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How many here have 1)read, 2)practiced and 3)incorporated Dave Pelz's short game using the 7:30, 9:00, and 10:30 swing strategies?

Question 2: How many people use LASER (specifically) range finders? If so, do you notice how non-laser-users tend to think that when they are close, 60-100, they tend to think they are closer, 30-70?

100 yards and in you shouldn't need a gimmick or someone else's strategies. It is all feel
and touch. This is where the player in you will show. Go with your gut feeling select a club and shot type and believe in yourself.

+1 Bob. Dave Pelz has helped a lot of people (famous people too), but his approach is kind of robotic to me. Of course, 100 yards on in is where my problems lie, so maybe I should be a little more regimented.

I agree with the above posters completely.

I understand Pelz's clock system and it makes sense if I could take the club back at the same speed, swing into the ball at the same speed, and have the wedge's angle the same way for each swing, but I do not. I am not a robot with my golf swing. If I played every other day, maybe I would, but I don't think many people are robots either.

I have only started to swing the less than 100 yd shots with dead hands and I have seen dramatic pitching improvements this year.

I still find that my body and mind tell me how far back to go and how relatively hard to swing and even how open my club will be. I know what needs to happen and I am just trying to execute that vision. I wish I could say it was automatic, but it is not right now. My first goal is to take the hands out of the shot. Maybe next year (after enough reps) I can start using Pelz's clock system.

I used to make pitch shots with dead hands. Lately I have found that a slight wrist cock will help you to put more trajectory and spin on the ball.

Agree with the above poster, under 100 yards and it should all be about picturing the shot

In direct reply to PerroToro (BullDog en Espanol -- I like it!) I have been working on using Dave Pelz's sugestions re: 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 backswing and have begun to ( about 80+% of the time) hit my 30 to 70 yard wedge shots stiff. I expect to be within 10 feet and don't feel too happy unless they are about 4 or 5 feet or so. The KEY is use the exact same tempo and power of a nice full wedge shot, just shorten the backswing! ALSO, you MUST follow through as if you had made a normal swing. If you STAY DOWN through the shot, the ball will have wonderful backspin and often will virtually sit in it's ballmark. Feel is critical to the golf game, but one day it's here, the next day it can be gone ------ Pelz's system works well almost ALL the time.
I have also enjoyed using a rangefinder (Bushnell) for years and always ask my playing partners "what do you think the yardage is?" Sometimes they are spot on, other times way off. There is NOTHING so WONDERFUL as knowing EXACTLY how far you didn't hit the ball!

best post ive seen in days..


good post Bob

I have to agree with "deaninsb's" comments about feel coming and going. My golfing buddy is a feel player that doesn't worry about yardages or mechanics. Despite his being a much better ball striker, I beat him almost every time out. I have a more mechanical swing, but also a more consistent swing. If my swing is off, I can go back to basic fundamentals and will still keep the ball in play. If swing is off the ball can go anywhere, and it takes him sometime to work out the problem.

Totally disagree...feel has it's place but I have meticuliosly mapped my 9 and 10:30 swings (7:30 isn't consistent enough) for my 4 wedges and have a fair idea of where the ball is landing from 100 on in...

BTW I handicap 6.4...the Pelz system is for real, but it took about 18 months of practice for the results to become consistent...inside of 30 yds I go completely by feel and go with my gut...

I think people are taking Bob's statements the wrong way.

To me, Bob is saying that you have to trust your swing and instincts on these 10, 30, 50, 70 yard shots and stay committed. This is as important as technique.

You know how to throw a baseball 10, 30, and maybe even 50 yards without needing a clock reference. The same principles apply in golf shots like these. You just need to practice them, so that you have confidence and trust yourself.

Pelz indicates take yardage measurements from these clock times (7:30, 9, 10:30) and then adjust based on your actual yardage to your target. If my 60 yd shot demands 9:00 and my target is 66 yards away, I should swing a little past 9 and less than 10:30. Bob is saying his body knows this backswing length without writing it down on a piece of paper.

If people need a clock reference to help them on these shots, great. Bob is saying that his touch and body know when he has gone back enough and how hard to swing at the ball based on his vision of the shot and lie of the ball. That's my interpretation.

Not taken the wrong way at all...I just disagree...
Of course you need to trust your swing and your gut...in fact I mutter this as a part of my preshot routine...however, with ALOT of practice to overcome the robotic feel that exists initally, much of that done w/o a ball, you can groove these backswing distances and make them as smooth as you want...then you chart the distances, and as Pelz says, if you know that a shot is going to give you about 66 yds, you can adjust with a little longer or shorter backswing, or gripping up or down on the club...feel is good and I would consider myself a feel player...however if practiced to the point of comfortably grooving this, it is very effective and I am disappointed if I am outside of 10 feet from 100 in...Bob can say what he likes but does he knock it stiff consistently? Feel is great, but feel with a framework is even better...

Read several of Pelz’s books, and the theory behind his short game 7:30, 9:00 and 10:30 swings is a sure fired way to perfect a good short game. BUT a few problems come into play for the ordinary smuck who’d like to use it with his game.

1. Pelz’s book states that he used tour pro’s to perfect this theory, taking about two weeks of concentrated effort to finally perfect this theory. How many of you have two weeks to spend on a driving range to perfect yours.
2. where do I find a driving range with accurate yardage markers?
3. where do I find a driving range that will let a buddy stand out on the range for a couple of hours, to mark down the yardages I hit?

Pelz assumes that every golfer has access to a first class golf facility, where they can have exclusive use of putting greens and driving ranges. The course I belong to, has on average 10 to 15 guys whacking away on the range at any given time, and unfortunately the yardage markings are suspect. Now all I have to do is outfit a buddy in a suit of armor or wire cage, so that he can stand on the range and not get killed. The idea is great, the facilities to carry it out are the problem. Unfortunately I fall into the “Feel” category, so times I’m short, sometimes long and hopefully most of the time I’m in the ballpark. The problem with feel is, unless you have an innate ability to judge distances, its going to be a bit of luck when you play a different course.

I agree with bump. Mechanics become feel at some point. The clock positions are just reference points with which to start your practice and develop distance control.

I'll offer one other piece of advice...learn what distances are "money" for you...for instance I love 93 yds, 56 yds, 41 yds and will try to lay up or punch out to these distances...