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Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible

ShotScope
Different clubs and swings. For the 90'ish yards I could take a 49/53 if I want a longer swing and higher ball or even a low flying 7:30 swing 9 iron.

The 60's is sort of the same, with higher lofts of course.
 
Does anyone else have challenges getting the 7:00 shots lofted? Sometimes I end up hitting kind of longer chip shot trajectory type shots, which isn't really what I am going for.

(I hit some beautiful 9:00 shots today....SW from 90 yards out to 5 feet and made the putt to save par...97 yard GW to pin high maybe 10 feet left (missed the birdie putt). Man, when executed properly the Pelz shots are a real scoring weapon).
 
Frank, I think that's probably the hardest to get up in the air, though I can get a little height if I really stay down and turning through it.


Distance control practice really paid off for me in consistency on the course. Lots of good pelz swings this weekend. More than I would have liked to have taken, but that's another story. Still not completely dialed in, but now I at least know what club to grab for a distance about 60% of the time again, where a month ago I was mostly guessing. Main place I need to work now is in between 40-65 yards.
 
Good stuff, Hawk.

I am seeing similar stuff, which makes me happy. I'm also seeing some muscle memory developing which is letting execute Pelz shots even when I can't get an exact number. It is almost counter-intuitive that a distance based system would help in this way, but I'll gladly take it.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Does anyone else have challenges getting the 7:00 shots lofted? Sometimes I end up hitting kind of longer chip shot trajectory type shots, which isn't really what I am going for.

(I hit some beautiful 9:00 shots today....SW from 90 yards out to 5 feet and made the putt to save par...97 yard GW to pin high maybe 10 feet left (missed the birdie putt). Man, when executed properly the Pelz shots are a real scoring weapon).
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This is where I drop off from the Pelz method and use more of a slow toss speed control method. I still have a clock number in mind generally, but the tempo differs. Long slow to toss it for a soft land instead of a short pitch from 7 if that makes sense. I will still use the shorter motion for bump and run style using less loft, but for the toss and loft I have to let the club travel more even though its slower.
 
I'm a big believer in the Pelz system, specifically the 3x4 system. I actually have the three numbers printed and taped just below the grips of my old wedges. I just got new wedges, so I'll be getting them dialed into 7:30, 9, and 10:30 very soon. I go back to the book fairly often, as it's a good refresher. I recommend the book to all of my golfing buddies.
 
The Pelz 7:30 and 9:00 swings were money today. I decided to use these instead of full swings (with less club) at a par 3 course and had solid results, including burning the edge to just miss my second ace.
 
I love the 3x4 system. I recently got some Vokeys and spent a good couple hours at the range dialing in my yardage profiles and writing them down. Having my laser rangefinder is key for this!
 
The last few rounds my pitching has saved me. My only 1-putts and most 2-putts are products of pitching to within 10 feet.
 
I've got this book collecting dust in my room right now. I think I might break it out but I'll likely wait until after the MC so I don't throw myself off with something new.
 
This part of the game is coming along slowly but surely. What was really a weak point a month ago - 35-60 yards has shown some improvement, mostly in the upper ranges. As I get closer to the green I'm just not as strong with the 1/4 swings as I'd like to be, but that's something I can work on feel/touch with. It was a strong point a year ago. That low spinner shot was one I could always rely on, but it requires a little touch or the swing gets too long and I either end up long or decel and get crappy contact.

I will say I noticed quite a difference with my wedges fit for lie angle. Less of the tendency to push. I just need to focus in on solid contact with the longer swings from 70-100 yards. I made some equipment decisions that should help me there, but I already know a number of holes where those distances are going to come into play for me and solid contact will be vital. I can think of two shots yesterday with the 9:00 swing that could have been very good if I'd made a little better contact. As it was, I still had a putt for par, but both were outside the range of being a reasonable make.

With all that is going on at the moment, this will likely be one of the two things I place most of my focus on in the coming weeks. The other being greenside and putting.
 
Worked on both of the above situations last night. I always find the most difficult thing about the really short swing is getting tempo down so I don't toss my hands at the ball. Smooth turn back and through works the best, but it just takes practice allowing myself to take that smaller move back and not let the hands take over. Just have to develop a little feel.
 
