70 Year Old Gravity Golf Founder Hits 75 3-Irons 185 Days In a Row

Why Is This 3 Iron In My Bag?

by David Lee

Teaching golf has not only been my profession for the better part of fifty years, it is also a vocational passion.  Any time since 1954, if someone had asked me which clubs were the most important in the bag, I would have quickly answered the driver, the putter, the sand wedge, the three wood, then all the rest, in that order.  If someone asked me the same question today – I would without hesitation answer – the #3 iron.  Really????  Yep, even though very few people carry one these days, in my opinion, they should dig it out of the closet, or buy one that matches their irons (I promise that this is leading someplace good where few people have ever been).  Next, go to the practice tee for only twenty minutes a day, and hit 75 balls, as hard as you can swing, from your normal swing mode.

Okay David – you’ve always been out there in left field somewhere, but this is a little far off the page, even for you!

I totally agree – but hear me out.  About seven years ago, I managed to trip over my big red dog one night in the pitch black dark and tear the medial meniscus in my left knee.  It has never been quite the same since.  Then last year, right before moving back to Florida, I managed to tear the medial collateral tendon in my right knee, which stopped me from playing golf for about five months.  Even after I healed, every time I would try to play or even swing the club, there was a significant ache, either in my lower back or one of my knees.  At seventy years of age, my range of motion in my backswing had shrunk to practically nothing, and needless to say, I was not having any fun. It felt like the right time to put my clubs in the closet or on Ebay.  Then a large miracle happened!  One day just over six months ago, totally exasperated with the way my body was feeling, and with a sense of desperation hanging over me, I grabbed my 3 iron from my bag and headed for the practice tee.  In retrospect, I’m not exactly sure what I intended to accomplish, but it was something along the lines of punishing myself for getting old.  I took a basket of 75 balls (75 was a totally arbitrary number, but 50 seemed like too few and 100, too many) and began swinging at them with all the core-speed I could muster.  That first day I hit about five solid shots, and all seventy-five of them hurt, in one part of my body or another!  It was like the scene in the movie Liar Liar where Jim Carrey was in the men’s room at the courthouse “kicking his own ass.”  For some weird reason, the pain of day one notwithstanding, I was obsessed with doing it again and came back the following day to torture myself some more.  The second day I hit a few more good ones, but was encouraged, and each successive day saw the number of good shots grow.  For the first sixty days, the improvement each day was very noticeable.  By that time, I was hitting the ball so well that the progress seemed to slow, yet the shot quality and distance continued to improve.  Today was my 185th session in a row without missing a day, and during each and every week, with no exceptions, I’ve had at least one or more best days ever!  Because of the continued improvement, I’ve delayed in writing about this, because truthfully, I don’t yet know where the “end point” in shot quality development and consistency lie. Here’s the really amazing part and why I am compelled to keep doing this, as well as sharing it with you.  Bear in mind that the only full-swing practice that I’ve done during this period has been the 75 daily balls with the 3 iron, yet when I play golf, every club in my bag has improved significantly, from the driver to the wedges.  Yesterday, I made the second hole-in-one of my life (the last was in 1965) and had two other shots on par threes stop within a foot.
 

My conclusions thus far are as follows:
    •    Most players go to the practice tee and hit a number of shots with different clubs. Each of the clubs has a different shaft length, a different lie, some variation in vibration frequency, swing weight, and requires a different ball position and spine angle.  Practicing with what is arguably the most difficult club in the bag to hit (since almost no one carries a 1 or 2 iron), allows the brain to avoid the confusion of club variability, and concentrate totally on the sequence of the physiological motor program (which is very demanding if you wish to hit good shots with a 3 iron).  Moving your body parts correctly and consistently is paramount if you wish to know where your ball is going.  A great pianist preparing for a show or recital would not practice on thirteen different pianos, but that is exactly what we do when practicing golf.  If the motor program in your body is good enough to hit consistent shots with a 3 iron, hitting a wedge requires only minute changes and is a snap cinch.  My thinking is leaning very strongly toward the opinion that removing the equipment variable, allows the player to highly improve the quality of his/her mechanics – especially when practicing with the 3 iron (the most difficult club in the bag).
   

