red Book,” published in 1992,
has sold well over a million copies to become the largest selling
sports-related book of all time. The book's unique format includes
playing and practice tips, many relating to the mental aspects of
the game, with engaging and illustrative anecdotes from Mr. Penick's
teaching career, arranged in a series of short chapters. It is appreciated
as much for the neighborly philosophy it imparts as for its uncomplicated
approach to the sport of golf.
Mr. Penick and Shrake followed up the “Little Red Book” with a
virtual sequel, “And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend” (the “Little
Green Book,” 1993). Other Penick books include “For All Who Love
the Game,” a collection of tips and stories for women golfers released
in 1995 and “The Game for a Lifetime,” released in 1996.
 In
addition to his writings, Mr. Penick remained active in his later
years through an affiliation with Golfsmith International, Inc.
Working closely with the company's staff of teaching pros, he was
a consultant to the Harvey Penick Golf Academy, which has graduated
more than 18,000 students from its two and three-day golf instructional
programs since its establishment in 1993. Mr. Penick enjoyed meeting
and talking with the academy students on weekly personal visits
until just a few weeks before his death. Mr. Penick died in his
Austin home on April 2, 1995. He was 90.
Along with numerous other honors throughout his life, Harvey Penick
was inducted (posthumously) into the Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.
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