Last Updated: Nov 06, 2023
Harvey Penick Little Red Book Review
This book is a collection of Harvey Penick's teachings and is one of the great golf classics. A must-have for any serious golfer.
Written By: Zach Gollwitzer
Posted in: Golf Instructional Books ,Golf Mental Game Books

TLDR; What you need to know about Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In Golf
Here's a quick summary of the most important things you need to know about this product.

Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In Golf
This book is a collection of Harvey Penick's teachings and is one of the great golf classics. A must-have for any serious golfer.
Read full reviewOverall Rating
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Quick Read
- Easy to skip around
- Lots of "nuggets" of wisdom
Cons:
- Too short—wish there was more!
Best For...
All Golfers
My favorite feature:I love how "bite-sized" this book is. You can flip through it at your leisure and you'll surely walk away with a nugget of golfing wisdom to take to your next round.
Table of Contents

Full Review: Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In Golf

It is one of the shortest golf books out there, but the lessons in it are priceless classics. Harvey Penick was the long-time teacher of Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite, and gives advice from a golf instructor's point of view. The book contains around 90 lessons from Penick's years of teaching. If you want to learn from one of the greatest swing instructors in history, this is your book.
I haven't ever read the book straight through, but I like to jump around. I use it on a day by day basis. For example, I reference one of the lessons, and work on it for that day or longer. It is a great little reference book which will keep your game sharp.
Harvey Penick on Erratic Golfers
For example, in one lesson, Penick talks about the cure for erratic golfers who shoot 72 one day and 82 the next.
Penick says that if he were like that, he would start a golf diary, and write everything down about each golf round.
What did I eat before the round? How long did I warm up? How much sleep did I have? What was the time of day when I teed off? How was I feeling before the round?
He says that by keeping a nightly diary, you will be able to notice trends—a topic I talk about a lot on this site.