      •    Swinging at maximum core-speed is very important.  There is a right way to hit a golf ball hard, and countless wrong ways.  By practicing at maximum possible swing speed, the brain is forced to deal with countless physiological details that need to be dealt with at a subconscious level, in order to establish perfect equilibrium at impact.  Learning to slow a swing down is far easier than making it go faster (the right way).
   

      •    If you wish to play at the highest level, it is my belief that doing this every day is very important.  The great Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz, said that if he missed a day of practice, he could hear it.  If he missed two days of practice, his wife could hear it.  And, if he missed three days of practice, the world could hear it.  Ben Hogan said that if he missed a day of practice, his golf swing backed up three days.  I fully realize that not everyone can hit 75 balls a day, but remember that it only takes twenty minutes.
 

Please keep in mind that this is a “road map,” not an order.  Many people out there are interested in becoming as good as they can be.  This is something I have never seen another golf professional do, nor have I done it in my own personal history (although I wish I had).  Although Tom Watson is said to have warmed up with a 2 iron, I don’t know that he hit it exclusively in his practice sessions, nor do I know how many 2 irons he hit each day.   Most pros that have worn a spot the size of a dime in the middle of their seven-iron, have a three iron that looks like it just came out of the pro shop.  I am telling you that doing this every day is making me feel as if my age is reversing, and my golf game is improving faster than at any point in my life.  If you are inclined to give this a try, I am inviting feedback and the experience of others.    

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Why You Should Join the Driver Drill Club

Whether it's going to the gym or heading to the driving range to practice, we all have moments when it is hard to find the motivation to work on something alone. If you have ever worked out in a supervised group setting, you know how much easier it is to stay focused and get the most out of your workout when someone is there to guide you. Not to mention that little extra drive you get out of friendly competition. Here at Gravity Golf we are now offering you that same workout environment on the driving range with the Gravity Golf Driver Drill Club.

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Gravity Golf Lesson: How's Your Golf Posture?

How’s Your Posture – Is It Helping or Hurting Your Game?

by David Lee

If you were to ask the question – what is the "ideal" posture for my body in the golf swing – what would you expect for an answer?  Suppose you were looking at a human skeleton in an anatomy lab and trying to imagine all the potential angles for the various bones in a golf swing.  How would you describe to someone the perfect way to position each of those bones?  It wouldn’t be easy, would it?

For a golf swing to function in an ideal manner, mass rotation moving into impact should be over one axis only (left leg in a right handed player).  By so doing, all available body mass below the head goes against the ball - like closing a single hinge door.  If you have weight on both legs as you turn into impact, the body moves like a revolving door, where part of your weight goes against the ball and part of it is moving away from the ball and target.

With a driver, when the posture is correct at address, the feet will be close to shoulder width apart, with a slight bend at the knees.  The weight will be borne on the hips and hamstrings, with the knees being as much over the heels as possible.  Coming into impact, the body’s weight should be pivoting over the left heel only.  If you study the construction of your legs and feet, it is easy to see that the feet are attached in an "L" shape to the legs.  If you pivot over the "ball" of the left foot coming into impact, the left heel will be off the ground and the entire leg (or axis) will be moving away from the target.  This causes movement in the swing-plane and potential loss of power in the shot.

Posture is one of the most critical elements in the recipe for making a technically correct swing.  If you’ll study the Gravity golf "cross-footed drills" and the "heel-to-heel" transfer drills, they will teach you perfect posture for the address position and for the swing itself.  

Cross-Footed Drill

Heel-to-Heel Drill

For more drills visit our YouTube Channel, follow us on Facebook, and visit our website. 

Questions: answers@gravitygolf.com

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Using Popcorn to Get Effortless Power - by David Lee, Golf Pro in Greenville SC.

As the developer of the “Gravity” golf teaching system, I am a great believer that the laws of motion are very specific, in regard to the “ideal” way to swing a golf club. However, knowing that not everyone swings in what, I consider to be an ideal, “physics compliant” fashion, I racked my brain to think of a great tip that would be applicable to all golfers, regardless of their swing style. The following is one of the better ideas that I can offer:

Many golfers swing smoothly in their practice swings, yet in the real swing, with the ball in the equation, they invariably “flex” the upper body in the downswing trying to “strike” it. You’d swear they were swinging at a bowling ball! Tightening the arms and wrists in the downswing may easily cause a reduction in club-speed and a reduction in the amount of body mass that is moving at impact (any of your pounds that are not turning at the instant you strike the ball, are not having an effect on it. Tightening the arms and wrists in the downswing also causes change in the swing-path and off-center shots. 

