Harvey Penick, Teacher of Golf and Life, Dies

Harvey Penick provided sage and simple advice to some of golf’s best players, and Monday he was fondly remembered by them.

Penick, mentor to Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright, Betsy Rawls and many others, died Sunday after a lengthy illness. He was 90.

“Harvey’s simple philosophies about golf and life will stay with us for as long as the game is played,” said Crenshaw, for whom Penick was his only golf instructor since age 6.

Crenshaw, 43, whose PGA career includes the Masters among his 18 tournament victories and more than $5.6 million in prize money, visited Penick last week, receiving advice for a minor adjustment in his putting stroke.

Kite, 45, who began working with Penick at 13, went on to become the leading money winner in PGA Tour history with $9.2 million. After winning the 1992 U.S. Open, he sent the trophy to Penick.

With advice such as, “swing the club like you would a weed cutter,” and “swing it like you would a water bucket,” Penick put golf into simple terms.

His fundamentals were outlined in “Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book,” a collaboration with author Bud Shrake, whom Penick had given the pages of a journal kept in a red notebook that he carried for 60 years.

The book has sold more than a million copies since its 1992 release, becoming the best-selling sports book of all time. The book combines common-sense instruction with anecdotes about golf and life.

A second book, “And if You Play Golf, You’re My Friend,” has also sold well, and a third, “For All Who Love the Game,” has just been published.

Penick is survived by his wife, Helen; a daughter, a son, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.