Toney Penna

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Toney Penna was a championship golfer and designer of ground-breaking golf clubs and gear. He won or placed highly in numerous prestigious golf tournaments in the US during his lifetime. He introduced new lines of golf clubs that incorporated trade-secret plans, some of which are still held secret. Many of these clubs are rare and are coveted collectors items, and some are still in production. Penna also introduced the use of color to both clubs and to golf accessories, such as carrying bags.

[edit] Character

Penna was known for his personality and individualism as much as for his golfing prowess. He was a forthright critic of all of his high-ranking golf contemporaries, and even published a table enumerating the strengths and weaknesses of each in his entertaining autobiography. He could display a ready temper but also had an irresistible wit that his associates found charming. Toney Penna was friends with many of the political, corporate and Hollywood elite, including Dean Martin and Bing Crosby.

Penna was a longtime employee and representative of the MacGregor Golf Company. A stretch of road in Jupiter, Florida is named after him. The spelling of his name was something of an attention-getter, and was used by Toney to set himself apart. He was a well-known connoisseur of fine clothing, cars and lifestyle. Toney Penna was from an Italian immigrant family with limited English skills, and had only a sixth-grade education. But his drive to excel in golf, his talent for concentrated problem-solving in improving golf club performance, and his ability to ingratiate himself to people of every social standing brought him to an elite level in both the sport and the business of golf.

With his brother, Charley, Toney was associated with the Beverly and with the Calumet Country Clubs, both near Chicago. Anecdotes about both are still enthusiastically swapped whenever the adventures (and antics) of the golfing elite are mentioned.

[edit] References

• Penna, Toney & Farley, Oscar; My Wonderful World of Golf, Centaur House, 1965.