Dave Pelz's ideas

[Konrad]

I recently bought his books "Putt like the pros" and his short game bible and knocked about 5 strokes off my game in just a month using his drills and methods of execution. Clearly, I was very happy with the results and I just got to play with my high school coach again since the end of last year's season. I told him about my improvement, and he said that he hated Pelz's teaching, saying that it was waaaay to analytical and fact-based for him.

Dave Pelz is very technical, as I am too, so I felt that this might apply to me more than other people. Does anybody else agree with me on this? Has anybody used his methods and no improved? Do you like his teaching system?

[iacas]

I use his wedge system. I have four swings (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 1/4) with three of my wedges. I taped the carry yardages to the bottom of my grips. I posted a picture here .

We've discussed this before, too:
http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93
http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269
http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=461

As to being "too analytical," well, too bad for him. The analysis isn't really in the golf shot, it's in helping to choose the golf shot. It's in showing that most pros don't miss directionally with wedges, they miss long or short.

You then take that knowledge and apply it, using all the "feel" and other non-analytical stuff you have, to score better.

So long as golf is about "numbers" (your score), "analysis" of some numbers will help the numbers that matter (your score again) drop.

[allin]

I don't have a problem with the figuring out your distances. I do have difficulty with his insistence on big arm follow throughs for wedge shots. I prefer not to make such a big follow through and to contol distance partially by varying how agressively I turn my hips through.

[InTheTwenties]

I just started reading the short game bible about a month ago, and I have begun to apply his ideas. The three by four system is nice, because it gives me predictabale range.

I do have a question regarding the swing speed, though. When you use his system are you supposed to just let the wedge move on its own accord-only gravity moving the wedge to the ball. Or are you supposed to use some force to move the ball. DO you fast swing, or slow swing?

Thanks in advance.

[cdriver]

I got his Short Game Bible about 2 years ago and upon reading it, without doing any of the drills, I took at least 4 or 5 strokes off my game. Just thinking about the correct shot, how to hit, where to land it, etc made me a better short game player. I even have 4 wedges now. I will guarantee that it took me from about a 15 handicap down to a 7 over about 6 or 8 months. I am back up to a 9.6 now, but I know why. I have been making some swing and club changes that are just now starting to feel natural. I expect my handicap to come down before the end of fall once the new changes are ingrained. Back to Pelz, I think he is the greatest short game teacher on the planet, but I am not a fan of his putting philosophy.

[iacas]

I don't have a problem with the figuring out your distances. I do have difficulty with his insistence on big arm follow throughs for wedge shots. I prefer not to make such a big follow through and to contol distance partially by varying how agressively I turn my hips through.

It's not so much a big arm follow through as it is a natural follow through. Too many people who think of choking off their follow-through decelerate. I think that's his main point.

In theory, I try to follow what he says, even if I end up naturally stopping shorter. Trying to stop yourself shorter than "natural" leads to bad results, in my experience.

I do have a question regarding the swing speed, though. When you use his system are you supposed to just let the wedge move on its own accord-only gravity moving the wedge to the ball. Or are you supposed to use some force to move the ball. DO you fast swing, or slow swing?

You're supposed to make your normal swing and finish at the same follow through position. If you make a good aggressive swing with your wedges normally, your follow through should be about the same.

[Xt1ncT]

He's a genius.

The thing with his short game teachings is the simplicity of it. I came down from 14 to 7 using it. Sure, I've gone out a bit since I changed to Muriwai and since I changed my irons. But I really feel my game is on the verge of something really good.

I used to have 4 wedges like he advocates, but didn't want to sacrifice a long iron or hybrid - we often have to play punched shots with 3 and 4 irons where I play. Have gone to 3 wedges now, and am today getting a 58* Callaway X Tour Wedge with the Mack Daddy grooves, so will have my PW @ 47.5*, GAP @ 52* and SW @ 58. Am considering getting the 52* vintage and getting it bent to 53* or getting a Cleveland 588 53* to even up the gaps between them.

There must be something about him seeing as how many top pros use his methods.

[chingali]

I taped the carry yardages to the bottom of my grips.

Legendary idea! I got on to the Pelz wedge system about 2 years ago when having a few lessons with a PGA Pro, as soon as he explained the principles to me I thought yep, that's about the most logical thing I have ever heard and adopted it immediately and practice it religiously.

