I literally got into the PGA by accident. It was 2002 and I fell on ice and hit my left shoulder on the fender of my car and dislocated. This required surgery and left arm in sling for weeks. I was in California for the winter and planned on golfing, but now limited to right hand putting.
I took it serious for something to do and studied putting. I went to PGA show in Orlando and saw a ultrasound machine that would measure the putter head motion in 28 dimensions. I thought the product was great, but also thought a one product company would go bankrupt, so I bought 5 units. I went out on tour and players lined up to see their putting profile. As result I became friends with Camilo Villegas who put on my grips and became a 4 time winner on PGA tour.
Camilo Villegas
I was introduced to Howard Twitty, a senior PGA player, 3 time winner on the regular tour. I got commercial credentials to attend tournaments and show my product to players. I was first one out on tour with this putting technology, so players lined up to see their putting profile. I then realized I was collecting data on eventually 100 plus tour players. This lead to learning enough from the testing to get Instructor Credentials on the tour. I was teaching what I learned from other and applying surgical technique principles of palpation, proprioception and spacial relationships.
This lead eventually to writing a 400 plus page book, chronicling my experience, called There is more to putting than meets the eye. Howard Twitty was the co-author.
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Knowing from my surgical practice on Hall of Fame football players, I knew they did not like their “territory” invaded. So I went out on tour with this mantra, “I do not charge and I do not pay”. I never approached a player without an introduction. I initially had Howard’s and then, Lee Janzen who I knew from before. Langer, who is German responded to my mantra saying, “I like you do not charge”, with a smile.
Langer, Singh and Jerry Pate
The other funny one was in 2008 Vijay Singh was putting bad and missed the cut at US Open at Oakland Hills. I worked with him for 2 hours. He was appreciative and pulled out his wallet and offered to pay. I told him the young players say that Dr. Lanny only charges if he thinks your net worth is greater than his. I then said jokingly, Vijay you probably qualify. I refused his offer. He went on and won twice plus the FedEx cup that was worth 10 million at the time.
ViJay Singh
My goal was penetration with the tour players and selling my patents to a major company. I got the penetration. I made hundreds of thousands for the likes of Bob Tway, Tom Lehman, Bernard Langer.
I introduced my putting teaching, novel golf grip and glove with evidence of performance. However, since I did not pay, few players used the products. Two players without a big name or money winnings went on to win the British Senior Open having only put my proprioception enhancing grip of their clubs. Mark Wiebe won in 2013 and Marco Dawson in 2015.
Marc Wiebe, British Senior Open Champion
Marco who had never won on regular tour went on to be multiple winner on the Champions Tour. He started winning millions of dollars, never before realized. 
Marco Dawson British Senior Open Champion and winner at Tuscon.
I had data on 100 plus players showing they could hit the ball more in the face of a driver they had never swung before compared to their perfectly fitted club. I recorded where they hit their ball on the club face. Only one pro hit consistently in the middle of the club face. I then handed them a driver not fit for them, weak shaft and length but with my grooved grip. With no practice swings every player showed improvement in the impact pattern on the face of that driver. Tom Kite expressed what most players were thinking when he said, “Where is the magic bracelet, Lanny? They of course had no understanding of the medical terms of 2-point discrimination or proprioception.
I met with every major golf company president with my products and supporting evidence and still not interest. The main problem with any industry is the NIH, or not invented here. They saw the evidence but no interest. The golf industry is built on marketing, even up to 35% of net income. They sell the head of the driver and not the grip. The grip is a commodity to them and the cheaper the better. The golf industry has convinced the pubic that the club hits the ball 10 yards further every year. If so, how far would the ball go in 10 years; not. The shaft has gained some attention in recent years. I finally learned I was trying to overcome superstition with evidence.
The final blow to this venture was when the IRS fined me $180,000 saying I was not really working, but just having fun with a hobby. I paid and since no longer could deduct my expenses I went back to my day job, orthopedic and medical research.
My favorite golf story. Jay Haas came up to me on the putting green and asked if he could have his pitcher taken with me. I was surprised as it is usually the other way around. A citizen asks the pro for a picture. I inquired why? Jay said he saw his orthopedic surgeon the week before and asked him he knew of me since he had lunch with me just 3 weeks before. The doctor said you must be mistaken Jay, Lanny is so old he is dead. You likely had lunch with his son. So me being alive and well, Jay wanted to send the doctor our photograph to prove Jay was right.
