Dave Pelz - best tip....

[Shorty]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

[quote=captglover]Steve, I think you're missing the point on Pelz' putting.
As a fan of D. Pelz, I think what you said is incredible. Your response is balanced and well stated. D. Pelz could not have responded more appropriately.

Congratulations,
Shorty

[captglover]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Thanks, Shorty.

BTW I have replaced my XW wedge for a 4 Hybrid (5 wedges may be too many! ).

It's not really that I felt i couldn't hit it (although it is finicky), but the 60º does almost everything I could ask in such situations that I might need the XW. And, I wanted a heavy hybrid-type club to use in the rough, and for greenside chipping. I think I'll use it more than the XW.

I got a Callaway X 4H hybrid, Which I can hit 220 yds. I really like it!

[Sumosid]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

I personally think that Dave is a great short game coach, his style of teaching is something that I can relate to on the course.

I have to say this about him as well. When my father (an avid golf channel fan of Dave) was in the hospital with a terminal illness. All he could talk about that gave him a moment of happiness/relief and hope was golf. We could talk our way around his local course, the trees to stay away from, the sand traps, the roll of the greens... Golf gave him hope of getting back on his feet---which he did. His golfing days are numbered but he still gets out 2 times a week on his cart. Good on em...

During his recovery I went on Peltz website and ordered his short game book. My dad loved it!!! sitting in the hospital re-reading this book over and over... so I hopped on Dave's website again and wrote him an email that I had to pass through the sales department as a comment... I basically told him all the above and let him know that his work gave people hope in ways that he may never have considered. He immediately sent my father the rest of his books signed wishing him a fast recovery.

That's decent. Can't say enough about the man.

[captglover]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Great story, Sumosid.

I'm glad to hear your dad still gets out there.

[Pundi64]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Some of Pelz's tips are good, but he gets a little too much into making it sound like rocket science.
The very best short game - putting tips are suggested by a person I know personally, when I was a high school kid, his name was Paul Runyan. He has a great book out there, though out of print, called "The Short Way To Lower Scoring", also there is a DVD floating around that you can watch with same title. Sadly Paul passed away several years back, but to any golfer who really knows the game, his name and game still live on.

[golfseeker]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Once you get your distances for each of the wedges....i.e. say 45, 55, 60 yards for a lob wedge for instance.. you can put those distances on a piece of tape and put it on the shaft of the club. Perfectly legal. That way you can select which ever wedge you need for a particular distance. That would also depend on the lie and your ability to replicate the correct distance.

[Spiffo]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Im a fan of the Pelz bibles!

Although heavy reading at times, I found the stuff useful, particularly the 3x3 stuff.

Does give you that extra confidence knowing the distances to hit with certain clubs in your short game. But I do think you need to keep practicing. I often struggle with the 7.30 range and thats where I shank the most!

[GregJWillis]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

The middle one is a shanker usually because you are so focused on how far to take it back, that you start the downswing with the arms. You still need to start with the hips then shoulders like a full swing.

[golfseeker]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Im a fan of the Pelz bibles!

Although heavy reading at times, I found the stuff useful, particularly the 3x3 stuff.

Does give you that extra confidence knowing the distances to hit with certain clubs in your short game. But I do think you need to keep practicing. I often struggle with the 7.30 range and thats where I shank the most!

Do you maintain the small letter "y" at impact? See my avatar where my arms and club form the small letter "y". Also you should make sure your left wrist is facing the target; as if you were hitting with the back of your hand. If you do this you will seldom, if ever, shank a shot with any club when using this method. Hope this helps.

[Spiffo]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Do you maintain the small letter "y" at impact? See my avatar where my arms and club form the small letter "y". Also you should make sure your left wrist is facing the target; as if you were hitting with the back of your hand. If you do this you will seldom, if ever, shank a shot with any club when using this method. Hope this helps.

Fantastic tip matey, thank you very much. Focusing on keeping my left wrist aiming at target is ensuring I dont shank!!

[GBergstrom]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

I have just started reading Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible - it is over 400 e-pages!

What is the best Dave Plez tip, that you have got.....

I read the putting bible - checked it out from the library. My favorite tips from that book are:

-playing more break than you think you need, especially on side hill and down hill putts. He advocates that if you see a foot of break to the left in the middle of the putt, that you aim three feet to the right of the cup.
-practicing lag putting before starting a round, getting 15, 20, 25, 30 foot putts to roll a foot past the mark (hit it alice!).

These two tips (along with a nice consistent pendulum putting stroke) have vitrually eliminated three putts from within thirty feet, and have boosted my confidence on the greens.

