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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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Advanced Golf Lesson: The Plugged Bunker Lie

Hitting From a Plugged Bunker Lie

by David Lee

One of the many strange things about the brain is how it perceives things - and “plugged-lie” bunker shots are one of those issues that most people see backwards from the way they should. A ball buried in the sand can be hit from the bunker with no more effort than when the ball is sitting on a clean lie. Normal perception and instinct tells us that we need to “dig” the ball out of a buried lie. In reality, if the player tightens the arms in an effort to “force” the ball from a plugged lie, the tension increase in the arms diminishes the core rotation, reducing the foot-pounds that move through impact, and lessens the likelihood of getting the shot out of the bunker. Just as with a normal sand shot, proper technique requires that the arms start down in a state of pure dead-fall, and the turn of the body “excavates” both the sand and the ball from the bunker. In a typical trap shot, with the ball sitting on top of the sand, the club undercuts the ball to a greater degree, imparting more spin - and it stops quickly upon hitting the green. When the ball is buried, however, the undercutting effect is diminished, and the sand behind the ball pushes it out of the bunker with less spin. Since the carry-to-roll ratio is reduced, hitting from a buried lie actually takes less of a swing to cover an equivalent amount of ground.

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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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Golf Lesson: Getting Out of Deep Rough

Bermuda Rough – Nasty Stuff

by David Lee

Anyone who has played much golf in the South, is well aware of the difficulty encountered when playing from the Bermuda rough. It’s a natural instinct to hit down hard and try to dig the ball out of such gnarly turf. Most players fail to realize that tightening the arms in an effort to extricate the ball, will stop the core rotation of the body and make it even harder to get out. A tension increase from the arms in the downswing actually diminishes the number of foot pounds that are actively turning and going against the ball at the point of impact. It’s important to feel that the body turns the ball out of deep rough as opposed to hitting it. Although it is counter intuitive to not dig, doing so has an exact opposite effect from what we were intending to do.

When hitting these types of shots, it’s critical that the arms be in a state of pure deadfall at the start of the downswing so that the rotation of the body is not impeded whatsoever. You can actually hit very delicate shots from deep rough around the greens with very little effort - if your technique is technically correct. Remember, when the ball is sitting deep in the grass, the clubface contacts the grass and not the back of the ball. Because of this fact, ball compression is reduced, just as it is with a greenside bunker shot. Both shots require extra follow through to make up for the fact that the ball is not “helping” due to its lesser amount of spring from the clubface. Turning the connected body mass completely through the impact zone assures that the ball will advance. Don’t forget – the key is to turn the ball out of the deep stuff, not hit it.

Here is a video example of this lesson. 

Questions? answers@gravitygolf.com

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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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Golf Course Guide - Timacuan Golf Club

photo from Bugsy

Hello and thank you for reading our first Golf Course Guide blog. Here at Gravity Golf we've asked some of our instructors and long-time players to start taking some notes on the courses they play. The goal of these blogs is to give players a heads up on course conditions and some pointers on what holes they might want to watch out for. If you would like to contribute to our Golf Course Guide please email answers@gravitygolf.com, subject "Golf Course Guide."

The Golf Course Guide blog this week comes from Gravity Golfer Crickett Lee. This week Crickett played in an Orlando Woman's Golf Association tournament at Timacuan Golf Club in Lake Mary, FL. Her foursome placed 1st out of 16 groups. Crickett said the course was beautiful, and although there were a few soggy spots from the previous 48 hours of rain, the fairways and greens were in excellent condition. Here are a few of the tips she had for playing at Timacuan Golf Club.

1. Be careful of what club you choose off the tee. The Timacuan course features a few tricky dog-legs that have some difficult to navigate trees and hazards; don't automatically pull your driver out of the bag. Watch out for the yardage, and when in doubt, pick a shorter club to make it to the turn so you have a clear shot at the green.

Photo of hole #2 at the Timacuan Golf Club. Photo
from the Orlando Golf Examiner.

2. Watch out for #2. According to an article in the Orlando Golf Examiner, even Timacuan General Manager Tony Johnson says "there is no let-up in the hole until the ball hits the bottom of the cup." You only have one hole to warm up with before you're faced with this difficult to navigate par-4. There is a peninsula fairway to the right of the green, but to reach it you have to clear water in front and to the right of the green with more than a fair amount of accuracy. If you're less confident in your drive you may want to consider laying up in front of the water hazard and taking an iron or wood shot over the lake to the green. The green slopes from back to front, so try to give your shot enough space to roll to a stop - just try not to fly the green because the sand traps and trees to the left and back of the green are no picnic either. Crickett says she's seen players easily shoot 13 on this hole. Do your best to keep shots in control, and if you do lose a ball or two, try not to let it bog you down for the next 16 holes. For more on Timacuan No. 2 see this article in the Orlando Golf Examiner.

3. The course can feel a bit long. Despite her small stature, Crickett is known for the distance she can get off the ball, but she said that this course can feel a bit long for a lot of women. Make sure you spend time working on the accuracy of your chipping and putting to make up for the few extra strokes it may take to get to the green.

Number 18 at Timacuan Golf Club by Crickett Lee

Thanks for reading this week's Golf Course Guide. Good luck out there! And please remember to take notes and pictures of your next golf outing to be part of our Golf Course Guide. For tips on how to improve your game visit our website or our YouTube Channel. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. 

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