FanHouse DavePelz

Dave Pelz played golf at Indiana University, and his 0-22 record against the chubby towheaded kid from Ohio St. probably convinced him that his future wasn't as a professional golfer. Instead, the physics major applied the scientific method to the short game and even able to make a career out of it.

In general, traditionalists view outsiders with skepticism. Particularly eggheaded outsiders whose views are anything but traditional. But now, some four decades later, Pelz's methods are widely accepted, he's often called a guru, and he serves as Phil Mickelson's short-game coach.

No idea if Pelz can hit a reverse flop shot, but this might be more impressive: draining a 200-foot putt. Moving pictures after the jump.

Word on the street has Tiger Woods making his triumphant return to the PGA Tour as soon as February, which must've been wonderful news for arch-nemesis Phil Mickelson. No, seriously. You see, the world's No. 3 player admits that he pines for those halcyon days of watching Woods blow away an entire field while everybody watched on helplessly.

"The entire golf world cannot wait for his return. I miss him as a player. I miss him as a person. And I miss trying to track him down because that is always a great challenge."

Lefty does admit that he blew a great opportunity to make up ground on the hobbled Woods last season, and has spent much of the winter trying to rectify his putting woes. I blame his short-game coach and resident egghead, Dave Pelz. Honestly, Philbert doesn't need fancy-pants gadgets, he needs to quit doing stuff like this. I'm pretty sure there isn't a golf robot on the planet that can fix Lefty's above-the-neck issues.

Whatever, Mickelson could still make a dent in Tiger's lead early next year. Despite Mark O'Meara's proclamations, it's not clear when Woods will actually return, and even when he does, you'd have to expect him to be rusty. I know, this is Tiger we're talking about, but between caddying and building golf courses, there hasn't been a lot of time for working on his game.

Which means we should only expect him to win one major in 2009. And definitely no more than two.

You guys remember Phil Mickelson, right?

He's the guy that didn't have a driver in his bag at this year's U.S. Open, has instituted the two-driver philosophy in tournaments and ever set out for 18 holes with five wedges in his bag.

Well, in a story that makes "Kennedy Killed" look like a San Diego weather report, Lefty isn't sure of what clubs he plans on using at the British Open, which begins on Thursday.

"Phil has 19 clubs," said his short game coach, Dave Pelz, "and he'll decide what to put in and what to take out depending on the weather on Thursday. But he'll probably go with four wedges."

The story reports that Mickelson will have a driver, just one, in the bag to attack Royal Birkdale and will be between a 2-iron and a hybrid iron, depending on the wind. Surprisingly, no mashie or niblit were mentioned.

Also noteworthy is the mention that Pelz thinks if Mickelson could start finding the short grass, he'll be the best player in the world.

"Phil Mickelson has the best short game I have ever seen," Pelz said. "No question.

The day Phil Mickelson starts driving it in the fairway, he's going to be the best player in the world," Pelz added.

It's easy to second-guess after the fact. When Phil Mickelson decided to leave his driver at home for the first two days of the U.S. Open -- all 7,600 yards of it -- I supported the decision. The media is forever lamenting Lefty's reckless style, and eagerly point to the 2006 U.S. Open as proof. So for the world's second-best player to take a conservative approach was, if nothing else, a refreshing change.

Unfortunately, the strategy blew up in his face. Which, of course, leads to third- and fourth-guessing. GolfWeek's James Achenbach takes the kids-gloves approach to Mickelson's master plan, which was nice of him, but the facts pretty much do all the talking.

Using his strong 3-wood (11.5 degree) off the tee during the first two rounds, Mickelson hit 6 of 14 fairways each day. For the final two rounds, with his driver back in the bag, he hit 6 and 7 fairways, respectively. His total, finding 25 of 56 fairways (44.64 percent) for the tournament, tied for last in the field.

As Dave Pelz, Philbert's short-game guru and the man behind the no-driver, five-wedge attack plan, pointed out, "The strategy is based on Phil hitting his ball in the fairway. If he doesn't, the strategy doesn't necessarily work."

Assuming John Daly's professional (non-Hooters) career is over, I think it's safe to say that Phil Mickelson is the second-most popular golfer on the PGA Tour after Eldrick Woods. So it must be with great pain and anguish for many fans to watch the one-man, driver-less, five-wedge train wreck also known as Lefty play himself right out of the 108th U.S. Open.

It all started on Thursday, when Mickelson, at the behest of his short-game coach, Dave Pelz, left his driver in the trunk, went with an 11.5-degree strong 3-wood, and also carried five wedges. In theory, I liked the move; after the 2006 U.S. Open, when Phil gifted the win to Geoff Ogilvy, it seemed like a perfectly rationale move.