When you watch Freddie Couples swing, he just drops his arms from the top of the backswing and allows his core rotation to sling them. My tip is to always, visualize the ball as being “weightless,” like a piece of popcorn. You should take some popcorn to the practice tee and alternate between hitting golf balls and pieces of the popcorn. The birds will eat what you don’t pick up and popcorn doesn’t harm the mowers like tees or pennies. You should begin to visualize the ball as having no more weight than the popcorn. The reason you won’t flex at the popcorn is because your brain knows that even if you hit it dead flush it will only go three feet anyway. Trying to move the golf ball a great distance is what makes people instinctively flex at it. When you stop “flexing,” - your club-speed and swing-path integrity will improve dramatically, - and you’ll begin to hit the ball “flush” in the middle of the clubface. 

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What You See is What You Get - by Danny Lee

Perception is a very strong force that can be used positively or negatively. In the case of golf, what you see as resistance is exactly that. The majority of the golfing population (almost every person) looks at the golf ball as being an object that requires force to move. Typically the feeling is, the greater the force, the farther you believe the ball will go. As this may, in essence, be true, the perception is that the harder you swing at the object, the more force you will create ....sorry to disappoint you, but this is not the case. 

If you have ever experienced what a “perfect” shot feels like, you would recall that it feels like “nothing”. It is very difficult to describe physically, because there is almost no feeling at all (perfect balance at impact). The feeling of perfect balance comes from being able to offset all of the centrifugal force moving in front of your body (your arms) with an equal amount of force moving in the opposite direction: this will free up your body mass through the shot. The more relaxed your body is and the softer your arms are, the easier it is to move your weight in the proper directions. 

Try this simple drill: alternating between hitting golf balls and popcorn. What this will do is allow you a momentary alteration in how you perceive the object at which you are swinging. If you look at a piece of popcorn and flex your muscles, immediately you will have presence of mind that that much force is not needed to move something with no mass. If you can carry this same awareness into your swing when the golf ball is in the way, it can be a very enlightening process that can help you develop a more relaxed, consistent tempo and inevitably a more enjoyable game.

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Swing Compensations – What Are They And Why Should They Be Eliminated? by Danny Lee

With every golf swing, regardless of player ability, there is some level of compensation. The objective is to reduce and minimize these band aids or the swing will become harder and harder to replicate the older you get or if some small change takes place in your body. To preface, what a compensation is trying to accomplish on a subconscious basis, is to bring your body back on path of the golf ball if you are not initially set up in that position.

Every player is trying to achieve the same sensation of clearing all the way through their shot and delivering power to the ball in the direction they intend. For the majority individuals, they have their tendencies and instincts entirely backwards from what they should do be doing. For instance, people address the ball with their weight between the balls of their feet and heels as in a variety of other balances throughout the swing. In order to clear through the shot what you will find in almost every good golfer, their weight ends up back on their front heel at impact. The farther forwards you get in the swing and in your feet the more difficult it is to get your body back into a position it can clear.

People compensate for being out of position at the top of the back swing in a large combination of ways. To find out what kind of compensations you have in your body and how detrimental they are to your swing, put yourself into a heel to heel drill as seen on this weeks video. It will test your ability to move over the back of your legs and feel your freedom of rotation. It is one of the most difficult drills that we have to show you if your posture and timing will give you the feeling you are looking for.

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Swing Compensations: What Are They And Why Should They Be Eliminated - by David Lee

Why do you suppose that most players develop to a certain level, then seem to hit a brick wall in their ability to improve? This problematic issue occurs not only with amateurs, but with professional players as well.

