Customer Reviews

Dave Pelz's Putting Bible: The Complete Guide to Mastering the Green

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Dave Pelz is starting to tick me off. If you thought his "Short Game Bible" was demanding, wait until you see this book. In it he insists that the only route to improvement is to practice his "pils" stroke until you've done 20,000 repetitions. And that's just for starters. Call me wacky, but I find that downright discouraging. I'm as dedicated to improving my golf game as the next guy, but jeez I've got a job. I don't have all day every day to wire myself up with all of his feedback gadgets in order to have "meaningful" practice. In fact, by his standards my feeble practice sessions are only guaranteeing my mediocrity. He'd have me just quit. Interesting and illuminating scientific discoveries aside, no non-professional golfer could possibly follow his 15-point/47-rule improvement program. Hence, while I predict that every golfer on earth will buy Pelz's book (and most will give it a positive review), I also predict that no one will follow his advice.

Chock full of brilliant glimpses of the obvious. Only someone trained as an engineer could take a few basic principles and turn them into a 394 page book touting the importance of keeping something simple. After reading this you won't putt any better but you will know 125 reasons why you are missing. Dave proves that 78 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Once again, Dave Pelz reduces the game to mechanics and physics and ignores the most important aspect of good putting which is freeing your mind from the specific mechanics of the physical stroke.Having said that, this book is chock full of interesting facts, most of them completely useless to the average player who wants to improve his putting. Pelz's book does not address the fact that great putters such as Jones,George Low,Palmer,Stockton, Crenshaw and Faxon have utilized widely different strokes,grips and tempo.What they all had in common was a consistent pre-shot routine,tremendous feel,and supreme
confidence that they could hole every putt.
Readers looking for technical answers to better putting, which is the focus of this rather unorganized book are probably going to be disappointed.

I was excited to get this book after getting Pelz's Short Game Bible, which is excellent. This book , however, is quite different. While The Short Game Bible presents a clear and simple plan to improve, the Putting Bible does not. It's quite disorganized, in fact. What is particlarly annoying about the book is that you'll read in the first several chapters "...and we'll cover that later..." He just starts to get into a concept and then leaves it, claiming he'll come back to it in the later "technique chapters." It's just not a simple book to read and glean information from. I'd have to say that my putting did not improve as a result of the book, and that's partly my own fault. The problem is that Pelz makes it very easy to learn just enough to get you into trouble (i.e., forget how to putt), and then put the book down. Buy it, and especially read it - with great caution.

this nearly 400 page book is about 50% research, 30% motivational speech and 20% instruction, and most of the 20% instruction are drills we've seen before. although i think the research is important and at many times original, pelz & co need to spend more time coming up with insights and solutions based on that research that will help the golfer putt better, and in particular with a more conscise, practical and implementable program. one thing i found particularly annoying is that after making the investment in money and the substantial investment in time (reading nearly 400 pages) pelz places heavy emphasis on the importance of working with an instructor and that a lot of what he recommends can't be implemented on your own by simply following the instruction in the book. if that's the case, please tell us early in the book because when a book is labeled "the bible" it's easy for one to assume that it's complete and all you'll need.

but all criticism aside, i'm sure that golf nuts will want to read this for the many well researched tid bits. the less fanatical among us may want to skip it and stick with simpler, more anectodal works by harvey penick and bob rotella.

Dave Pelz can sure talk about what's wrong wih the way bad golfers putt, including some pros who don't seem too knowledgable even though they are highly regarded. But when you get down to brass tacks and ask what does Pelz have to say that is original about HOW to putt well, he essentially says use a shoulder motion and read more break and hit the ball so if it misses it stops 17 inches past the hole. (Yawn.) This book is just Putt Like the Pros lengthened but not even updated. There's really nothing new here that Pelz didn't say in 1986. And some of that is quite suspect, from a scientific point of view. For example, Pelz claims to have "proved" that his so-called 17-inch rule is the best for all types of grass, playing conditions, and putt lengths. However, anyone who read his original research report in 1977 in the July issue of Golf Digest will see his research proved just the opposite. There he claims he "proved" there is no one optimal speed; that the best speed varies with grass type and playing conditions; and that the best speed varies from as low as 5 inches to as high as 40 inches. The rest of Putt Like the Pros was not original at all. The ball roundness and balance testing comes from Golf Digest 1974, and Bob Charles. The so-called "lumpy donought" comes from Golf Digest in an article about the "volcano" around the hole. And so on throughout the book. Sure, Pelz helps bad golfers putt better -- practically ANY book on putting would help -- but that doesn't mean Pelz really knows much about HOW the human body makes the best putt possible. Try Rik DeGunther, Dave Stockton, George Low, and Todd Sones for that. Their books are available at Amazon.com too. These guys actually know something. Perhaps it's time to acknowledge that the Emperor has no clothes.

Book in good shape, very good, got it no problem despite postal strike in canada.
Thanks
André B.

What has been said already will give you an idea what to expect. What I will add is if you have a great curiosity for the game, if you have multiple putters and are always tinkering with your game, then this book is for you. It does an unparalelled job of explaining cause and effect, both in terms of the physics of the putting stroke and putting green. If you like to keep things simple, this book is not for you, but if you're a golf nerd...welcome to heaven.

If you want the simple putting advice, Dave has your message, and has the 10 minute series of book/video/TV show, etc.... If you want a shorter version of the theory behind his putting, then read Putt Like the Pros, though it's a little dated. If you want to know everything he thinks he knows, and all the the reasons behind it, get this putting book.

I think expecting something called the "Bible" to be a point form game improvement card is dubious thinking. On the other hand it's fair to state you can reduce the implementable part of your game to a few things: You don't need 20 000 strokes to pattern the pils stroke as well as your current stroke if your a hacker, because it's highly unlikely your current stroke has been repeated 20 000 times in a row. You should be able to get some advantage from pils from stroke one. What's the biggie.

I added a wedge, carried their 12 distances on a card and carried a laser range finder, and bingo got a huge lift out of the Short Game Bible. These books are easy to implement at a modest level, but you do have to read them first. Believe me, it's time better spent than reading Berhard Langers putting book!

I think the hacker needs to get into putting as much as the expert, but the thing is so many people cheat putting at the hacker level, picking up balls and all that, and not counting strokes that why bother practising when all is forgiven. If you play golf you need to know how to putt. Few people really play "golf" though.

One problem with all this stuff is course conditioning. Hack courses are "real" golf. Many great courses have pretty chunky greens. But PGA type course have awesome greens. This book is really for the great green type course, I've played places so bad you would be better to putt with your wedge. Tactics like putting from the fringe would be insane. Horses for courses.

To start, I would have to say that this book is easily the most detailed, most comprehensive book on putting ever written. Dave Pelz, the super-freak of golf, most definitely covers every aspect of putting that there is.

That having been said, as a big fan of Dave Pelz Short Game Bible, I was thinking that I would like this book just as much. Turns out I was wrong. The style that Pelz presents in the putting bible is not as clear as in the Short Game Bible, and he tends to ramble about certain things and repeat himself continually. I have adjusted some aspects of my putting and feel like I am a better putter after reading this book, but for some reason it did not grab me like the Short Game Bible did.

I would strongly recommend this book for two types of people: VERY serious golfers who are planning on dedicating a large amount of time to improving their putting, and people who consider putting to be their favorite part of golf. For the rest of us, it's not a great read, but can still help any golfer become a much more adept player on the greens.