What Golf Training Aid Has Helped You The Most

[TourSpoon]

Unlimited range balls. Although they've also ****ed me up the most, so we'll call it a wash.

A ball wash?

[newtogolf]

It's a tie between SkyPro and a video camera.  SkyPro points out certain aspects of your swing that fall outside the norm.  Video cameras allow you to see exactly what your swing looks like, not what you think it does.

In terms of non-high tech gadgets, Orange Whip has been a great aid for improving flexibility and swing speed.  Also good to use as a warm up before a round or practice at the range.

[Stretch]

A ball wash?

[TourSpoon]

It must be a Cape Town thing. In the States we have machines to do that for us, but it is only one at a time.

[Acuna]

I am new to golf, but from an outsider looking in, there sure does seem to be a lot of snake oil in the golf training aid market.  I am sure all of it has its purpose at some point, but in the end my philosophy (as a new golfer) was get instruction at the beginning to build a solid foundation of swing mechanics and then practice, practice, practice.  The lessons I took once a week when starting to play golf earlier this year were key.

That said, I did buy a device called a Swing Advantage.  While I do not think that it is necessarily the end all be all swing training aid, I have found it to be excellent for working out my core.  It has also helped me use more of my body and not just my arms to try and swing the club.  No affiliation with the company, I just bought one of its products.

[Mulligan Jeff]

Saw the video on the Orange Whip need to get one.

[Strandly]

Him:  Did you see on the news last week some guy broke both his legs out here?

Me:  No shit?  What happened?

Him:  Yeah, he fell off the ball washer.

I sit there for a really long 10 seconds trying to figure out how big this (presumably) industrial ball washing machine must be for someone to break their legs falling off it.  Then I thought maybe it was a cheesy sex joke and there is a large woman who washes the range balls and some dude was trying to hit it.  Finally like 15 seconds later the other old guy goes "It was a joke, ignore him he gets stupid this time of day".  And then I realize we're parked next to a 3 foot tall manual washer and that's what the joke was about.

[Meltdwhiskey]

I find it interesting that no one has said the Medicus.  I have a friend who swears by this (but I've oddly never seen him practicing with it) and I thought it was kind of the defacto best training aid ever.  I've been interested in getting one, but for the life of me can't reconcile in my mind how it is supposed to help me.

I've had trouble finding an explanation of how it works any deeper than "when you do something wrong, it breaks".  I get that, but don't trust it without understanding it.  I start to anaylyze it and get this far:

There is a hinge in the club that runs more or less in line with the target line

When I take the club back, the hinge might break - and the only reason I can guess is because of speed

A) I wouldn't think that speed alone would be that bad if the overall tempo was good

B) After use, that hinge would seem to get looser

So I give up there.  Has anyone ever seen a step by step explanation of this device and what it prevents along the way?  I'd love to understand it and maybe get one.

[iacas]

I find it interesting that no one has said the Medicus.  I have a friend who swears by this (but I've oddly never seen him practicing with it) and I thought it was kind of the defacto best training aid ever.  I've been interested in getting one, but for the life of me can't reconcile in my mind how it is supposed to help me.

The Hinge Club (Medicus is the name of two related companies) is the best selling training aid of all time, by far. But I don't recommend anyone use it. ;)

[rkim291968]

Medicus hinge club - very good for starting golfer

Weighted driver - improves swing tempo, builds up muscle strength and speed

Medicus swing speed meter - used to check how I am doing with swing speed

[kw purp]

I cut off the club head on an old iron. Really has help with my shank game, I just go out in the yard and swing the hozzle at the ball as hard as I can.

[Meltdwhiskey]

The Hinge Club (Medicus is the name of two related companies) is the best selling training aid of all time, by far. But I don't recommend anyone use it. ;)

Good enough.  I won't get one.

Just curious (assuming the explanation isn't too long to summarize) what don't you like about it.

[MEfree]

I have been much more consistent about keeping the ball in play this season and it has been showing in my tournament scores.  I am not sure if I can attribute it to any single training aid, but this is what I have been doing-

I have a basement set-up (carpet and blanket on an old closet bar) that allows me to hit 9 irons.

I have an old cardboard box with cut outs that lets me see if my head is moving in relation to the ball (forward or back)

I use a Dynamic Swing Glove that makes it harder to flip your wrist past flat

I start out with making a handful of shots with Leadbetter's Swing Link that helps my arms stay more conected (and hopefully shorten my back swing)

I use Peltz's Truthboard to practice my putting at home- I have not missed any really short putts in competition this year, but my overall putting is still inconsistent.

Not exactly a swing aid, but I visualized the shots I wanted to hit on each hole as I went to sleep the night before each competition I played.

I was doing video last season and early this season, but was playing well during Men's league and figured seeing my swing would only hurt my confidence and make me more mechanical on the course.  I'll likely dust off the video camera this fall.

[iacas]

Just curious (assuming the explanation isn't too long to summarize) what don't you like about it.

The shortest possible (but still genuine) answer I can give is "It would break during the swings of most PGA Tour players."

Or, another: it encourages you to make a swing that won't break the hinge, which is not necessarily a good swing.

Nick Price couldn't take the thing back two inches without it breaking.

[Meltdwhiskey]

The shortest possible (but still genuine) answer I can give is "It would break during the swings of most PGA Tour players."

Or, another: it encourages you to make a swing that won't break the hinge, which is not necessarily a good swing.

Nick Price couldn't take the thing back two inches without it breaking.

Thx for the info.  That was kind of my fear. I couldn't make sense of it specifically.

[atltl]

Tried using this thing before, I got one ball in OK, but things went south when I put the other one and the thing started to twist. 2 weeks in a coma and im just now able to walk!

[MS256]

A SwingRite.

Unfortunately I accidentally left it at a range and now it belongs to somebody else.

[Beachcomber]

Tried using this thing before, I got one ball in OK, but things went south when I put the other one and the thing started to twist. 2 weeks in a coma and im just now able to walk!

Ouch! O__O