Matthew J. MacVeigh

(From June 2007 KC Golfer Magazine, Page 5)

Professionally engineered training tools—designed to improve your game—add oomph to the age-old ideas of shafts stuck in the ground and chipping plastic practice balls into 5-gallon buckets. Most golfers’ egos, however, cannot handle the unwanted attention associated with bringing unwieldy practice devices with them to the driving range. Fortunately, an entire industry devoted to game improvement has given golfers a slew of training aids that, when used properly, take strokes off your game and can be used in the privacy of your own backyard.

The Plane Stick by PracticeRange.com expands upon the tried-and-true concept of jabbing an old shaft in the ground to illustrate the proper swing plane. It features a telescoping padded shaft that extends from a hinged base. This padded shaft allows golfers to take a full-speed swing. If the Plane Stick shaft is struck on follow-through, the golfer receives positive feedback on the breakdown of their swing plane without injury. In addition to the padded shaft, the Plane Stick includes an alignment arrow and target line string to develop proper set-up. The Plane Stick comes with a carrying case, instruction booklet and instructional video.

Products like the Impact Bag or I-Swing Bag offer a simple way to ingrain the most elemental part of the golf swing—position at impact. It’s no wonder golf instructors describe the impact position as the “moment of truth.” Even though several sequences and positions must occur before bringing the club into contact with the ball, the most important part of the swing is the position of the club and hands at impact. The golfer strikes the Impact Bag or I-Swing Bag, stopping the golf swing at the exact point of impact with the ball. Instead of trying to determine the position of the hands and clubface during a full speed swing, the golfer can safely “freeze” the swing and check the position.

The Net. No home practice station is complete without a net capable of handling full shots with a real golf ball. You won’t be playing with practice balls on the course, so why would you practice with limited distance balls at home? Golfers can work on their game at “full speed,” meaning you can safely take a full swing with a real ball with little risk to other people or property. If a permanent net isn’t in the budget, Izzo Golf offers portable nets that pop up in seconds and can also withstand full shots with a standard ball. By using a backyard driving range, you have the luxury of fine tuning your swing as long as necessary until it becomes ingrained into muscle memory. Check at your local golf or sporting goods store, or PracticeRange.com offers a full line of heavy-duty, professional grade nets.

You can drive past a golf course during almost any type of weather and see at least one person trying to hit a drive into forty mile per hour winds and pouring rain. On these days you really need to take your practice indoors and get some instruction from teaching pros whose names are synonymous with better golf. Instructional DVDs and books from the likes of David Leadbetter, Jim McLean, Cindy Reid, and many more, give the golfer the opportunity to hear tips, tricks and drills from teaching professionals to whom they normally wouldn’t have access. What’s more, many of the top teachers combine technology with their packaged instruction. Leadbetter Interactive, by David Leadbetter, combines Interactive Frontiers’ popular and powerful V1 Golf Swing Analysis software with four instructional DVDs. The DVDs comprise video lessons covering swing concepts and essentials, swing shaping, how power equals distance, and more. When coupled with the swing analysis software, Leadbetter Interactive gives a golfer one of the best and most valuable learning packages on the golf training aid market.

Although there are no substitutes for lessons with a golf professional, training aids often help demonstrate concepts that are difficult for even the best teacher to communicate. Whether you are a newcomer or low-handicapper, web sites such as PracticeRange.com provide detailed advice regarding training aids best suited to your ability level. In the Internet era, purchasing golf training tools, having them delivered to your door, and creating a home practice facility is as easy as a few clicks of the mouse.

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