Jay Haas and myself
see legacy www.prescriptiongolf.com
“Golf clubs do not play golf; humans do.”
Our products are based on how the human body works. Until now, everything in golf was based on how the golf club works. The emphasis is on the technology in the shaft and club head. No attention has been given to how golf club technology cooperates with the human body.
Here is a simple explanation. We must state the obvious; The golf club does not know where it is in space. Only human can perceive spatial relationships or direct the path of the golf club.
Medical explanation: Our grips and gloves (www.realfeelgloves.com) are based upon the feel in the golfer’s hands. Feel has long been the mantra in golf. However, until now the biofeedback principles were not understood. The skin of the hand plays a prominent role in determining where the golfer’s body is in space and the club head’s path. The medical principle is known as tactile edge orientation processing. It is fancy wording for the human’s ability to touch (tactile) an object’s edge and immediately and automatically understand (orientation) and process in their mind and body without thinking. It is the body function that allows one to reach into their pocket and automatically tell the difference between a quarter and a house key.
Proprioception: The result is that human automatically without thinking has the capacity to know where their body parts are in space. For instance, one can close their eyes and touch their index finger to their nose. This function is called proprioception. Proprioception is the human body’s ability to know where it is in space. On second thought, a cat must have the same capacity, since when thrown in the air, they always land on their feet. As the old joke says, it is evident that a buttered piece of bread does not have proprioception, since when dropped it lands butter down on the floor.
Biofeedback: The imprint on the golfer’s hands provides the sensory aspect leading to the biofeedback.
The dermal imprint is a longitudinal groove parallel to the golf club shaft. This imprint automatically tells the golfer’s body where the golf club is in space.
2-Point Discrimination: The grooved grip makes an intimate connection between the golf club and the golfer at the highest neurosensory level. This is known in medicine as “2-point discrimination”. The longitudinal dermal imprint on the skin of the golfer’s hands is instantly “read” by the player’s neurosensory system. This very high-level neurological signal is spontaneously sent to the player’s brain. In turn, this signal is processed and instantly sends a message to the golfer’s musculoskeletal system of where the golf club is in space. In medical terms, the player’s proprioception is enhanced, thereby delivering the golf club in the same place. Proprioception is the human body’s means of intuitively knowing where it is in space.
In computer terms, the connection between the player and the golf club is not a remote wireless, but requires an intimate connection. This connection must be intimate, solid, seamless and continuous between the player’s hands and the golf club grip from the time the golfer takes aim and continues through impact. With the Grooved Golf Grip it does not matter where the player places his hands, the enhanced feel will be there. In addition, the player’s skin is embedded into the longitudinal grooves and literally capture the golfer’s skin securely to the golf grip and thereby control any unwanted torque of the golf club.
This results in tour players and amateurs alike hitting the ball more in the center of the club face and therefore straighter and with more predictable accuracy.
The Premise:
It is desirable to consistently hit the ball in the center of the club face.
The Problem:
Testing shows that hitting the ball consistently in the center of the club face is not easily achieved even by PGA tour players.
The Solution:
The revolutionary Grooved Golf Grip will “cause” a golfer with a decent swing and a properly fitted club to hit the ball more consistently towards the center of the club face. Notice we said, “cause”. This revolutionary performance enhancing grip requires no lessons or training to improve the center hits on the club face. We proved it with PGA tour player testing.
The “Cause”: The “cause” requires an explanation. The explanation necessitates understanding how the human body functions and biofeedback.
The Golf Swing, Medically Speaking: The golf swing, written in medical terms, looks like this: Golf is dependent upon the player’s innate proprioception, spatial relationships and neurosensory transmission, central nervous system interpretation, psychomotor skills and motor memory execution.
