Gravity Golf: The Evolution & Revolution of Golf Instruction

Having dabbled in golf most of my adult life, I turned 40 a few years ago and determined that I was going to conquer this damned sport, or quit. That began an odyssey of frustration, disappointment and bad scores that only just ended, upon discovering this excellent book by David Lee. Having read dozens of books, tried numerous "golf methodologies" and practiced almost daily for the past few years, I have finally found a system that produces results, and quickly. In what other ball sport do you spend time focusing on mechanics? Almost none. And the truth is, if you can hit a tennis ball going 90 miles an hour in mid air, you should be able to hit a golf ball that isn't moving, because our bodies and minds truly are marvelous.So David Lee has written a book that outlines his methodology and describes in detail several drills that are easy to practice (but not easy to execute) that bypass your thinking brain, and program the swing right into your subconscious. Within just a few days of practicing the drills, my golf swing improved dramatically, and I found myself striking the ball better than I have ever struck the ball in these past 4 years... further too.I would give the book 5 stars but it isn't as well written as it could be, but who cares... it produces results, and that is what counts. In the book, David details several different types of swing, and describes how the "gravity swing" is superior to the others in scientific terms. The crux of which is that the other methods waste energy, and can cause path errors in the swing during execution.If anyone is struggling with their golf game, not striking the ball well, then give this book a read. I promise that if you actually do the drills, you will be quite surprised at how well you'll start playing golf. I have yet to conquer this frustrating game, and I realize that I probably never will, but thanks to this wonderful book, I now enjoy golf more than ever, my scores continue to drop each time I play, and I am excited about continuing to learn and improve.

While on the tour in the early 70's, David Lee was fascinated by the different ball flight and sound at impact he observed while watching players such as Nicklaus and Trevino. David was trained as an upperbody player, and was always fighting the hook. He spent hours watching Jack and trying to figure out what Jack and some others were doing differently. When he asked them about their technique, he didn't know if they just didn't want to tell him or as he later found out, they just couldn't explain it.He later discovered what made these effortless swings work. A severe wrist injury derailed his career before he could put his new swing into play on the tour. He spent decades learning all about the physics of a perfect gravity aided swing. On top of that, David focused on what made the learning process of an effortless golf swing so difficult and evasive. He developed dozens of drills over the years, which he has refined to just a few most effective ones, plus their many possible combinations.David observed that even on the tour, most players introduce some applied force which throws off the track, and must be compensated for in some way. Only a few players had stumbled upon a pure tension-free swing. Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Freddie Couples, Payne Stewart, and Steve Elkington are some examples. The physics perfect swing is one where all the muscles, joints and bones work in perfect harmony without introducing any applied force from the upperbody, or driving from the rear leg. The swing has passive and tension-free hands, arms and shoulders. It is powered completely from WITHIN the pivotal axis of the target side of the body, working with gravity in three key areas. Passive arms and club are whip-slung much as a hammer-thrower, or soccer style place-kicker in american football moves. Gravity allows the body to act as a "counterfall" to the weight and force of the freely swinging passive arms and club. The result is a club path that is consistent.There is no lift of the arms in the backswing, the initial one-piece "heave" from the body core allows all tension to leave the arms and just float to the top. Here, as the arms stall, they drop by gravity, and are picked up by the turn and whip-slung through impact.There are more details to this swing, but the important point to remember is that you can't learn it through positional instruction. It's performance is too subtle to be learned cognitively, even when you fully understand the physics of how it works. It can only be learned in the drills. By making the drills so demanding in their requirements, in order to strike the ball with any skill, the brain figures out how to do it. The things that don't work in the drills, don't feel right, and they can be eliminated. This without you fully realizing how.The beauty of the drills is that the learning process is speeded greatly. A person who has never touched a golf club in his life, if they have the time and access to the balls, can develope to a par level player in as little as a year.David Lee's method for swinging the golf club, and the amazing process he developed for learning it, should by now have produced a paradigm shift, a true widespread "revolution in golf instruction." Although David was at one time listed among Golf Magazine's top 100 instructors, for various reasons, much of golf instruction is still done in a paint-by-numbers or connect-the-dots fashion. The swing is a dynamic whole, and should be learned that way.Most people reach a level in their development, and then can't improve their swing, no matter how much they practice. They simply further ingrain their compensations. Many golfers have played golf for over 50 years, and still have no idea how to properly swing a golf club. David Lee's teaching system can enable such players to eliminate their ingrained swing errors, and finally reach a tension free physics perfect swing! I know of nothing like it. (And I have dozens and dozens of golf instruction books and videos. Some are better than others, but only David Lee has solved the entire puzzle.)It is my firm conviction that David Lee is the top golf instructor in the history of golf, and his method for learning the swing is second to none. It is the only one that can give ANYONE a physics perfect swing!

After reading and trying some of the drills found myself hitting the ball with very little effort,this will free you up and finally let go . Hit the ball like the pros. I have been golfing since the early 70’s with no golf instruction and managed to play to a 10 handicap with a power fade. I adopted the Ben Hogan 5 lessons and found no improvement,but now I started fighting the hook and found it extremely hard to fade the golf ball, my handicap crept up to 15. I was shaken,I could easily shoot 80 to 87 on a bad day and found myself 3 putting a lot. After 5 lessons I was always in the 90’s and developed a good putting and chipping routine but was losing so many shots to hooking the ball. I read David’s book and golfed this morning and shot 84 like nothing. I did hit a few hook shots but nowhere near what I usually did and no penalty strokes. If you have hit a wall and need a new way to find your swing give it a try. Effortless power is in all of us you just need the keys to unlock the door so you can walk in. Cheers.

I am very surprised there are so many USA reviews and mine is the first in the UK, especially since this book was published nearly twenty years ago. If you came to this book from reading stuff on the web or David Lee's videos on YouTube you'll be familiar with his unusual swing drills involving one arm or one leg - or even crossed legs! The drills are all about learning to swing a golf club through the ball with the minimum of effort and the maximum effect and strike accuracy. I guess it doesn't take a genius to work out that if you practice hitting a golf ball with these difficult (at first) drills, then hitting it with both hands and both feet apart will be easy. But that was the main point for me. I'd tried one hand drills before - but nothing as structured and well thought through as these drills.We are fairly conservative lot, golfers. So you might want to try these drills well away from your clubmates and other golfers because you'll surely generate some interest when you start driving balls with one hand and you legs crossed! But the drills really do work and are a great diagnostics tool to identify what is wrong and needs work. But at least with David Lee's methodolgy you can take a look at the book and understand what drill you should be working on. This stuff will have a big effect on how you swing a club. Only your attitude to doing drills like David's will hold you back.Don't expect to be joined by a whole lot of fellow club members doing these drills en masse on the practice ground - you need to be tough skinned to be seen doing this stuff. But on route to a single figure handicap, do you really care? David Lee talks about golfers going from beginner to single figures in a year - so it works for some players. Check out Gravity Golf's videos as well - although lots of stuff is already circulating on the web.There is also some very interesting work by Mike Hebron, both how to learn and another book on learning techniques. After all, there have to be ways of speeding up how golf is learnt just to club level. (?)

Good read with some interesting philosophy on the golf swing

A

Not great