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You put your finger on the glaring weakness of Pelz: He treats golf, which is supposed to be a game, as though it was rocket science. Anyone who plays less than three or four times per week is going to find it almost impossible to ever assimilate all of the technical, mechanical aspects of Pelz's tomes. Utley teaches basic mechanics, and then tries to enable you to allow feel to govern your shots. The fact that your buddy was incapable of properly applying the inside-square-inside stroke is not an indictment of the method as a whole. The vast majority of recreational golfers will never have the time required to learn and master Pelz's system. It's simply too involved, too mechanical, and too hard to retain unless you are playing and practicing a LOT. Utley has simple, easy to learn, easy to retain methods for the short game that will be a huge help to most weekend players, IMHO. My short game is much better since I read Utley's books. My worst short-game shots today are better than my average was before, and I'll happily recommend Utley to any who will listen. If you're a feel player, read Utley. If you're a technician who wants to have labels on the shafts of your wedges telling you the four yardages with that club depending on which of four swings you employ for that shot, and pictures from four angles of every conceivable variety of bunker lie, read Pelz. No one can cite Pelz for not being thorough enough.

Just wanted to provide a second confirmation that the SkyCaddie Desktop for Mac software works great. I installed it on my Mac Pro (you can ignore the "restart required" message in my experience), and it worked just like I would expect. The SG2.5 itself was enjoyable to use. It was certainly a distraction to me on the course my first time out, but that was OK, too. I'm sure I'll get used to having it in time.

Have a look at Stan Utley's Art of the Short Game/Art of Putting, as well. Both are very good.

I voted Utley, also. I was so relieved when I read his books late last summer, and realized I didn't have to digest all 1,000 pages (ok, I don't know if it's quite that many, but it's a LOT!) of Pelz's books. I own both of Dave's "Bibles" but even as much as I like reading about the golf swing, I just get lost in the minutiae of his approach. Stan's emphasis on natural positions and simple feel were a tremendous help to me. I did struggle initially with understanding Utley's sand shot, but I got it figured out now. I can see how Mickelson would have time to get Pelz's methods down, but I don't see how I ever could.

If you haven't already, you really ought to take a demo set of the Pings out for a round. I still have my old X-14s, but when I tried the Ping G-2 the year they came out, I was hooked. I'll occasionally pull out the X-14s for a round, but I always go back to the Pings.

I just ordered my SG2.5, and I'm glad to hear you've had no trouble with your MacBook. That was one slight concern, so it's good to hear that their software works well with the Mac. Can't wait to get out on the course with it this week...