In the forty-eight years that I’ve been teaching golf (for twenty of those years I was just trying to teach it), it has been a rarity to see a beginning player who did not start the down-swing with a “kill” concept. With few exceptions, players instinctively draw the club back and “hunt” the ball with the arms and club like they were trying to drive a nail with a hammer over three feet long. When the golf swing is approached with such a misguided concept for creating power in the swing, this is what occurs. As the shoulders and arms “flex” in the down-swing, part of the energy serves to move the ball, but simultaneously, part of it goes back into the body and causes the path to move. The path (or plane) moves to the outside or “over the top,” which will pull or hook the ball, and causes the player to make corrective or “compensating” steps to try and hit the ball on line to the target. A right-handed player (opposite for lefties) can compensate a changing plane and attempt to eliminate the pull by aligning the body to the right, by weakening the grip, by moving the ball back in the stance, or by making postural or equipment changes. All of these compensations can be made independently, or utilized simultaneously. The more energy, however, that is turned back into the body during the execution of the swing, the harder it is to repeat the swing and get consistency in your results. Most golfers make their compensations intentionally, but oftentimes they are made at a subconscious level and the player is totally unaware that he/she is compensating.

As we go from the practice tee to the golf course, especially in tournament situations, body tension increases. As the body tightens (for whatever reason), the center of leverage rises. As this occurs, any energy that is being internalized through improper power application, causes an increase in path-shift over what we experience when we are relaxed. This is exactly why it is so important to eliminate compensations and identify proper power technique, which can be accomplished by training with the Gravity golf drills. Study them – they are the “road map” to a technically perfect swing.     

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The Secret of Taking Your Range Game To the Course

Mastering Golf by David Lee

Most players, when they go to the practice range, hit ball after ball from a normal swing mode.  The normal swing is the easiest of all modes from which to “compensate” imperfect power application.  Compensations are insidious attempts to correct an improperly shifting swing-plane, and most often occur at a completely subconscious level.  The player can be making compensations for mis-applied power through the grip, alignment, ball position, posture, or even through equipment, and be totally un-aware that he is doing so.  Compensations not only make the swing unreliable, it becomes harder to repeat under pressure.  On the practice tee, we get as many opportunities as we have golf balls to find the proper timing, but on the golf course we get only one chance per shot.  The best way to get your game successfully from the practice tee to the course, is by learning to practice perfectly, so that you know exactly how to swing with correct power application every time you draw it back.

The next time you go to the practice tee, start with a middle iron, like a 5, 6, or 7.  Hit a full-swing shot with the right hand, then one with the left hand, and then one with both hands.  It is very important to change modes with each swing.  If you can draw the ball with each hand alone, as well as with the two-handed mode, it is an indicator that your swing is tension-free.  Changing modes with each shot prevents the brain from “dialing in” compensations from what it felt in the previous swing.  Putting a different muscle group into activity with each pass, forces the brain to identify proper sequencing in every mode and will teach you perfect mechanics that will work reliably when you go to the golf course.

Try this – it really works!!

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The Secret of Taking Your Range Game to the Course - Danny Lee

Drilling for Freedom by Danny Lee

If you have ever been guilty of feeling like a world class pro or at least a really good golfer when you are on the driving range, and then proceed to play a round that appears to be the first time you ever put your hands on a golf club, this is for you! 

For starters, there are a few major differences between hitting on the driving range and playing on the golf course. 

First being, you only get one shot - this is why it is so important to practice on the range in a way that will give you the most feedback and try to simulate a new kind of shot every time - refer to the 3-mode drill. 

The other major difference is lie undulations on the golf course - with the exception of your tee ball, you rarely ever have a flat lie. 

You may have heard some of the misconceptions taught over the years such as, “try and line your shoulders up to the slope”, or “swing up towards the hole”. In both of these cases, you will not be able power the ball with all of your mass moving rotationally, because it will be very difficult to post if you are working against your front axis.  This is a bit of a confusing concept at first, but once you understand it your approach to the golf course will forever change. 

A great way to practice getting your feet in the right place is to try throwing balls from different lies and feel what is a more comfortable foot position. What you are looking for is a way to put your feet on the ground that will allow you to turn all the way through your shot and be able to freely move into the Counter-fall. In most cases, you will need to move the ball back and open up your stance to the target regardless of the slope. 

In summary, the most important thing when swinging a golf club or making any kind of rotational move is that you can turn freely through impact.

Practice both the 3-mode golf drill and from different lies on the range in order to learn how to freely move into the Counter-fall from any lie.

