Dave Pelz Golf's foremost authority on the short game and putting, launched his new scoring game school at Killeen Castle. As well as launching the new facility, Dave Pelz took time out from the run up to the open championship to take a few select guests through the secret to success in the short game.

Complementing the Jack Nicklaus designed signature championship course, which will be open for play in late Spring, 2008, and which has already been nominated as venue for the 2011 Solheim Cup women's golf match between the USA and Europe; the first Dave Pelz Scoring Game School to be built outside America is scheduled to open in Summer 2008.

Golf's foremost authority on the short game and putting ---- Majors winners’
Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Mike Weir are among his full time pupils---- Dave Pelz has committed his working life to research and teaching golf. With his uniquely analytical approach to the game, the former NASA scientist has demonstrated that improving golf skills within 100 yards of the hole is the fastest route to lowering handicaps and getting more enjoyment from the game.

Thousands of amateur golfers attend the popular Dave Pelz Scoring Game Schools and Clinics across the United States every year and also tune in to the "Dave Pelz Scoring Game Shows'' which have been running on The Golf Channel since 1995. In addition, he has produced countless instructional books, videos and DVDs.

The influential American magazine Golf Digest recently named Pelz as one of the 25 most influential golf instructors of the 20th Century.

Announcing details of this exclusive golfing resource at Killeen Castle, Mr. Brian Wallace, on behalf of the Directors, said:

"It is another significant milestone in the emergence of the Killeen Castle golf, hotel and residential development that the World’s foremost short game golfing guru should select our project for the site of the first Dave Pelz Scoring Game School outside of the USA.

We are deeply honoured that this unique amenity in Irish golf will augment Killeen Castle’s Jack Nicklaus designed signature course, along with the luxury hotel and private house properties.

This further underlines our commitment to make Killeen Castle a golfing facility of a status and quality not previously experienced in Ireland. Killeen Castle will be unique and spectacular beyond imagination and will rank among the most outstanding developments of its kind anywhere in the world.”

Speaking during the formal announcement of Europe’s first Dave Pelz Scoring Game School at Killeen Castle, Dave Pelz said:

“We are very excited about our association with the Killeen Castle development in our first foray into the European market. We know the Irish are passionate golfers who take the game very seriously. We want to show them how to take their games to the next level with improved scoring and consistent habits from within 100 yards of the hole.

We train our staff to teach golfers the skills that most affect their scores – the shots inside 100 yards, where golfers lose 80 per cent of their shots to par. If we can get you chipping, putting and executing wedge and chip shots better, your handicap WILL improve.’’

Pelz's premier three-day schools maintain a 4-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio and apply the practical, scientific approach to golf honed through decades of research and one-on-one coaching of many of the game's top professionals, by the former NASA physicist.

To that end, Pelz’s Scoring Game School curriculum focuses strictly on what he defines as "The Scoring Game"-- a combination of the short game (distance wedges, pitching, chipping and sand
play) and putting—which comprise 60 to 65 percent of the total number of shots played per round.

* In addition to golf, the 600 acres wooded Killeen Castle Estate, situated just 30 minutes from Dublin International Airport and 45 minutes from Dublin City, will include a Luxury Collection hotel operated by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. It will be incorporated into the existing historical Castle, which dates to 1181 when built by the de Lacy family. In 1841 the ninth Earl of Fingall extended and modified the original Castle and erected the building which stands today and which has been painstakingly restored. A limited number of residential units will also be developed on the Estate.

Register your interest in the Dave Pelz Scoring Game School here.