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.
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