Hawk said:
Worked on both of the above situations last night. I always find the most difficult thing about the really short swing is getting tempo down so I don't toss my hands at the ball. Smooth turn back and through works the best, but it just takes practice allowing myself to take that smaller move back and not let the hands take over. Just have to develop a little feel.
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I struggle here but its a general struggle that is made more evident here. These small shots where I need to turn through I catch myself doing all arms way too much and I think thats the difference between this point last year and today. Going to keep grinding away as I know how important those tough shots are for folks that arent hitting GIR's like crazy
 
Something that has been helping me is to hit to an actual target instead of trying to execute the shot per the book. The technique seems to just happen this way, whereas without the target I'm thinking about where 7:00 is, etc., which leads to the tempo problems and/or not finishing high.
 
One thing that helps me is to think hip to hip - as in I want the shaft to stop (and not be flipped) right about hip level on my followthrough. I tend to actually keep the hands ahead of the ball that way.
 
For the shortest swing that is.
 
Hawk said:
One thing that helps me is to think hip to hip - as in I want the shaft to stop (and not be flipped) right about hip level on my followthrough. I tend to actually keep the hands ahead of the ball that way.
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yeah flipping is my kryptonite....my instructor says "STOP" doing it....I wish it was that easy
 
mikedean441 said:
yeah flipping is my kryptonite....my instructor says "STOP" doing it....I wish it was that easy
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Easier with anything less than a full swing for me, but yea. Blaah
 
Picked up this book about a month ago. I'm only using the 9:00 and 7:30 swings but my game inside 100yds has really improved. The 9 swing is getting pretty solid the 7:30 still needs some work.i can say that I've hit more shots from 60-100yds into that makable range in the last month than I prob have in the last year. So far it has been a big improvement for me
 
I haven't been a very good chipper but these techniques have helped a lot. In the last three rounds I've chipped in twice and left myself with more 2-4 footers than I can remember all of last year. I'm fired up to go out daily and build off of this!
 
Just wanted to say thank you to Hawk and the other contributors to this thread. I recently started working on the Pelz Short Game methods and reading this thread was so helpful. First I did the football field practice thing to record my distances, and have since had a few practice sessions at the range and a few holes near my house. Wow. Even after a little practice, I cannot believe how much more consistent this will make my short game from 20-100 yards. Before, I had no difference between hitting a green from 75 yards as 150 yards. Knowing which clubs and length backswing will produce X distance is a gamechanger. Plus, I've discovered the ball will naturally fade right a bit - i never took the time to diagnose which direction my ball flight went.

I tried a few bunker shots using the same 9 and 10:30 swings and had some nice shots too, but I need more practice.

The 1 area I still have not gotten consistency is greenside chipping - 5, 10, 15 yard chips. Struggling to decide on which methods to use in different lies, grasses and such.
 
Glad to hear it helped! I think having a baseline idea of how far you're hitting the ball with different swings can make a huge difference in the mid-handicappers game. It'll allow you some scoring opportunities on par5's and short par 4's. Even better though is that it can help your course management. Being able to lay up after you get in trouble and having confidence you'll put up a good shot is a big deal on those days that you're struggling off the tee. Can turn potential doubles into bogeys and the occasional par.
 
So I've changed my practice routine pretty substantially this spring and summer to really focus on Pelz and other short game stuff. I played 9 with my son the other day at a par 3 course. I shot +1 for the round. Obviously, that's not like playing Augusta or anything, but it is big for me - the closest I've come to playing even par anywhere, ever. I wasn't nearly as dialed in on distances with Pelz shots as I would have liked, but my misses were SO much better. Anyway, it should be somewhat obvious even to rockheads like me that we need to practice short game extensively...it was really nice seeing some validation from the work.
 
I did something similar last week Frank. While not a par 3 course, it was quite a bit shorter than other courses and I was able to devote some time to dialing in yardages. Finally figured out the difference between 9:00 and 10:30 and it's given me some more ability to control trajectory.
 
On the 7:30 swing, are you guys hinging your wrists any or keeping them steady? That shot seems tricky and harder to predict for me, esp. for PW and 50* wedge. With my 58* I can use it around greens on shots requiring high loft (like pitching over a bunker) if I hinge some. At first, I was not hinging my wrists and I don't know if that shot is very consistent, and it was only going 13-15 yards. I think I'm better off using a smooth chipping motion like Stan Utley advocates with a little body turn.
 
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