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What Exactly is Golf Fitness?

by Dr. Darcy Dill

Sport specific exercises are a way to get fit to play the sport.  What they do is break down the moves necessary to play a particular sport and train the body to make those moves effectively.   In the case of golf it is the golf swing that is the most difficult part of the game to master.   Fitness experts have taken the golf swing and broken it down into specific movements and then train the body to make those moves.

The first thing to do is to figure out what is the best way to swing a golf club.  What is the swing model that you want to use to be the ideal to make your swing emulate?   There are many ways to swing a golf club and people have perfected them to make them work.  Even professional golfers do not all swing the golf club the same.  As you look at he PGA tournaments on TV you can see many different types of swings done by the pros. All of them are good enough to make a living at it.   However some swings are more efficient than others.  As a chiropractor, I am concerned with how the swing will affect the body and it’s longevity.   I want a swing that is easy on the body as well as being able to hit the ball well consistently.   If you want to play golf well as you get older, you need to consider normal body mechanics and the laws of nature.  You want a swing that does not violate those laws and does the least amount of harm to the body.  I use the term “body friendly” to describe such a swing model.

I like the Gravity Golf model of swing mechanics as taught by David Lee (GravityGolf.com).  Golfers such as Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus, and Ernie Els exemplify this particular swing model.  The major component of this system is that the major power source of the swing is the rotating core muscles and not the shoulders, arms, or hands.  Without getting too technical, it is engine of the effortless rotation of the body that gets transferred through the passive shoulders, arms and hands that powers this type of swing.  There are lots of very good swing models out there.  The main thing is to pick one that you like and use it to develop a fitness program around it.  Your golf professional can help you find one that is right for you.

Once you know the kind of swing you would like to have, figure out what kind of moves make this swing work.  Your golf pro has certain kinds of swing drills that he/she will use to help you to feel those kinds of moves as your body makes them.   Your fitness professional can get you to do specific exercises to train those moves into your muscle memory on a regular basis.   A good golf specific fitness program should get you to be able to perform the desired moves that the golf pro wants you to do.  A good golf fitness program can do more for your golf swing than hours on the range and golf course.   In playing a round of golf, there are so many factors that come into play, it is difficult to isolate (and practice) the key moves that make a good golf swing work.   A good golf specific work out can make your body swing better as well as condition it for better health and longevity.

I have illustrated a couple of really good golf fitness exercises.   There are many more in my book and DVD called “Body Friendly Golf”.  Try these out and see if you find your golf swing getting easier and your ball striking getting better.

Ball Toss using a Swiss ball.   Using a Swiss ball, throw it using your core to a partner.  He will catch it and allow his body to rotate on his back leg.   Then he will use his core (not shoulders or arms) to rotate the ball back to you.

Hip Rotation fore swing.   Attach rubber tubing or a thera-band to a stable spot.   Hold the other end on your left hip.  Then rotate the hips on the left leg to face 90 degrees to the left.  Keep the left leg slightly bent and end up with the weight on that left leg….facing the target.  Do these exercises twice a week and see how your game will improve by developing your rotating body as a power source.

Dr. Darcy Dill is a chiropractor practicing in Central Oregon in the summer and in Palm Springs in the winter.  He can be reached at 541-647-2222 or www.BodyFriendlyChiropractic.com.   His book and DVD combo Body Friendly Golf is available at better bookstores nationwide.

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The Counter-fall and Why it is Essential for a Physics Perfect Golf Swing

Drilling for Freedom - by Danny Lee

Sound science, proper physics and feel are the principles you can't escape, but are always searching for in your golf swing.  When they come together in the correct fashion, you will “Feel the Freedom” in your swing, and the results will show.

Odds are, you have felt the counterfall working in your every-day life and have never been conscious of it.  If you have ever locked arms with another person or child in the back yard, and swung each other in circles, you both had to lean backwards in equilibrium, in order to counter-balance the rotational force pulling you both toward each other. This is the centripetal force at work. In physics, we see the same thing applied in every rotary movement where weight is moving on one side of an object.

In the golf swing, the weight (force) of your arms and club swinging in front of your body are trying to pull you off center, and in most amateurs ends up causing them to come over the top. The human arm can weigh anywhere from 8 to 20 pounds:  imagine your arms and club as a dumbbell attached to your chest that you are trying to throw in front of you at the speed you swing a club.  The next time you’re watching a place kicker in a football game, a pitcher throw a baseball, or an Olympic hammer thrower in action, pay special attention to the off vertical move they start making before they turn through to release the object.  That “off-vertical” move is the counterfall, and it is also necessary in a sound golf swing.