But if that's your strategy, it helps to, you know, find the fairway off the tee. Otherwise, you're now 50 yards behind your playing partners -- in the rough -- and routinely looking at 220-yard second shots to par 4s. It's a tough way to win an Open.

Mickelson began Saturday's round 4-over, not out of contention, but teetering. He went out in 36, parred 10, 11 and 12, and then came to the 539-yard par 5, 13th. A perfect birdie-or-better opportunity if there ever was one. And then, as the YouTube's above so painfully document, disaster struck.

We've devoted hours to poking fun at the world's most cuddly golfer, Phil Mickelson. Between the perma-smiles, the spontaneous growth spurts, the self-inflicted meltdowns and the three major victories, Philbert is always interesting.

His strategy heading into the 108th U.S. Open, played on the course he grew up on, Torrey Pines, was to avoid the rough, play from the fairway, make pars, and see where he ends up come Sunday.

After his short-game coach and resident PGA Tour egghead Dave Pelz consulted his compu-machine, he advised Phil to leave the driver in the car, and stock his bag with wedges. Five of them.

Anyone remotely familiar with Pelz knows he's a big proponent of scoring from 100 yards and in, and instead of trying to hit five different shots with one wedge, why not use five?

So Mickelson carried five wedges during yesterday's round and in place of his driver, he had an 11.5-degree 3-wood. In theory, I liked the game plan:

I had heard this awhile back and just dismissed it as baseless speculation. After a quick Altavista search, I learned that Phil Mickelson confirmed it on his website: at age 37, he's still growing.

This prompted that gossipy anonymous PGA Tour player to take a few jabs at Philbert in his U.S. Open "Preview" for Golf.com:

If a U.S. Open is ever going to fall into Phil Mickelson's lap (usually they seem to fall out of his lap), this is the one. ...

Plus, now that Phil is an inch taller, he's even more formidable. Yeah, the other players were laughing last month when Phil said he went to a longer putter because all the stretching and workouts he's been doing caused him to grow an inch. That's Phil being Phil. First of all, who's even measuring himself at age 37? Are his pants suddenly an inch short?

Hysterical. Probably because everybody reading this is nodding along knowingly. Mr. Anon does admit that "nobody [on tour] has a problem with him, but other players simply can't relate." And I think that's right; Mickelson seems like a swell guy, but I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that he kept random human body parts in his basement freezer. He's harmless in a serial killer sorta way.

I'm exaggerating, of course; Mickelson has a beautiful family, and the Phil and Amy Mickelson Charitable Foundation is extremely active.

Earlier this week, FanHouse's Stephanie Stradley reported on her visit to the Dave Pelz short game school. For those of you who don't know Pelz, he's an egghead-turned-golf instructor/scientist, and he happens to be Phil Mickelson's short-game Deepak Chopra.

As Stephanie points out, one of the things Pelz has discovered in his Frankenstein golf labs is that putts have the best chance of going in if they're struck with enough pace to end up 17 inches past the hole. He also stresses carrying four wedges, and at least one having 64 degrees of loft.

I don't think I know one amateur with a 64-degree wedge in their bag, but I also don't know anybody who regularly breaks 80, either. Might be a correlation there.

Anyway, Golf Digests' Local Knowledge blog has this tidbit that reinforces Pelz's logic:

Also noteworthy are the nine players carrying wedges with more than 60 degrees of loft to aid in the finesse shots necessary around Augusta National's greens. Among the high-lofted group are Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and J.B. Holmes, all with 64-degree wedges, and Stewart Cink, who added a 62-degree model.

Apparently, Tiger Woods has put the 2-iron back in the bag this week (he's been going mostly with a 5-wood for a couple of years now), and Bubba Watson is only playing with one wood -- a driver.

Phil MIckelson knows how important his short game is. Since working with short-game guru Dave Pelz, Mickelson has won three majors. Check out this article about how Pelz was able to help Mickelson, and some basic tips he gives all golfers.

I've been to two of the Pelz one-day local short game schools, and the first time I took one, it lowered my handicap by 4 strokes. They claim that isn't unusual for a mid to high handicapper. I haven't been able to test out the results of my recent second short game course because of too much blogging, not enough practice.

Last week, I was able to see one of Pelz's tips in action at the Shell Houston Open. I was talking to someone at the range, and a local pro asked if anyone had a camera. I had one, so we raced in a cart to the private chipping area side of the range, and there was Brad Faxon talking to Phil Mickelson while Mickelson was hitting short pitch shots.

Someone oohed about a shot that went to inches before the cup, and Mickelson looked up, smiled and replied:

"Yeah, but it didn't go 17 inches past the hole."