Medically speaking, the golf swing sounds impossible. Furthermore, it happens so fast, in a matter of seconds. No wonder golf is difficult. There is no time to think about anything. In fact, it is best if the golfer does not think about anything except visualizing the best swing he can put on the ball. The execution must have a foundation of solid principles built in prior practice. In other words, he/she must play by feel. Does all this happen without consciously feeling anything? Yes, because there is no time in the split second of the stroke to think or to focus upon any specific feeling! At best the player might capture a single swing thought. If the player tries two or more swing thoughts, malfunction sets in. All the biological data must be collected instantaneously in the player’s psychomotor system and executed spontaneously via the musculoskeletal system to complete the stroke.
Medical Explanation: Understanding how this revolutionary patented, USGA conforming Grooved Golf Grip works requires a medical term briefing in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology.
A Neuroanatomy Lesson: Our fingers are more sensitive than the palm of our hand and much more sensitive than our back. The reason is that there are more nerve endings per square inch in the skin of the fingers than the palm or the back. The patented and registered, trademarked Grooved Golf Grip exploits the normal neuroanatomy of the fingers and hands.
A Neurophysiology Lesson: The human hand naturally has ability to determine spatial relationships and 3-dimensional geometry. It does not require schooling or a physical therapy lesion for a person to reach into their pocket and pull out a car key rather than the adjacent cell phone. Humans have a second nature for discerning the shapes of three dimensional geometric objects. This occurs instinctively by the neurological connection to the brain and back again to the muscles of the upper extremity.
Proprioception: This is the normal body function that intuitively knows where it is in space. For instance, you can close your eyes and move your finger to touch your nose, your ear and even move your right foot so your heel is placed on top of your left knee. No lessons necessary to accomplish these feats. Every good golfer has a high level of proprioception skills.
Back to the Golf Shot: The golfer utilizes his/her normal neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and proprioception to hit the golf ball in the desired direction and distance.
There is Help for the Golfer: This USGA conforming grip with US Patented longitudinal grooves enhances the golfer’s perception of where the golf club is in space. It is intuitive. It does not require instruction or physical therapy.
Dermal Impression: Most golf grips make some kind of dermal impression. The human body reads intuitively the dermal impression on the skin of the fingers and hands when the golf grip is grasped. However, only the Grooved Golf Grip has perceptible longitudinal grooves in each quadrant. These grooves by their size and position make an imprint at the highest level of human recognition and perception. If they were smaller than 2 mm wide, it would be below the human perception threshold.
Three Dimensional Shape Perception: This dermal impression is a miniature of the geometric three dimensional shape of the golf club shaft that is registered in the golfer’s neurosensory apparatus. Neurosensory wise, the golfer becomes one with the golf club.
Spatial relationship: The longitudinal dermal impression which is in alignment with the shaft, instantaneously telegraphs to the player’s brain the position of the golf club shaft in space. No lessons are required.
What does this means to the Golfer? It means he/she is connected, even embedded intimately to the golf club by this dermal imprint created by the Grooved Golf Grip. The golfer grips the Grooved Golf Grip resulting in multiple longitudinal dermal impressions on the player’s fingers and hands. It does not matter where the golfer places their hands on the grip, there will be dermal impressions.
We want feel to be spontaneous and intuitive, resulting in better club face impacts for better and more enjoyable golf. See The Technology of Feel of the Grooved Golf Grip.
A pilot study was performed on PGA tour players in attempt to establish a proof of principle.
The hypothesis was that a consistent center hit on a driver would result in a longer and straighter drive and more consistently.
PGA tour players were solicited to be involved in the test on the driving range on the days prior to their respective tournament. After they had hit though all their clubs and had finished with their driver, they were asked if they would participate in a test by hitting first their driver 5 times and then the test driver 5 times. An impact paper with adhesive backing was placed the face of each driver. The player was to hit successive shots, but not to look at the impact spots until the test was concluded. The player then did the same with the test driver; a 15 year old Bridgestone 9.5 degree J33R head with a Graphite design PM 702s prototype stiff graphite composite shaft with the Grooved Golf Grip.
Only one PGA regular tour player tested consistently hit his driver in the center of the face. The following illustration shows the impact spots on his driver on the left and the trial driver on the right.