Typically, what you will see in most golfers, is a move they have manufactured to take place of the counterfall - a compensation. For instance, most people’s posture tends to be too bent over with their torso and upper body balanced over the quads (fronts of their legs) instead of the hamstrings (back of their legs). What will happen, in this case, is when they turn in the back swing, they shift their weight forward onto the front leg (toward the toes and quads). The detrimental part of this is that as they try to rotate, it will not carry them backwards easily into the Counterfall and from here one of  two things could happen.

If they try to swing from this position, the force of their arms swinging will pull them onto their faces if they stay completely relaxed (I doubt this has ever happened). Your natural instinct is to protect you from harm.  If you were to swing like this, you will start internalizing energy to maintain balance, but will lock up your rotation (99% of people only advance their hands and shoulders through the ball in the last 3 frames through impact). This causes you to lose much of your power, because the rest of the body is not free to move through impact, as it is fighting for balance and the body is very weak rotationally. The other option is to somehow create an equal amount of force moving in the opposite direction to allow you to clear your hips and body through the shot. This can come from pulling your hips back and around or snapping your front knee back (see if you can guess which professionals  do that) or other compensatory moves in an effort to stay on plane.

The cure for your aches and pains, including your power and control loss lies in being able to properly balance the forces out between what is pulling you forward and what is pulling you back. The simplest way (which is also easiest on your body) is at the top of your back swing, once you have made a full weight transfer back to your left heel, allow your body to start falling away from the ball. There is a perfect “tipping point” you will reach that allows for free rotation and subsequently a complete release of the club head.  You will also find that the more upright your posture is and the closer you are to the ball, the easier it will be to fall away (the counterfall). Master this move and you will have found the swing key for which you have always been searching!

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The “Counter-fall" and the critical role it plays in your swing

Mastering Golf - by David Lee

If you swing “over the top” and slice the ball, or your shots take too much effort to produce too little distance, you are not “counter-falling” sufficiently at the start of your down-swing.  The arms of the average man weigh about twenty-five pounds.  If you are solidly balanced on your feet when the down-swing begins, the weight of your arms and club swinging in front of you, will instantly pull you toward your toes (over the top) and out of plane, kind of like a washing machine with all the clothes on one side of it.  Most golfers are under the false impression that they want to be balanced during a golf-swing. What we are really searching for, is a state of “rotary equilibrium,” where the pull against the body from the weight of the arms and club swinging around us, is negated by the counter-fall, thus giving the appearance of being “balanced” during the swing.  Look at You-Tube sequences of a hammer thrower.  Because of the significant weight of the arms and hammer, he has to pivot with his body being close to forty degrees “off vertical” to keep from being pulled onto his face during the rotation.  A golf swing is a microcosm of the same move.  All sports where rotation is employed require a counter-fall in order to maintain equilibrium.

In a proper golf swing made by a right-handed player, the weight shifts to the right leg and back to the left leg as the shoulders turn back.  As the weight shifts from the right, it lands slightly against the left leg, enough to deflect the body into the counter-fall, on a line or vector about seventy degrees left of the target line, ninety degrees being straight behind you.  The feeling is like that of tipping a barrel onto its edge so that it will roll.  The deeper one moves into the counter-fall before the shoulders start forwards in the delivery, the less internal effort it takes to turn the core through impact (if the arms are in a state of dead-fall), and the faster it will move.  Using mass rotation to sling the arms and club, instead of using shoulder and arm strength, is the proper way to apply power in the golf swing.

Study the Gravity Golf cross-footed drills and they will teach you to make a perfect counter-fall.

