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.

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.

Pelz leads you somewhat laboriously through all the whys and hows of putting. I like this kind of information because I want to understand and be able to do. This satisfies my intellectual curiousity and gives me greater confidence that I can pull off the shots automatically without having to think too much about them.

He then details equally detailed guides to exercises designed to improve your putting. He is also honest in the sense that he readily acknowledges to truly learn his system will probably take years of diligent work on your part.

The book is great however it could have been signicantly better with little additional work. Namely Pelz please please include an index in your future books. A simple index would make finding little tidbits easy instead of the current search to find the information you need. It would only take a few extra pages and a computer could do the indexing work for you quickly............PLEASE!

We are looking at lots and lots of pages - the detail is huge. However, the style is really annoying, lots of gems hidden within David's rambling style - such inconsiderate loquacious communication. I gave up; the effort was not worth the reward for the high handicapper that I am.

If you count yourself a good golfer, it may be worth the investment. For example while sitting behind hole #8 during the Champions competition in Houston, I saw most of the pros putts missed the hole down slope; they had under read the slope as David predicts they will. Some of those guys need to read this!

If you are looking at this book and are not very confident of your golf game, I recommend that you get instead "The Scrambler's Dozen : The 12 Shots Every Golfer Needs to Score Like the Pros" The chapter on putting in this recommends that you only look at the line of your putt from ?3 directions instead of the 7 or was it 9 different perspectives that David recommends. With the way I play golf, looking at my putting line from anything more than from 3 directions is ... well just a pretentious waste of time.

If your handicap is lower than the average number of stars that this book scores, buy it. Otherwise look elsewhere.

The best way to use this book is during the off season at home. Get some of the practice devices (or make your own) and practice a little each day. Since about half of your strokes in a typical round are done with the putter, practicing the way Pelz advocates should pay off big dividends for the time invested.

I highly recommend this book for any golfer wanting to improve their game.

Jack Eason Rowe, Ph.D., author of Energy Psychology and the Yips Cure and Prevention.

One big "Hmmmmm" for me was when he proved that Plum Bobbing doesn't tell you anything. I always remember asking people to explain Plum Bobbing to me and they never could, they just showed me how to hold the putter vertically in front of my eyes. Hence, I assumed that I was stupid for not understanding Plum Bobbing. But Dave's research, which included interviewing both pros and amateurs alike, reveals that know one can tell you exactly what their accomplishing by Plum Bobbing!

Once again, if your not up for studying a long book to overhaul your putting, then try another book. Sometimes it's frustrating because you have to read a paragraph a couple of times before you understand what he's talking about. But I've rated this book because it is really going to help me. Seem's like the type of book you want to spend about 2 months studying before getting results

I was a good putter before reading this and now I feel Dave Pelz has opened my eyes to significant improvements in putting. The game deserves this kind of study and I'd like to commend Mr. Pelz for writing what will certainly be an instant classic. I can't wait to start "The Short Game Bible".

I believe almost anyone could and would improve his game by following the Pelz dogma.

The only thing missing is a putter and a ball.

Pelz defines break, grain, slope, and all the other factors that affect putting, and he reviews all the known, USGA allowed putting styles. His conclusion is that George Archer's putting style, the pure pendulum motion with dead aim at the cup, is the best, most repeatable way to put the ball in the hole.

And the rest of the book is a description of a thousand and one (I exaggerate) different practice exercises to learn the pendulum swing, including different and expensive thingamajigs you can buy to help you perform the exercises. A little ingenuity will reveal ways to perform every exercise except the one that requires a laser with much simpler items.

Despite these cavils, I recommend this book to everyone who wonders about the mechanics of putting.

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.

Here is almost 400 pages which he admits is like giving the notebook of all his experience studying, analyzing, researching and compending what he has gleaned about this most vital part of the game.

Great stuff on grips and stance and swing and equipment. Significant to golfers is his research on break. What we see in our heads about break is not what is actually there.

The sections "Develop Your Artistic Senses (Fee, Touch, Green-Reading)" and "Face Your Special Problems" I find particularly revelatory for my game.

There is so much in this massive tome on the subject. You'll benefit from its purchase and application to your work on the moss.

Others have said that he's hawking his improvement gadgets in this book. Maybe, maybe not. The fact is, getting feedback on the things he has shown to be important is not easy. You can make the gadgets yourself. They won't be as pretty, but there's not rule saying you must buy them from him. He's simply adding another resource for those who want the convenience.

Note - this is not for those looking for a few tips, band-aids, or just some feel-good words to make you feel better about yourself. This is serious game-improvement stuff. If you just want to daydream about being a better putter, get a putting book by one of the other guys. If you REALLY want to be a better putter, get this and get to work!

If you have this book, you don't need "Putt Like The Pros", as this has everything that has and then some.

This is simply the best book to improve your putting that has ever been written.

