I found out about Dave Pelz by accident. I was playing golf one day at La Quinta with a woman who hit one amazing pitch shot after another close to the pin. The rest of her game was below average, so I asked her where she had picked up the pitching game. She told me that she had just finished Dave Pelz's short game school at PGA West and said it had helped her a lot. Remembering that caused me to take the course.

Dave Pelz is the ultimate golf engineer. He measures everything, and that has led to new learning. For example, he has found that 60-65% of all shots occur within 100 yards of the hole. More importantly, "about 80% of the shots golfers lose topar occur within 100 yards." In further measurements, he noticed that the largest errors in missing the target occur with wedges (for amateurs and pros). These misses are usually in distance, rather than left and right variance.

From these observations, Pelz developed a four wedge system with 3 lengths of backswing that will give you much more distance precision with wedges within 100 yards. The reason this important relates to putting. Almost all 2 foot putts are made, but pros only make half of the 10 foot putts (amateurs do worse). Beyond 10 feet, the odds drop way off. This means that if you can get your wedge shot to within 10 feet you have a good chance of finishing the hole in one less stroke.

I still haven't converted to four wedges, but reading the book convinced me that I should. I didn't realize how much scoring I was missing with only 3. I can get the ball to 15 feet most of the time, and then 2 putt. Maybe I'll get that extra wedge today and get a lot closer.

There's a lot of other good information on sand shots, chipping, trouble shots of all kinds (including how to hit the ball out from under water and stay reasonably dry).

You'll need more than this book to really improve though. If you like the book, you should begin doing the drills in the back. I would suggest you also try the videos. If that is all helping, consider the golf school. You will get a lot of individualized diagnosis of your weaknesses and instruction on how to improve. I still refer to the notes I got, and find them helpful. One strength of the book is that it has a measurement exercise in it that you can use to diagnose the weaknesses in your short game, so that you can concentrate on those parts of the book that will help you the most with your practice.

If you are like most golfers, you love to belt the ball. That's great, but I'm sure you've heard the old saying "Drive for show, and putt for dough." This book will add the perspective of the short game as essential to that dough as well. You'll have to give up two long clubs (he makes recommendations) to put those two extra wedges in your bag.

Use this book to overcome your stalled thinking about how to improve your golf game. Despite better equipment and balls and a lot of instruction, the score of the average golfer hasn't improved in the last 30 years. With the Pelz approach that can change.

As much as I liked this book, I liked his new book, Dave Pelz's Putting Bible, even more. I strongly recommend that you read that one as well. You can implement it without attending the Pelz course. These two books are the first two in a planned series of four. I'm looking forward to the rest of them.

Donald Mitchel


Realistic advice for real players   June 11, 2000
G. W. Sims (Lancaster, CA United States)
58 out of 58 found this review helpful

As a graduate engineer and another NASA scientist, I can vouch for the science that lies behind Pelz's book, but I'm sure most potential readers know that Pelz is the real thing in that respect. The book itself impressed me in three ways:

1. It isn't written for scientists, just golfers. He provides all the information you need to make your own game better, but avoids the physics that underlie the advice. Pelz saves that level of science for the journals.

2. This is a textbook, not a teaser. After telling you what you should try to achieve with each type of shot, he goes into the greater detail you start wanting as soon as you actually start to practice a technique. Things like how much difference in roll distance you should expect between a lob wedge, a pitching wedge, and a nine iron for the same pitch distance.

Most "tips" sound good, but leave you wondering why they aren't quite working when you get to the course. Pelz starts you out with the basics of each technique and then follows through with the details you need to really use it on a course.

3. He avoids the "genius" techniques that some folks love to describe. His techniques work for people who are not born artists with a club, and even those of us who lack a spare thirty hours a week to practice the short game. (The amazing number of pros who go to his schools testifies to the value of his advice when you actually do have time to practice.)

This is scoring golf for the rest of us. I'm not Seve, nor are most people. Pelz describes techniques that are more likely to work than not on any given swing because the physics of the swing are in favor of success.

An Excellent book. It should be in the library of any golfer who ever accepts a two-dollar Nassau.


Pelz has presented us with an instructional masterpiece.   June 17, 1999
shvasirons@aol.com (Mobile, AL)
32 out of 32 found this review helpful

I have long been a fan of Dave Pelz' teachings. Maybe it is the engineer in me. He has applied scientific inquiry and statistics to the scoring games (chipping and putting) for about 40 years. In this very readable textbook, he presents all of his accumulated knowledge and study of the short game. It is both technical and down to earth. Superbly organized, this book can truely offer new insights to a PGA tour pro or teach a novice the basics of one of the most important games in golf. The teaching technique not only tells you what you must do for each type of shot, but explains WHY you must do it that way, and PROVES why this is so. These explanations make a lasting impression which the reader can carry to the practice tee and the golf course.

This is a must read for every player interested in lower scores. I can't wait until the rest of this 4 book series are in print.


convert to disciple to apostle   March 28, 2000
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

This book is a masterpiece. However, be forewarned. "Feel" and "hands" players will be forced to leave their prior comfort zones if they wish to transform their games. Dave Pelz does not corrupt the "fundamentals", (although he does challenge some myths), in developing his system for attacking the short game. Even "feel" players will have fun with Dave's analysis of the impact of each of the "five games" especially the long game on one's score. The Trevino/Miller anecdote is especially revealing. My personal experience has been completely positive. Prior to reading the book and as a single digit amateur, I searched constantly to "perfect" my long game swing.(The short game test at the back of the book, was at once enlightening and humiliating. On some tests, I was no better than a beginner...and I routinely have scored in the low 80's/high 70's for years).

Finally, my short game shots have undergone a dramatic transformation. I now hit quality shots from within 120 yards under a variety of conditions, a majority that stop within one-putt distance. I even "back up" short pitches on occasion, (I don't understand the physics of how, since I am swinging with less force...therefore, should not be imparting as much spin...but it's true). If you are interested in improving your scoring, this book is the only one you need on the short game. It is far and away the most comprehensive ever written, (and I own all the others). Enjoy it.


Must Have To Lower Scores   April 3, 2000
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

I have always been a feel player, especially with the short game and thought that Mr. Pelz would be a little too technical with his "Short Game Bible". But after reading his studies and trying his approach to the short game, I have lowered my handicap from a 7 to a 3 in the course of a summer. I have since become a huge fan of Mr. Pelz and I continue to get better and better. I highly recommend this book to golfers of every level of ability.