JTrout
06-15-2005, 10:12 AM
It was about 12 years ago that I went. But some things stuck.
1) the importance of acceleration
I knew it was important before, but Dave impressed upon me how essential it is in hitting solid shots. On 6 ft. downhill slick putts, and 40 ft. chips on firm, fast greens, and 40yd. pitches, acceleration is vital.
Like a car accelerating through a turn, it minimizes the negative effect of off-center hits and grass that gets between club and ball.
2) Putting Tempo
This surprised me. Because of his technical background, I didn't think Dave Pelz would rate the importance of this so highly. However, he spent alot of time with a metronome, learning the proper tempo for each player.
With a pendulum putting stroke, the 3 ft. putt should take the exact same time as the 50 ft. putt.
3) Putts break more than we think.
He proved this to my satisfaction. In general, if a putt breaks 3 ft. right, we say it breaks 1 ft., line up 2 ft. left, and pull it another foot. Consequently, we use a different stroke on left/right putts than right/left ones, making putting more difficult than it should be.
4) Proper Pace on Putts ...
is where your focus should be. We know this on lag putts, but discount the importance on shorter putts. Golfers of all levels have a STRONG tendency to leave uphill putts short, and knock downhillers too far by. This natural instinct must be overcome to putt at your best.
5) Less than full wedge shots require a different technique
I fought this idea the hardest. But my results proved it to myself. In a full shot, when trying to maximize clubhead speed, we build torque in the swing, and use our hands to maximize clubhead speed.
In the 1/2 wedges, we do not want torque, and we want to curtail clubhead speed. Our hips should turn app. as much as our shoulders, and there should be no effective release of the club.
Once I became comfortable with this (and it did take some time), the results were dramatic.
(did I say 5?)
6) the long putter is fundamentally better than the short putter
It's one lever. It' easy to swing in a pendulum fashion.
This was before belly putters and claw grips, but his data proved that people make significantly more putts using a long putter than using a short one. I hate this fact. But that doesn't make it untrue.
1) the importance of acceleration
I knew it was important before, but Dave impressed upon me how essential it is in hitting solid shots. On 6 ft. downhill slick putts, and 40 ft. chips on firm, fast greens, and 40yd. pitches, acceleration is vital.
Like a car accelerating through a turn, it minimizes the negative effect of off-center hits and grass that gets between club and ball.
2) Putting Tempo
This surprised me. Because of his technical background, I didn't think Dave Pelz would rate the importance of this so highly. However, he spent alot of time with a metronome, learning the proper tempo for each player.
With a pendulum putting stroke, the 3 ft. putt should take the exact same time as the 50 ft. putt.
3) Putts break more than we think.
He proved this to my satisfaction. In general, if a putt breaks 3 ft. right, we say it breaks 1 ft., line up 2 ft. left, and pull it another foot. Consequently, we use a different stroke on left/right putts than right/left ones, making putting more difficult than it should be.
4) Proper Pace on Putts ...
is where your focus should be. We know this on lag putts, but discount the importance on shorter putts. Golfers of all levels have a STRONG tendency to leave uphill putts short, and knock downhillers too far by. This natural instinct must be overcome to putt at your best.
5) Less than full wedge shots require a different technique
I fought this idea the hardest. But my results proved it to myself. In a full shot, when trying to maximize clubhead speed, we build torque in the swing, and use our hands to maximize clubhead speed.
In the 1/2 wedges, we do not want torque, and we want to curtail clubhead speed. Our hips should turn app. as much as our shoulders, and there should be no effective release of the club.
Once I became comfortable with this (and it did take some time), the results were dramatic.
(did I say 5?)
6) the long putter is fundamentally better than the short putter
It's one lever. It' easy to swing in a pendulum fashion.
This was before belly putters and claw grips, but his data proved that people make significantly more putts using a long putter than using a short one. I hate this fact. But that doesn't make it untrue.