Let me give you an example. I recently played in Southern California after a rain-soaked night. The greens were dripping. My opponent said "I wonder how hard to hit it through this water." And I quoted from this book. He made his putt, and so did I. In fact, the highlight of the round was a tricky 23 foot birdie putt. Thank you, Dave Pelz!

I have taken Dave Pelz's short game course, so I didn't know how much this book would help me. So I came to this book thinking, this will be a good refresher. That was right, but the insights I got from this book exceeded all that I learned in that course about putting.

The book explains the engineering approach that Pelz has brought to putting. He measures everything he can think of. The beginning explains key concepts of green problems -- like the raised donut around the hole where no one steps (the rest of the green is downtrodden by thousands of footsteps daily).

The next section explains the 15 building blocks of putting -- like aim, path, touch, rhythm, ritual, feel, face angle, stability, attitude, and routine.

Then Pelz puts special attention on speed and reading the green. Chapter 7 on green reading was worth the price of the book alone. He answered questions I have asked dozens of pros, and received no good answers to.

Then, he describes how to use these basics to improve your putting. I have been using a number of these for the last several years, and can certainly attest that they work.

Each point is beautifully explained. He has photographs of great players, graphs of experiments he has conducted, graphs of research he has done with average and great players, and diagrams of what to do and not to do. The language is simple and unambiguous.

For the average golfer, this book can take 4-6 strokes off your game. It will mean winning a lot of weekend bets.

One of the book's great strengths is that it starts with the thinking that most people have about putting that gets them in trouble. He helps you identify your stalled thinking that holds back your putting, and then shows you how to break out of the stall and develop an improved habit.

If you have a father, grandfather, uncle, brother, or son who is a father and plays golf, this is the perfect gift for Father's Day. I took the liberty of giving a copy to myself as my Father's Day gift this year. Maybe it will help me win the Father's Day golf tournament!

Keep in mind that in the average round you'll make more putts than you will tee shots, fairway shots, or finesse shots around the green. Get better at putting, and your score can really improve! A two foot putt and a 300 yard drive count for the same on the score -- one stroke.

Enjoy your putting game the most!

I think my favorite section of this book is that which deals with reading the green. After reading that chapter I honestly feel I dropped 3 or 4 more putts in my next round, that I never would have sank the week before. (So I suppose just reading this book CAN takes strokes off your game!) And there you have it. Stop reading reviews and grab this book ASAP! Read it, practice, and have fun. And who knows, maybe in a few years, we'll see you on tour! Good Luck!

This is simply the best book to improve your putting that has ever been written. It's a 2,000 percent solution!

I had the pleasure and honor of attending Dave Pelz's short game school a few years ago. I became interested in the school after playing golf with a woman in Palm Springs who had just finished the school, and kept putting the ball within 10 feet of the cup from 40-100 yards out. Naturally, I was impressed and wanted to learn how to do that.

Boy, was I surprised by the school. I thought I was a good putter, and I certainly could putt better than most of the people in the class when we started. In fact, I qualified for the regionals of the World Championship of Putting that year. During the instruction, I was diagnosed with over 60 weaknesses in my putting. I still keep the notes, and review them before almost every round.

So I came to this book thinking, this will be a good refresher. That was right, but the insights I got from this book exceeded all that I learned in Dave Pelz's short game school about putting. Since that course cost over $2,000 for 3 days and half the material was on putting, I figure this book is worth over $1,000. Run, don't walk to buy it!

The book explains the engineering approach that Pelz has brought to putting. He measures everything he can think of. The beginning explains key concepts of green problems -- like the raised donut around the hole where no one steps (the rest of the green is downtrodden by thousands of footsteps daily).

The next section explains the 15 building blocks of putting -- like aim, path, touch, rhythm, ritual, feel, face angle, stability, attitude, and routine.

Then Pelz puts special attention on speed and reading the green. Chapter 7 on green reading was worth the price of the book alone. He answered questions I have asked dozens of pros, and received no good answers to.

Then, he describes how to use these basics to improve your putting. I have been using a number of these for the last several years, and can certainly attest that they work.

Each point is beautifully explained. He has photographs of great players, graphs of experiments he has conducted, graphs of research he has done with average and great players, and diagrams of what to do and not to do. The language is simple and unambiguous.

For the average golfer, this book can take 4-6 strokes off your game. It will mean winning a lot of weekend bets.

One of the book's great strengths is that it starts with the thinking that most people have about putting that gets them in trouble. He helps you identify your stalled thinking that holds back your putting, and then shows you how to break out of the stall and develop an improved habit.

If you have a father, grandfather, uncle, brother, or son who is a father and plays golf, this is the perfect gift for Father's Day. I took the liberty of giving a copy to myself as my Father's Day gift this year. Maybe it will help me win the Father's Day golf tournament!

Keep in mind that in the average round you'll make more putts than you will tee shots, fairway shots, or finesse shots around the green. Get better at putting, and your score can really improve! A two foot putt and a 300 yard drive count for the same on the score -- one stroke.

Hit 'em all in the cup!