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Few figures will ever make golf a more important second act in their careers than Dave Pelz.
The legendary instructor, author and inventor passed away Sunday at his Texas home from complications from prostate cancer. He was 85 years old.
Pelz played college golf at Indiana University, where he majored in physics and minored in mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. On the course, he competed against Jack Nicklaus and other mid-century greats throughout his four years. When faced with the knowledge that his playing ability wasn't going to make a living, Pelz pivoted. From 1961 to 1975, he worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and was part of teams that collaborated with other countries on their own space satellite programs.
But golf eventually called back out to Pelz, and his dual backgrounds in the game and science led him to investigate the golf swing, searching for new ways to approach it in the pursuit that is common to everyone who plays: lower scores.
Pelz was one of the first teachers to hone in on the short game as a source of improvement for his eventual students, which included professionals like Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and others, plus countless rank-and-file golfers who have attended his Dave Pelz Scoring Game Schools over the decades. A video of Mickelson hitting a full-swing flop shot over Pelz's 6-and-a-half-foot frame went viral before "going viral" was a thing.
He taught me how to think, how to listen, and he brought so much life to my game. Dave Pelz (DP) was and is the best coach I ever had.
Two of Pelz's books have become part of the golf instruction canon. In 1999, he published Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible, which has practically lived up to its title in the minds of the countless golfers who have owned it over the years. Published the following year, Dave Pelz's Putting Bible sold more than 150,000 copies in 12 months. Both works are full of techniques and information that millions of golfers have internalized ever since, including the revelation that proper putting speed requires the ball to be rolling fast enough to reach a spot 17 inches past the cup.
Pelz was also one of the greatest modern-age inventors and innovators in golf equipment and training aids. His first patent came in 1976, for the TrueRoller, a device to measure the break of putts of varying lengths. In 1980, he built the first 60-degree lob wedge, a club that now resides in millions of golf bags. In 1985, he debuted a putter at The Open Championship with three golf balls set behind the face, and would ultimately patent the design of the Odyssey 2Ball model that revolutionized mallet putters 16 years later. In 1988, he patented quick-change golf club hosel technology, a version of which is present at every golf club fitting studio nowadays. When Lee Janzen won the 1998 U.S. Open, he credited Pelz's Elevated AimLine teaching aid with helping him to victory. A dozen years later, after his third Masters victory, Phil Mickelson cited Pelz's Blind Glasses as part of his preparation.
At a time when massive earnings in golf have never been more conspicuous, Dave Pelz stands out as someone who, though well-known in his own time, contributed far more to people's enjoyment of golf than he reaped in rewards. His mix of intelligence, curiosity and pioneering spirit have enriched the golf lives of millions, and his legacy should extend far into a future he helped create.
2 essential Dave Pelz golf tips
Our extensive archive includes several tips from Dave Pelz, available exclusively to GofPass Video and GolfPass+ members. Here are two of them, free to view:
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