Game for a Lifetime: More Lessons and Teachings

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.)