My friend Eric Hogge said it best. “What good is a golf drill or training aid if you don’t transfer it to the regular swing?” This is important to remember as it is easy to get obsessed with the golf drills on the range and just as easy to lose them on the course.
I have found that a few on, several off, is the appropriate usage for drills and training aids.
I believe the ideal practice routine is at least 50% of your range time (rest for full shots and drivers) should be an LW and 7/8 iron hit with a backswing not past left arm parallel to the ground. 19 out of 20 people can’t stop their swing left arm parallel and those that can, are those with short swings to begin with. This is ideal for many reasons. Most people have little kinesthetic awareness and can’t stop their swing at that point. Doing this can help you shorten your swing and build total awareness of your body movements that are easy to apply to real playing.
It creates a better environment for the arms to link up to the rotation of the body, which is the most important thing in the swing. I repeat, the most important thing! Plus, how valuable is a 50 yard LW and a 7/8 iron that comes out low with less spin for hitting out of the trees and in wind conditions, both into and down??????
So since those are real world shots with just a shorter swing…drill/TA rule doesn’t apply…but you still need to translate it to the full swing and driver.
Streaming Video Series
Monte
Have you seen the training aid called the DST Compressor 8 iron? I have no financial interest in this product. Many of the PGA Tour pros have been using this training aid. Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson for example. It was reported half the pros at last year’s President Cup used it. It teaches a golfer how to attain shaft lean in your golf swing. It looks like an effective device and I am considering purchasing the 8 iron. The company also offers a Sand Wedge training aid. It seems as if this device fits your criteria in that a device should instill the feeling you are striving for in the golf swing. Shaft lean is something we as golfers want…yes?
More info here: http://www.dstgolf.com
Derrick
Monte. Interesting to know your views on such a product and whether basic drills, i.e positioning the ball further forward in the stance, give the same feel and result.
I have learned that 3/4s of all PGA Tour players are now using this training aid. Butch Harmon, Sean Foley, and many of the best European coaches also are putting this club in the hands of their players. I’ have just received mine today and started using it (8 iron). It took me 2 swings to get the proper feel correct. These shots were pulling slightly left. Reading through the instruction sheet, they indicated if this was happening then you needed to get your a better weight shift to your lead leg earlier and you needed to turn the body more through the swing impact area. I made this simple adjustment and started puring this club. I used it 10 times and then switched to using my normal 8 iron. There was a slightly lower ball flight but it was hit very solidly. I had read on their website that this club will effectively lower the loft of the club by 10 degrees so I guess this club would train you to hit a 8 iron and essentially achieve the trajectory of a 6 iron. This is what happened. My swing was not that far off from achieving this level forward compression even before I bought this. I like this club as a training aid and will keep it. It is very effective as it ingrains the feel you need to have at impact to make pro-style impact with hands well ahead of the ball at impact. It is a good aid for me to insure I stay their. If you are a player that struggles with creating divots behind the ball this device will help but will take some time before you can reprogram your swing to achieve this result. With this club there is immediate feedback. Either you hit it well or you will hit very poor shots. I am amazed how popular this aid has become amongst some of the best professional golfes in the world. I think most better players should give this aid serious consideration. Weekend hackers will struggle with this club and should see a teaching pro first. Anyway, this is my review and this is what I am sticking with. Hope this is of some help to some of you.
Hit ’em straight.
DV
Thank you Derrick for letting us know that you have no financial interest in this product. Otherwise the more skeptical among us might have assumed the opposite. Thanks for clearing that up!
While I’m here, do you have any tips for a food blender that will make instant nutritious healthy drinks, or maybe some gadget I can use in the home to get washboard abs? I’m particularly interested in something that can wash dry and polish any surface … like a towel, chamois and sponge all in one. Waiting for your tips.
Well Mike since you asked, you can can get answers to your consumer related questions here:
http://www.consumerreports.org
Since Monte’s blog is golf related, not consumer related, and also given the fact the theme of this particular thread is related to training aids I thought it appropriate to pass along information that many better golfers and coaches are having success with. But unfortunate for you, the cycnic in you will never open your mind to the fact that their are actually products out there in the consumer world that actually work Other examples that come to mind are the automobiles, airplanes, electricity, etc….
Derrick
http://gabe-golf.myshopify.com/pages/swing-trainer-drills
These look interesting. Looks like it could help me with my #1 problem that Monte always points out of rotating out of my secondary tilt.
Of course I’m sure I can just make the same thing out of some old clubs I have and some ball bearings down the shaft w/ possibly some strategically placed corks in the shaft to make them stop rolling where I want them to stop…maybe a little trial and error.