Dave Pelz — Guru of Pendicular Putting
by Rick Hendershot, Golf Swing
Theory, theWEG.com |
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Dave Pelz is the NASA scientist who became a famous
golf researcher, theorist and teacher of the short game. His book, Dave Pelz'
Putting Bible is a fantastically thorough and detailed study of every aspect
of the art and science of putting. If you haven't read (or at least scanned)
this (400 page!) book, you basically haven't lived.
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Here is a very brief summary of the main points of what I call
the "PPP" — the Pelzian Pendicular* Principle. This is taken from my much more
detailed study of Dave Pelz' Putting Bible, soon to be available in the Reports
Section.
The Science of Putting
In his search for the
perfect putting stroke, Pelz begins by assuming that "simpler is better" This,
he says, is "the one axiom that governs all my theories on putting." On the face
of it, this is pretty hard to dispute. Eliminate the variables. Instead of
having a whole bunch of moving parts (legs, hips, shoulders, head, arms, hands,
fingers) all of which have to be perfectly coordinated, try to have as few
moving parts as possible.
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Pelz
concludes that the simplest stoke is what he calls "The Pure Pendulum Stroke"
(PPS). He advocates that we turn our shoulders-arms-wrists-hands-fingers into a
kind of putting machine — what I'll call the PU or "putting unit". The best
putters — and he has studied a lot of them — know how to control the machine.
The putting unit theory implies that the only thing moving the club back
and forth is the force supplied by the "big muscles" of the back and shoulders.
The putting unit works like a pendulum with the putter head at the bottom of the
stroke — tick tock, back and forth, straight through. There is no wrist
movement, no force supplied by the hands or fingers. You know those old films
from the 40s, 50s, and 60s of guys like Arnie "popping" their putts with wrist
motion. Forget it. Unreliable. Too many variables.
Little muscles
vs Big Muscles
But wait a minute. Humans are not machines. Muscles
are not cables and gears. Isn't it too simplistic to say that moving this whole
unit back and forth in a steady and predictable way is a "simple" motion? Does
the putter head really just move back and forth along the line naturally in
response to the rocking motion of the "unit". Don't we actually have to exert
some effort to keep that putter head square, and going straight along the line?
In fact, couldn't it be argued that the old Arnie move is an even
simpler one — even a simpler pendulum movement? After all, if you could
eliminate back, shoulder and arm movement, and turn putting into just a popping
of the hands and wrists, wouldn't that be simpler, more controllable, have fewer
moving parts?
Not! according to Pelz. He claims that actions performed by
the small muscles of the hands are much too susceptible to the effects of
adrenaline. This makes them uncontrollable and unpredictable under pressure. The
Pelzian answer is to use "dead hands" and let your stroke be controlled by the
big muscles — which, I guess, are less impacted by adrenaline.
Whatever
you may think of the adrenaline argument (and I don't think much of it) Pelz
does helpfully point us in the direction of some basic facts gleaned from his
controlled observation of numerous golfers. Namely, that
- You have to LEARN how to be a good putter — how to make the
ball consistently roll where you want it to roll, and
- It is easier to learn and easier to be accurate and consistent
with a dead hands stroke than with a "pop" stroke (or, according to Pelz) any
other stroke.
In other words, the dead-hands-putting-unit-pendulum-stroke is
better because it is easier to learn and works better. And Pelz should know
because he has studied thousands of golfers' putting strokes, organized
competitions, and tested, tested, tested.
Rhythm is the key to
consistency
According to Pelz, the reason the Pure Pendulum Stroke is
superior is because it can be controlled. And the way it can be controlled is by
applying an objectively quantifiable standard of stroke speed. This is
determined by your personal rhythm. We all have one, according to Pelz. It is
reflected in the way we talk and move, and especially in the way we walk. And
certainly in the way we swing a putter.
Pelz suggests you test yourself
for your natural rhythm. Get a metronome and time your putting stroke back and
forth — say 12 inches back and 12 inches past the ball. Test it with different
length strokes, because it should be virtually the same for any (reasonable)
length of stroke. Once you have measured your natural rhythm, reinforce it by
practicing a rhythmic stroke. Groove that rhythm. Make it the basis for your
putting stroke. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, back and forth. Get rhythm
man...
And once you have it — here's the coup de grace — you should be
able to predictably control the length of your putts by controlling the length
of your stroke. There should be a direct correlation. 6" back, 6 feet out; 9"
back, 10 feet out (or whatever), etc., etc. All you have to do is chart the
numbers. Actually Pelz never quite says this about the putting stroke, but it is
clearly implied. And he certainly does say it in the Short Game Bible when
talking about varying the distance of your wedge shots.
Too good to be
true? You be the judge.
Pearls of Wisdom
If this isn't
persuasive enough to make you change your overall approach to putting; if you
still insist on steering your putts, or popping them, or cutting them with an
across the line stroke — well, Pelz still offers many pearls of wisdom that will
be helpful.
For instance, there is the famous Pelzian dictum that you
should hit your putts "17 inches past the hole". Where does this come from? It
involves the "lumpy donut" phenomenon — the fact that on well-played courses the
ground within 6 or 8 inches around the hole will be slightly higher than the
area out a bit further. Why? Because golfers trample the area around the hole,
but stay away from the inside 6 or 8 inches. This means the ball will tend to
fall away from the hole when it gets inside the "lumpy donut". The solution
(confirmed in many tests of course) is to hit your ball firmly enough that the
lumpy donut effect is minimized, but not so hard that you will have a low
percentage come backer. The magic number is 17 inches past the hole.
Or
there is Pelz' advice to keep the flag stick in when chipping from off the
green. This is not just personal preference. He has tested this type of
situation from all conceivable angles and concluded that the ball has a
statistically greater chance of going in the hole if the stick is left in (all
other things being equal, of course).
And there are his interesting
observations about reading greens. According to Pelz, 80 to 90 percent of putts
miss below the hole because virtually every golfer he has ever tested
underestimates the break. When asked to point out the break almost all golfers
see only about 30%, but when they actually putt, almost everybody makes a
subconscious "in-stroke correction" — in other words, they steer their putt
higher.
Sound familiar?
For a complete summary of Dave Pelz'
Putting Bible, see the Report Section (coming soon).
*I think my brother,
Dave, coined the term "pendicular". It couldn't have been me. |
