Dave Pelz Wedge System

I am moving through Pelz's Short Game Bible right now and have a question concerning defining your distances with his 7:30, 9:00 and 10:30 positions with your wedges.

When seeking to find the average distance of each position do you hit balls into a green or out in a fairway? I have tried to make plans to go out and do this, but know if I just find an empty fairway and go through the process myself, that I would not have anyone to mark where the balls land. I might get 5-10 yards additional roll and not have an accurate yardage as compared to hitting into a green. Just need someone to guide me through the proper way to do this.

I am looking to do this with my PW, Gap, SW, and Lob. Thanks for any help you can give me.

I've read the same book and this is what I did.

I went to a level sports field or near one that wouldn't bother anyone and walked off yardages and put towels at 40, 50, 60, 70 & 80.

Use all your wedges at 7:30, 9 and 10:30 and make your best estimation at their averages (or if you are really anal, right them all down; or get your kid to do it...what else are they doing that's productive?)

Note where they land, not where they roll out. Discard mishits and any shot that just didn't feel right.

Definitely make that label he suggests at the base of the club with the 3 yardages for each position. Very handy on the course.

The "rolling out" part will have to be determine more from experience. Obviously a PW is going to roll out more than a LW. So experiment on your home course and note how those shots roll out. You want to pick the landing spot on the green and estimate the roll out based on the club you picked. PW will need a landing spot farther from the hole than a LW.

One last thing, as you get better at making the shot (you are practicing it right on the range right?), you'll probably notice your distances change. For me, my rhythm changed and made my shots go farther. I recommend after 6 months "recalibrating" with another "towel session".

I think that part of his book was the most useful for me and definitely improved my scores.

Good luck!

Old post but who cares, somone might want to know:

According to the book that teaches how to make heads or tails out of golf teaching and boils it down to the main several methods  (How to Learn Golf by Harry Hurt III)

page 137 "The relative complexity and new skill learning required by the Pelz's system may make it more suitable for pros and top amateurs than average golfers"

I've done this with all my wedges. 1/4, 1/2, and 1/4 swing distances.

I'll say one thing Jon, you've read a lot of books written by other people!

If you are a regular at a driving range or a golf club, you might be able to do do a base Pelz calibration on a slow day at the range. You'll want to use your normal on-course ball (see bullet   below * ), so you may need to coordinate with the range/course people.

I stood at the south end of the practice tee and hit partial wedges back up to the north end. It was early May, and the tee grass was plush and green, so the ball didn't bounce much once it hit. Most shots ended up within a few inches of the pitch dent.

I did 7:30 (quarter wedges) for PW, GW and SW, and then did 9:00 (half wedges). For each wedge and swing, I hit eight shots. Then I averaged the distance. (I also removed outliers from the average - if I chunked a shot, or air-mailed one).

Other golfers started to show up, so I only did 10:30 (3/4) with GW, and extrapolated those distances to the PW and SW.

Some observations:

• If your PW is from your iron set and doesn't match your other wedges, don't be surprised if the PW hits a little longer or shorter on partials yardstick compared to the others. If the distances are fairly consistent, that's the big thing.
• * Make sure you Pelz-calibrate your wedges using the ball you play on course. First time I did it I used range balls, which flew shorter than my Gamers. First round after calibration I was flying all my partial wedges 10-15 yds. past the flag.

Before I play, during warmup I try to hit some 3/4 wedge shots. If the distances are inconsistent, I'll just stick to quarter and half wedges for the day.

As per John Roberts citing Harry Hurt III's caution on the complexity of the Pelz system...

If you ingest all 12 chapters of DP's Short Game Bible, you will be completely revamping your golf swing and bending the loft of some of your irons. In my opinion, however, the average amateur is capable of developing the swing feel and yardage matrix for quarter and half wedge shots. Maintaining reliable three-quarters shots is where the real challenge starts.