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The Vital Importance Of The Gravity Golf Drills And The Results You Can Achieve - by Andy Waple

Introduction- by Danny Lee:  Andrew Waple has been a Gravity Golf Instructor in the UK for 4 years now and works at the cutting edge of Golf Technology (Optimal Performance Analysis Solutions).  He has worked in the past with the late, great Seve Ballesteros and has a passion for working with junior golfers.  He travels to the US every year to work with us (David and Danny) and is a strong player.
Thank you, Andrew, for sharing some of your insight into the effectiveness of the Gravity Golf Drills in the following article
~ Danny Lee

Article by Andrew Waple
It is my belief that the drills of the Gravity Golf teaching system are its greatest asset and yet they can be perceived as its Achilles heel by the unenlightened.
Before we look in to the above statement we have to stop for a moment and look into practice in a little more detail.  Why do we practice?  For most people it is certainly not for the enjoyment or because they have nothing else to do with their time.  It is not because it’s cheap either, especially if you're paying for your range balls by the 50.  So why do we practice?  The definition of practice is to “perform an activity repeatedly in order to improve ones proficiency”.

The answer is indeed simple - we practice to play better. The important question in my opinion is, “does your practice make you play better?”  The sports psychologists would say that most people do not recreate competitive situations in their practice, but for now we are going to look purely at technique.
To practice effectively we need to isolate the one aspect of the swing we are working on.  This in principle sounds very simple but with all the moving parts of a golf swing this is easier said than done.
However, the Gravity drills do isolate proper mechanics:  if the correct mechanics are not used then you, the golfer, will be provided with feedback.  Depending on how poor the mechanics are, the feedback could be a downswing that feels labored, or in a more extreme case you could feel out of balance resulting in a complete miss of the ball.
The body does not like being out of balance:  this perceived loss of control will feel dangerous to the brain.  To overcome this perceived danger, your body and mind will go about instigating a change in your technique to rid you of this danger - a change that will allow you to stay in balance.
Fortunately for us, a swing which is in balance is technically superior to a swing which is out of balance - your body and mind can fix your golf swing if you practice in the right conditions.
Sound impossible?

Just think about when you learned to ride a bike.  To begin with, you may have fallen off a couple of times but on the 3rd or 4th attempt you managed to find your balance and you were on your way.  Your body and mind sensed danger and subconsciously solved the problems for you.

To keep a bike upright is an incredibly complex feat.  At that young age (when you learned to ride a bike) what did you understand about Dynamics?  To that extent, what do you currently understand about Dynamics? Dynamics is a branch of classical mechanics, which in turn is a branch of physics, all of which I was blissfully unaware of when I took off on my bike for the first time.

My initial statement was that it is my belief that the drills of the Gravity Golf teaching system are its greatest asset and yet they can be perceived as its Achilles heel by the unenlightened.  The Gravity drills take advantage of our powerful mind and body and can teach us to play golf in the same way we learned to ride a bike.  However, for this to be effective we have to be prepared to put ourselves in a state where we are unstable and ready to learn.  Standing with our feet shoulder-width apart will never produce rapid learning, just like you never really learn to ride a bike whilst using stabilizers.

Instead we have to grasp the nettle and be prepared to swing the club whilst being in an unstable state:  in the Gravity system this could be in a cross-footed or a one-footed mode.  By heightening our body’s sensitivity to danger through the sensation of loss of balance we can rapidly increase the learning speed of our (student) golfers and this is why the drills are Gravity Golf’s greatest asset.

The reason the drills can be perceived negatively is because they are unlike most drills ever seen in golf.  We are used to seeing people at the range with bands on their arm, alignment sticks etc… but should someone hit a shot off one foot they are perceived as being crazy.

Yet the purpose of our practice is to play the game better regardless of what that may look like.  The Gravity drills may look different than other practice systems - you may hit poor shots whilst in your drills, but if the end result is playing better golf on the course, does it really matter?  If I miss-hit every practice shot I ever hit but continually improved my performance on the course I would be a happy golfer and I’m sure you would be too.

So let’s start practicing with the real intent of becoming a better golfer and stop worrying about what others may think of us on the range.  Use the Gravity Golf system to isolate the flaws in your technique and whether you are hitting good shots or bad you can be happy in the knowledge that your golf swing is improving ready for you when you next get out on the course.

Written by Andrew Waple UK Gravity Golf Instructor
www.andrewwaplegolf.co.uk

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Mastering Golf by David Lee - Flying Right Elbow: Friend or Foe?

