Come share my time with Mr. Pulver

Finalist for the coveted 2021 Herbert Warren Wind Book Award, sponsored by the United States Golf Association!

Now available in the deluxe leatherbound collector's edition with a numbered bookplate signed by Dottie! The perfect gift for the golf fan.

See details below.

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For nearly forty years, I’ve had a now well-worn, three-ring binder. In that binder is every letter my beloved golf teacher, George J. Pulver Sr., wrote me over the course of our time together. Letters came to me after every lesson and often more frequently than that. In the many times that I moved to a new location, the binder never once saw a moving truck. It was physically with me, because it is me and it was him.

I have now told the story of my mentor, Mr. Pulver, and our exchange of letters, and how that relationship shaped me into a major champion and leading golf commentator, in the book, Letters to a Champion: My Time with Mr. Pulver.

YOU’LL HELP A VITAL NEED WITH YOUR PURCHASE:

Please note that 10% of the proceeds of the sale of all books will go to the Saratoga WarHorse mission to improve the physical, mental, and emotional health of veterans with post-traumatic stress. The group does this by providing a healing, equine-assisted experience utilizing off-the-track Thoroughbreds.

- Dottie Pepper

Letters: leather-bound plus edition

$100.00
$100.00
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This deluxe leather-bound edition includes a numbered bookplate personally signed by Dottie.

We're now offering this at a special price ... just $100!

Only 250 of these books were printed and are the last of over 5000 books— including hard and soft cover options— printed in total. Truly collectors’ items!

Dottie Pepper’s Letters to a Champion: My Time with Mr. Pulver, is a loving tribute to the power a mentor can have in an athlete’s career. George J. Pulver Sr. was a golf great in his own right – as a golfer, as a course designer, and as an advocate for golfing throughout the Northeast. But he took on the mantle of mentor when he and a young Dottie, age 15, began a teacher-student relationship that would stretch into Dottie’s college years.

In this beautifully crafted book, Dottie traces the influence “Mr. Pulver” had on her skills as well as her character both on the practice range – where Mr. Pulver dutifully watched every detail of her swing – and in the letters the two exchanged after. Mr. Pulver would sit down at his typewriter and carefully tap out a critique, or a technique, or advise on the life lessons Dottie would need to rise to the top.

Dottie compiled those letters into a binder and referred to them often … her bible, of sorts, on her path to a future as a multiple winner and two-time major champion on the LPGA Tour.

“Filled with years of his mostly typewritten letters, it was my reference book for all things golf,” writes Dottie. “But as time has gone on, I’ve come to realize the binder is much more. It is a blueprint for honoring the history and traditions of the game of golf; it also is about mentorship, fundamental beliefs, curiosity, grit, grace, dreams, disappointment, success, and the value of education.”

For the golf enthusiast, there are also plenty of Mr. Pulver's techniques to share. Said Dottie: "Mr. Pulver tried to, above all, keep the game simple with techniques he knew would be rock-solid in the heat of competition."

Examples of his how-tos:

  • Addressing the ball in the same manner each time.
  • Keeping a steady head on short putts.
  • Being a masterful lag putter.
  • Practicing unusual shots like the long bunker shot.
  • Arriving at the first tee unhurried.
  • Being prepared for all sorts of weather.
  • Having a balance in life - knowing when it is time to take a break from the game so that you return eager to practice, improve and win. 

The leather-bound book is hardcover, measuring 8 x 10 inches, with 208 full-color pages. It includes reproductions of the letters, plus a vast array of archival photographs tracing Dottie’s rise as a young golf star and Mr. Pulver’s influence over it, all richly bound in a deep leather finish. The softcover copy of the book that's included with this set is identical to the other editions except for its cover material. 

Please note: Customer credit cards will be charged at checkout. 

Please feel free to ask Dottie to sign a personal message in your book(s). You will see a window at checkout where you can write your instructions to Dottie.