Stryper Swing Training Aids

[Stryper]

Hi all. I've joined as a TST sponsor and while I don't intend to bombard your forums with product plugs ad nauseum, I wanted to put a bit of philosophy behind how I've trod this path.

Although I've only been playing golf since COVID, I've realised there are minute changes in golf setups that impact performance like no other sport I have played/contested in my life. Recently I made a super small change to my grip (using a trigger index finger on my trail hand) that has improved my ball striking dramatically. It blows my mind.

I love being so involved in something that my spare moments are spent analysing how I played and how I can improve. (I recently looked at my stats and my worst pickup holes are Par 5s - I actually play the lowest index holes better than the rest - what he heck?? Mental game after bad shots and concentration needs work there methinks)

And when the small changes matter so much, we need to ensure there is a strategic approach to improvement. Incremental change is critical. Don't deviate from what is known without understanding that any change affects another. This is where the concept for my training aids was born.

Something Erik shared a long time ago - The Virtue of being a Stupid Monkey - stole way too much of my spare time this week pondering. Do I want to know WHAT to do, or do I want to know WHY to do it? It is indeed the what. I've always been a "Try it, and if it works, keep doing until something better springs to mind." A sore back or knee will ruin your round. Do you want to to know how to play around it, or do you need to understand why it's happening?

I'll go into more detail on this soon. In the meantime, here's a video that wraps up the basics of SwingMate, the flagship product. Thanks for having me!

 

[iacas]

  On 4/7/2025 at 9:38 PM, Stryper said:

Something Erik shared a long time ago - The Virtue of being a Stupid Monkey - stole way too much of my spare time this week pondering.

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Thanks! That topic is here…

@boogielicious, @billchao, and I will be sharing our thoughts on the Stryper Pro as we use them. For now, I can share that they're very solidly built, and I appreciate that the alignment sticks break down into smaller pieces.

[boogielicious]

I received the Stryper Swing Aids this weekend and was able to unbox before the rains came. It is quite compact which is a plus. It ships from Australia. This bundle unit retails for $170 plus shipping.

The bag above contains both the SwingMate and StanceMate. Below is the whole kit. The SwingMate is an anodized aluminum base plate with insert slots for the rods that go on the ground and two precision adjustable rod holders for the longer foldable rods. 

The StanceMate is also anodized aluminum and had gradations for different stance widths.

Instructions are available on-line as most things are these days.

Here is the SwingMate with everything unfolded.

It’s quite easy to assemble. The adjustable rod holders are made of a heavy duty plastic and seem well built. They can be tightened. The base plate will hold the target rod (small one that fits through) and two swing directional aids that fit into small insets in the base plate. This will give you a visual of the in-to-out or out-to-in swing path for your drill. Just using these parts alone can be useful at the range.

Here is a close up of the adjusters.

They have angle measurement for precise setup, which is nice. Adjusting is easy with the nuts. The top ones are spring loaded. You can use a rod to move them if it’s too hard by hand.

It’s also nice that they fit in the bag without having to set them back to neutral.

Below is the unit fully assembled with the “Hand Path Drill” rod and “Swing Plane Drill” rods attached.

The long rods have a pointy end which you are supposed to remove before insertion into the adjusters for safety. The points can be used if you want to use the rods in the ground for other drills. The other end has a rubber cap which can be left on the end near your body.

Below it is assembled on my stance platform. As Sandtrappers know well, my practice area is not level. I left the pointy ends on because they were a bit tight. I removed them later.

The StanceMate is a foldable ruler of sorts that has right angle parts to align your feet to.

Stryper has video instructions for the different drills, both hand path and plane that are used with this setup. You can purchase a third rod holder for another drill (rotation). I will try to get some video of this when spring returns to New England in a few days.

So far it seems well made and thought out. Using the hand plane and swing plane rods looks to be easier than sticking rods into the ground on grass or making some kind of jig on hitting mats. Plus they are adjustable for repeatability.