It never occurred to me to tape the distances to my wedge shafts, if I'd bought the book then I think it says something about doing so in there, to date I have just been making do with entries in the back of a notebook I carry with me in my bag and it's a bit of a pain having to pull it out and check. Normally I can remember all of the yardages, but every few months I redo them and they do change and I have to go through the notebook process again. With the wedge method itself, I find it very simple and more importantly very very repeatable. All you have to do is find the yardage, look up and pick the right club and backswing length combination and then put a good swing on the ball. No guesswork, no feel, no lobbing it over the back, no coming up short. It's great.

[cdriver]

Some guys laminate a card with their wedge yardages on it and clip it to their bags so they have easy access to them. That way you know which club without pulling them all and looking at the taped yardages on the shaft.

[gas_can]

Dave Pelz has made quite a name for himself, and it's definately helped some people.

I attended the short game school two years ago, and noticed some menial improvements. However, about a year ago, I developed a severe case of the shanks with my wedges. My scoring average shot up eight strokes in a single month. It got so bad that I contemplated selling the shop, all my clubs, and quitting the game for good. What happened is that the "finnese swing" Pelz talks about worked its way into my full swing and flat out ruined it.

Then I discovered Jim Hardy and Stan Utley and my whole golfing outlook changed. Now from a one inch putt to a three hundred yard drive my swing is the same, namely around the body and "on plane." I gave away my Pelz books and silly training aids and haven't ever been happier.
My scoring average is back down and I'm hitting the ball more accurately than ever before from tee to green.

The moral of my whole story is that just because Pelz is the most popular, doesn't mean it will be the best for you. As you'll see from most of my posts, I'm as technical and scientific as anyone on this board. However, that doesn't mean I got along with the Pelz system.

As an aside, I've always found it somewhat comical that everyone associates the clock system as being originated by Pelz, just goes to show how strong marketing can be.

[NCGolfer]

I think that Pelz has some great ideas and love the fact that he has statistically shown the importance of the short game. I've watched a lot of his TGC Golf Acadamey shows and have learned quite a few things.

I don't subscribe to the square-to-square methodology of putting, but that doesn't mean I don't believe and agree with most other things he talks about.

One of the best tips I've gotten from him was the idea of the chip-putt. Basically not trying to think of an extremely long putt as a 'putt' but more of a 'chip' with a putter. For some reason it puts me in a different state of mind and I ususally get better results.

[Konrad]

I play on very small greens, and the biggest putts I have are usually if I hit one of our par 5's in two.

I did have a tournament where I had a 120 foot putt on this long par... and I proceeded to almost hole it :)

[Terrier]

He made a set of irons (blades) that were "it" - the Featherlites. They were popular (for a while). Until most of the world realized that light irons equalled no distance and no accuracy...and no money earned on the PGA Tour...

[shortgame85]

I have read only his Shortgame Bible . I believe his approach is logical and solid, and not hard to understand. I will be learning from him for many more years, I feel sure.

[mgolfer]

To be honest Pelz seems incredibly boring to me. I do not care at all if his stupid robotic pendulum machine can hit a put straight i want to hole out more putts. Id prefer to actually watch what the pros do instead of watch his advert-fillers on the golf channel.

[marto97]

I think genius is a stretch, although he does know his stuff. We all can't be aerospace engineers.

[BritBoy]

To be honest Pelz seems incredibly boring to me. I do not care at all if his stupid robotic pendulum machine can hit a put straight i want to hole out more putts. Id prefer to actually watch what the pros do instead of watch his advert-fillers on the golf channel.

Thank you... someone else said it before me!!!

[crazy_horst]

I'd rather shoot myself than play his style of golf. "It's a 64 yard shot, I need to take my 52* and swing it to 10:30... no wait, I could take my 56 and use my 11:15 swing... or my lob wedge and swing it to midnight!"

Shoot me.

Golf is a game of feel. And to prove it, Pelz says he came up with his theory by watching pros and realizing that they take it back a certain amount for a certain distance shot. Well, guess how many pros who did this thought of it this way? I would guess the answer is between 1% and nobody.

Anyway, I don't want to be a golf robot. How boring.