Dave Pelz: “Studying the game”

Students in my short game schools ask all the time about how to hit high, soft shots. I tell them the first thing they should do is invest in a lob wedge. Let’s say you have 40 yards to a pin, and you have to carry a bunker with only a few yards of green to work with. You need the right tool — a lob wedge — to hit the ball high and land it softly enough to stop by the hole. The following is a collection of answers to the questions I hear most about lob wedges. Read the rest of this entry »

One green, three shots: Practice a varitey of different chips to improve your short-game versatility. Leonard Kamsler

The green on the 497-yard, par-5 16th hole at the TPC of Sawgrass in Florida would be a great place to hang out and practice your chipping. The setting is beautiful, but more importantly, the green’s design and location — water on two sides, rough, mounds and sand elsewhere — provide the opportunity to try many varieties of chips.

Learning the three shots I’m highlighting will help improve your chipping versatility. You’ve seen Tour pros skillfully play these shots in tournaments, including at the annual Players Championship at Sawgrass. With a little practice, you can play these shots too.

During his run to the Players title in 2002, Craig Perks holed a chip from on top of the heavy fringe, standing just inches from the water. Read the rest of this entry »

t’s a fact: High-handicap golfers need the short game more than good players do.

A popular misconception is that the worse you play golf, or the higher your handicap, the less you need a short game. Actually, the exact opposite is true. Which is why I say, “The poorer your game, the more wedges you need.” Read the rest of this entry »

What is the “worst shot” in golf? It’s the 40-yard wedge, and I have the evidence to prove it.

Photo by Sam Greenwood

Let’s start with a definition. By “worst shot,” I mean the one consistently executed with the least amount of success or accuracy. In my research over the years, I have measured the “error” for every shot in golf, with error being the distance the ball finishes from the pin divided by the shot’s original length. That means if a golfer hits a 9-iron from 100 yards and it finishes 20 feet (almost seven yards) from the hole, the Percent Error (PE) for that shot is about 7 percent. Hit 40 9-irons, average the PEs, and you come up with a Percent Error Index (PEI) for that shot and that player.

I’ve measured the PEIs of pros and amateurs on every kind of shot, from drives to putts. For drives and fairway woods, most pros average about 7 percent error; for irons, about the same; for wedges, about 15 percent; and for putting, 5 to 10 percent. Amateurs’ PEIs extend over a much wider range, of course, depending on their skill level. I’ve also measured many of the specialty short-game shots — greenside sand, chips, pitches, and so on. (Measuring the PEIs of all your shots is a wonderful way to determine your strong and weak areas and chart your progress. I highly recommend it.) Read the rest of this entry »

Most teaching professionals feel the grip is the most important fundamental in golf. I have two reasons for disagreeing with this classic belief.

First, in the short game — what I consider the most important part of golf — the grip shouldn’t be your main concern. My testing shows that when it comes to influencing success around the green, the grip falls behind alignment, ball position, and stability. As further evidence of the grip’s priority, look at a player like Paul Azinger, who has a great short game but a most unusual way of holding the club. Read the rest of this entry »