Cheers, GB

[Shorty]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

One of Dave Pelz’s best tips

Dave Pelz in his putting book describes three ways of learning to read green slopes. Two of which are measuring them and learning to recognize them relative to a reference system.
“Few golfers (myself and several Tour pros I work with) care enough about green-reading to expend the effort to accurately measure slopes on real greens (using precision instruments not commercially available). However, there is no better way to learn to recognize slopes. Measure the slope of a green near the hole, look at it as you read your putt’s break, then putt on it. Your brain will do the rest. After measuring a number of slopes and putting on them, you’ll begin to recognize their severity without having to measure.”
In the vicinity of the hole with a flat surface, Dave Pelz thinks it’s useful to picture the ball’s position with respect to the hole as illustrated with the hour positions of a clock overlay shown in Figure 7.9.7 of his book with the 12-6 o'clock direction running straight down hill.

Measuring Slopes
A measuring device, that’s the simplest to assemble, would be a 2 ft. Standard Level combined with a slope bubble mounted on top using Scotch double sided tape. The procedure would be to place it on the ground near the hole and rotate it until the Standard Level bubble is centered. The level is now parallel to the 3-9 o’clock direction. The slope can measured (0-4 unit slopes) using the slope bubble if the Standard Level is then rotated 90 degrees, or when the slope bubble is at its maximum value.

A slope meter that’s commercially available is the BreakMaster. It shows the direction and magnitude of the green slopes and costs about $75. Next, a slope meter is described that can be easily assembled from hardware store parts. The Slope Meter consists basically of two bubbles (level and slope) mounted on a 9 inch square ½ inch plywood board. These bubbles are mounted perpendicular to each other near the board's center with the bubbles parallel to two adjoining sides.
A procedure using this board would be:

• Stand below hole and place near hole
• Rotate Slope Meter until Level bubble is centered
• The holes down hill direction is now in line with the slope meter
• Read the green slope from slope bubble. The four divisions of this bubble (1, 2, 3, & 4 %) are standard for slope measurements.

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

I read Pelz's books many years ago (both of them) on putting, and short game play. Although a good read, and I am sure I probably found something worth while in both books, for the past few years they have both sat in my book cabinet untouched. That's not to say his are not good books, because I hav quite a few others that just gathering dust also. Out of 100 or so books in my library on golf, I probably only refer back to 4 or 5 on a consistent basis.

I tried his 4 wedge system for a while, and it is my favorite teaching from him. Although I still use his system from time to time, for the most part I use other methods that I am more comfortable with. Toskie, Merrins, and Utley all have some decent teachings on the short game. Many others do too. I don't think just one author has complete command of usable golf playing tips.

What I have done is taken various playing ideas from various golf instructors, and put them into my own golf "note book" in a data base on my computer. I reference/edit those notes on a continuous basis. I recommend this to all players. Having your own book of tips, in your own understandable wording is a good thing. GJS

[bill reed]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Hi GJS
i think with Pelz short game and putting bible, that there is just so much imformation in them that its very hard to take it all in and we take the parts we like and keep them and leave a lot alone. i think the clock idea on greens is a great way to save shots and i know i now pick when i have a flat,uphill or downhill putt. where before i would try and put it close to the flag and often leave a hard cross slope putt that would often got 3 or 4 feet past and still leave me a hard cross slope put back.
putting to give you a sure second putt it often a better choice that going for the hole and having a three putt.
i like Dave Pelz system and i have got his third book in the collection! "damage control" and it is just as good at the putting and short game bibles.
cheers
Bill

[Shorty]

Re: Dave Pelz - best tip....

Aim Line Determined From Apex Point

According to Dave Pelz, most players first learn to aim their putts based on the apex of the ball-hole expected path. The apex is the maximum distance the ball track departs from the ball-hole line. The apex putters set up is to putt directly to the apex. Dave Pelz stated “A consequence is that they miss most (80 to 95 percent) of their putts low…Golfers subconsciously form habits to correct for their under reading, compensating with their aim and in-stroke putting mechanics to play more break than they read.” From his use of a tiltable table (see Figure 13.4.8 of his book Dave Pelz's Putting Bible), he arrived at the rule: “In your mind’s eye, move the visible break out to the hole—multiply it by three—and you’ll see the true-break point and aimline.”
An examination of Figures 13.4.7 and 13.4.8 reveals that there is a simpler rule which does not include the phrase “move the visible break out to the hole.” A simpler rule states: “In your mind’s eye multiply the visible break by two and aim at that point.” It also should be noted from Figure 13.4.7 that the visible break occurs at a point that’s about 2/3 the ball-hole distance.