What Dave Pelz Knows That You Don't + Try the "Death Drill" to Improve Your Chipping

TIPS & DRILLS
Try the “Death Drill,” as Described by the Short Game Chef
Learn to stay “connected” around the greens

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To Recap…

The Short Game Chef (a.k.a. Parker McLachlin) is a former PGA Tour Winner, a contributor to Golf Digest, and a coach to Pros like Collin Morikawa and Keith Mitchell. He believes firmly that “anyone can chip” “with the proper instruction. And if you’re someone who has never quite understood what it means to keep your body and club “connected”, this drill will make it abundantly clear right away. Most folks will place an alignment stick under their lead arm when practicing, but the “death drill” requires you place it under the trail arm:

-STEP 1: Hold an alignment stick at one end in your rear hand and run the top of the stick up through your rear armpit.
-STEP 2: Grab the wedge you’re most comfortable with around the green, and take your normal grip, maintaining your grip with the alignment stick at the same time. There should be a slight angle created between your club and the alignment stick (i.e. they should not be on the same plane).
-STEP 3: It will be rather impossible to get “handsy” with this drill. So hit a few dozen practice chips, and ingrain the feeling of rotating your torso to achieve that crisp, clean contact we all desire.

NOTE: To prevent falling backwards, you’ll definitely want 2/3 of your weight on your front foot, with your shoulders parallel with the slope of the terrain.

PRO TIP. As Parker notes in the Instagram post, this is just one way for you to control your trail arm through the chipping motion. There are other methods, but even if you hate this drill set-up, you can still benefit from the “connection” it creates between your body and the club.

COURSES
The Backyard Practice Facility of Dave Pelz… Just Wow
Signature holes, challenges of all varieties and the best part, no mowers needed

The Backyard of Dave Pelz
Dripping Springs, TX

Dave Pelz resides with his wife in the foothills of Austin, TX. It’s a quaint ranch home with a nice pool and a basketball court and plenty of space and privacy for the couple. And it just so happens to have the best short game facility you might ever come across in your entire life. Seriously, there are 5-star championship golf resorts that are jealous of Dave’s backyard.

At first, Dave wanted to build out a single practice hole with the most realistic synthetic turf he could find. He spent months searching and finally settled on SYNLawn’s product, and he even developed a proprietary underlayer with them to simulate the feel and receptiveness of a real bermuda or bentgrass green. It took nearly a year of planning and another year of construction. But the end result is glorious.

In addition to dedicated distance control chipping and sand areas with 3 different turf heights, Pelz modeled 8 different holes after some of his all-time favorites. There’s the famed island green 17th at Sawgrass, the 13th & 14th holes at Augusta (complete with a rendition of Rae’s Creek), the 13th & 17th holes at Pebble Beach, the Road Hole at St. Andrew’s, and a dual green split by a bunker inspired by Whistling Straights. And as Dave says, “I can putt… with my skivvies on. I don't have to dress for anybody.” Imagine that, walking alongside Rae’s Creek wearing nothing but your boxers and carrying a couple of clubs and a cup of coffee. That’d make even the real members of Augusta envious.

Rates: Full day lessons with Dave are said to run ~$20,000 (and you’ll need to be a close personal contact to get on his backyard course), but if you want to do a group lesson with him at one of his partner resorts, a 2-day school comes in at $2,095.

Check out this overview from the Golf Tips Youtube channel…

STATISTICS
Stat of the Day: Using Data, Where Would Dave Pelz Choose to Focus When Coaching Amateurs?
presented by…

The Stat: In a typical amateur round of 96, a golfer will hit 40 putts, 21 woods & hybrids, 14 irons, 19 wedges and take 2 penalties (see video HERE).

The Takeaway: One might think that Pelz would choose to focus on putting, since 40 of 96 shots happen on the putting green (2.22 putts per hole). But his logic is that if you can get your wedges closer, you’ll naturally have fewer putts. In the video, he states (nearly verbatim), “If you hole the 19 wedges, you’ll save 40 putts,” which honestly is an absurd statement.

But the principle holds true- if you hit your wedge shots to 10 feet on average instead of 25 feet, you’ll have far fewer 3-putts and perhaps a few chances at a 1-putt.

TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Club Glove College Traveler Protective Travel Bag
(1 winner chosen on 10/31/24 across all October trivia entries, 1,000 correct respondents minimum)

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