Harvey Penick - Homespun brilliance from the heart of Texas (Video) - by Pete Styles
Harvey Penick - Homespun brilliance from the heart of Texas (Video) - by Pete Styles One of the first golf books that I ever read when I was getting into coaching was Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. It wasn’t really what I was expecting. I was expecting maybe this narrative, this story to go through the book about how you should swing the club in a certain place, in a certain position.It’s not really like that. Penick was much more about the way he taught the individual. There was maybe page after page of little tips, little notes, little sketches, little ideas rather than this one big grand scheme of an idea. It’s an interesting way to teach. Rather than having a set model everyone has to prescribe to, Penick just taught the individual. He saw what they were doing with their golf swing, didn’t rip them to pieces and completely remodeled them, just a little touch up here, a little change there, and a little bit of advice with certain areas. He improved a lot of golfers really nicely. Good plays, Tour plays as well. Harvey Penick taught for years and years. In fact, he claims that he saw more golf shots when he was alive than anybody else in the planet. Now I reckon I must be getting pretty close to him but he’s got a few more years on me as well. His one big piece of advice was that you should take dead aim. I think that’s, sometimes, something we forget. We stand over the golf ball with 10 different ideas about what we should be doing. We forget to aim at the flag. If we are aiming at the flag, are we really aiming at the flag or we’re just aiming in that general direction? So next time you set up the golf ball, think about Harvey Penick’s advice of taking dead aim. Aim that golf club as if it’s got a laser attached to the face. You get in as accurately as you possibly can. Aim your feet as accurately as you possibly can. Take dead aim at your flag. Hit it straight on it. 2013-01-18

One of the first golf books that I ever read when I was getting into coaching was Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. It wasn’t really what I was expecting. I was expecting maybe this narrative, this story to go through the book about how you should swing the club in a certain place, in a certain position.It’s not really like that. Penick was much more about the way he taught the individual. There was maybe page after page of little tips, little notes, little sketches, little ideas rather than this one big grand scheme of an idea.

It’s an interesting way to teach. Rather than having a set model everyone has to prescribe to, Penick just taught the individual. He saw what they were doing with their golf swing, didn’t rip them to pieces and completely remodeled them, just a little touch up here, a little change there, and a little bit of advice with certain areas.

He improved a lot of golfers really nicely. Good plays, Tour plays as well. Harvey Penick taught for years and years. In fact, he claims that he saw more golf shots when he was alive than anybody else in the planet. Now I reckon I must be getting pretty close to him but he’s got a few more years on me as well.

His one big piece of advice was that you should take dead aim. I think that’s, sometimes, something we forget. We stand over the golf ball with 10 different ideas about what we should be doing. We forget to aim at the flag. If we are aiming at the flag, are we really aiming at the flag or we’re just aiming in that general direction?

So next time you set up the golf ball, think about Harvey Penick’s advice of taking dead aim. Aim that golf club as if it’s got a laser attached to the face. You get in as accurately as you possibly can. Aim your feet as accurately as you possibly can. Take dead aim at your flag. Hit it straight on it.