Testing of players immediately prior to a tournament provided information to compare where the player made impact and their driving statistics in the following days in the tournament. It was then of interest to see how well he did in the tournament. This player shot 5 under and finished 12th place at Riviera in 2011. His statistics showed he was tied for 5th in driving accuracy and 4th in driving distance. (See below copied from public domain of PGA Tour Internet page).
| STATS | Rnd1 | Rnd2 | Rnd3 | Rnd4 | TOT | RANK* |
| EAGLES | — | — | — | — | 0 | N/A |
| BIRDIES | 2 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 15 | T18 |
| PARS | 14 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 49 | T12 |
| BOGEYS | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | T71 |
| DOUBLE BOGEYS | — | — | — | — | 0 | N/A |
| OTHER | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | T1 |
| DRIVING ACCURACY | 64 | 79 | 57 | 86 | 71.4 | T5 |
| DRIVING DISTANCE | 295.0 | 278.5 | 307.5 | 302.5 | 295.9 | 4 |
| PUTTS PER ROUND | 28 | 24 | 32 | 28 | 28.0 | T17 |
| PUTTS PER GIR | 1.800 | 1.364 | 2.000 | 1.833 | 1.766 | 22 |
| GREENS IN REG | 56 | 61 | 78 | 67 | 65.3 | T16 |
| SAND SAVES | 60 | 0 | 100 | — | 57.1 | T31 |
* Ranks are computed at the end of each round.
This International player’s testing results are one of many examples supporting our hypothesis that hitting consistently in the middle of the driver face results in longer more accurate drives.
Many other players were tested in a similar manner. The example below is from a Champion Tour player.
| DRIVING ACCURACY | 43 | 50 | 64 | 52.4 | T73 |
| DRIVING DISTANCE | 274.0 | 285.5 | 292.5 | 284.0 | 17 |
Other studies: We have examined how the grooved grip influences the impact site on the driver in a couple ways. One way was to have the same head and identical shafts; one with and one without the grooved grip. The improvement was seen with the grooved grip.
Another method was to have the player hit first with their driver, then the test driver, followed by applying the grooved grip to their driver. The following is one example of amateur golfers.
His Driver Round Grip (Top Left), Test Driver (Top Right), His Driver 4 Grooved Grip (Bottom)
The results show he had scattered impact spots on driver face with his driver. He improved in location and compaction of the impact spots with Test driver. However, just 40 minutes later or within one hour time without any practice the impacts spots on his driver with the four grooved grips showed marked improvement in location and consistency.
Tour Player Testing: The following examples show many convincing proofs from PGA Tour players.
Driver Testing Torrey Pines 2011
The PGA tour players warmed up with their driver and hit 5 recorded shots with impact paper on their driver face. They then were handed a club they never hit before and without a practice swing hit 5 shots with the test driver; a 9.5 degree, older Bridgestone J33R with PM702s graphite design stiff shaft and the four longitudinal grooved golf grip, called Grooved Grip.
The following results show the impact spot on each; their driver on the left and Test Driver on the right. The results show that all players had the impact spot move more towards the center of the club face and/or the impact spots became more one on top of the other.
Only the Nationwide tour player recognized immediately during the test that he was now hitting in the middle of the club face. The others were surprised to see the results. The former major winner wants the grip on all his clubs. The last report at the bottom of the page is the first player of any caliber that I have tested that did not show marked improvement. In his case he hit near the center to start.
Available tournament driving stats from the tournament are printed below when available.
Top 100 PGA tour player in 2010
His Driver (R), Test Driver (L)
3 Time Major Champion
| DRIVING ACCURACY | 50 | 36 | 50 | 43 | 44.6 | T50 |
| DRIVING DISTANCE | 289.0 | 295.5 | 275.0 | 278.0 | 284.4 | 50 |
He is 100th in total driving stats.
Young PGA Winner in 2010
| DRIVING ACCURACY | 29 | 36 | 32.1 | N/A |
| DRIVING DISTANCE | 290.0 | 313.5 | 301.8 | N/A |
Nationwide Exempt Player
| DRIVING ACCURACY | 50 | 36 | 42.9 | N/A |
| DRIVING DISTANCE | 283.5 | 261.5 | 272.5 | N/A |
Multiple Winner PGA Tour
| DRIVING ACCURACY | 71 | 57 | 64 | 71 | 66.1 | 3 |
| DRIVING DISTANCE | 269.0 | 294.0 | 273.5 | 266.0 | 275.6 | 71 |