Unfortunately, for the golf world, when Jack Nicklaus appeared on the golf scene, he did a less than adequate job of explaining “why” he let his right elbow “fly” during his back-swing. Ben Hogan had kept his right elbow tucked during his back-swing, and had successfully convinced the world that he had perfect mechanics. When Jack came along a few years later, with a totally different routing in the right arm, it was perceived by many as a flaw in his technique. No one considered the possibility that Jack was the one swinging the club in total compliance with the physics laws and that Hogan’s technique should have been the one in question. Hogan’s book “The Fundamentals of Modern Golf” had become the “bible” of golf instruction, and wasn’t going to be changed without a good explanation for doing something different.

In a proper golf swing, the right elbow leads in the back-swing, lays into the “slot” during the change of direction, and leads the forearm, hand, and club through impact. The more width that is in the right shoulder joint throughout the back-swing and the change of direction, the easier it is for the body’s core to connect to the arms and sling them through impact. If there is insufficient width in the right shoulder joint through the change of direction, the brain will sense “slack” in that joint and involuntarily cause the shoulders and arms to tighten as they start down, in an effort to cover the slack. When this occurs, core-speed through impact can be diminished and the swing path can easily be disrupted. Women who play with too little arc width will have very limited power.

Learning how to route the right arm (or left if you’re a southpaw) correctly, is one of the most important keys to easy power and control in your golf swing. Study the Gravity Golf one-arm drills. They are critical for the development of a technically perfect swing.  

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Drilling for Freedom by Danny Lee - Flying Right Elbow: Friend or Foe

One of the most controversial subjects in the golf world is the question of the flying or tucked right elbow: whether or not the leading arm in the back swing should go out away from the body like Nicklaus or stay in like Hogan.

There are many ways to get the job done as long as the sweet spot of the club face and the ball match up at impact. At Gravity Golf, our focus is on doing this with the least amount of effort and while maintaining maximum consistency.

The first thing to do is to understand what made both of their swings work? The answer is. . . the foot work. If you have good footwork and you can get equal amount of force pulling you forward and backward, your arms and hands will be free to stay on plane and ride the body's rotation (rotational equilibrium).

Some of the positives to allowing the leading elbow to fly (like Nicklaus) versus keeping it tucked (like Hogan) allows for a larger arc size, more time to move deeper into the counter-fall and more time to accelerate through impact. Another strong benefit is that if your elbow is out and up in the back swing it will help you to keep the club above plane in the back swing which is what you want. The reason is, as long as you throw it above plane, you can continue turning with your arms, tension free, until you have reached your full rotation when you can simply let your arms drop. If you keep your elbow too close to your side and then lift at the top to get the height, it will force tension into your arms and will likely pull in the down swing.

Work on the various Gravity Golf right arm drills, focusing on properly routing the leading elbow in the back swing: right elbow for right-handed players and left elbow for left-handed players.

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Drilling for Freedom - by Danny Lee

How’s Your Heave?
- by Danny Lee

Jack Nicklaus stated that he knew in the first foot of his backswing if he was going to hit a good shot or not. What he was feeling was the force and direction of the heave:  if he set the right pace into his body from the start, it would flow easily through the rest of the swing.  The heave is the move that will allow you to do this consistently. If you refer to some of our other videos on the counter-fall, one of the main points is getting a sensitivity for how much your arms weigh.

Some of the worst advice you could get is for someone to tell you to take the club back slowly.  It is one of the biggest, yet widely accepted misconceptions in golf swing instruction. If you have ever tried holding your arms over your head for an extended period of time (perhaps when changing a light bulb) you probably realized how much effort it takes and had to immediately put tension into your arms.

With a perfect Gravity Golf swing, you want your arms to be falling from the top of the swing with the least amount of tension possible.  The best way to accomplish this is to get the tension out as soon as you can. The easiest way to accomplish this is by unweighting your arms with a brief pop of energy from the core (the heave) that will allow your arms to float to the top of the swing and then allow gravity to bring them back down. Also, pay special attention to the routing of the leading elbow when working on this move.  As a side note and fun fact, when analysts tested tapes of Bobby Jones' down-swing, it started exactly at the pace of gravity (~32 FPS²).

The heave also has a direct effect on how far you will hit the ball and how deep you will go into the Counter-fall. In essence, the heave is the move to extricate tension from your body at the beginning of the swing and initiate an effortless move.  Practicing the Gravity Golf cross-footed drills can help you perfect your heave.

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