Whether you’re a weekend warrior, PGA professional, or a Top Golf maestro, you are likely always looking for ways to improve your swing. Perhaps it’s a new swing mechanic. Maybe you’re looking to get fitted for some new clubs that better fit your personal swing style. Maybe you bought some kooky gadgets on Amazon that guaranteed that you’d drop ten strokes off your game.
Most of us have fallen victim to that last method of fixing our swing. There are thousands of training aids out there on the market that promise to fix your slice, add tons of yardage and whatever else you may be wanting to do with your golf game. Sadly, there are way more “gimmicky” products on the market than there are legitimate training aids that can actually improve your game.
That said, there are some new products around as well as some tried and true devices that can hone your swing and help you become a better ball striker from the tees and around the green. Today, I’m going to share three great, budget-friendly training aids that I have used and can easily recommend to any golfer of any age and handicap. Here we go.
Lag Shot
If you have every shopped online for clubs or golf gear, you’ve likely seen or been served ads for the Lag Shot golf club. While this whippy training club has only been on the market for a few years, the concept is as old as the game itself. Creating lag when striking the ball is something that many amateur golfers never think about but the fact of the matter is, this elusive technique can add a fair amount of distance to your swing while also helping you strike the ball more consistently.
The concept is simple. Lag is created when you reduce the angle between your lead arm and the club shaft. The sharper the angle, the more ahead of the club head your hands will be. This creates lag. It’s that sensation of leading with your hands and as the club head follows, the ball is blasted off the club face with a strike that feels like absolute heaven. Combined with proper body rotating and angle of attack, lag in the golf shot can create power like you’ve never known before.
The Lag Shot golf club was designed solely for the purpose of teaching you what it feels like to create lag. The overly flexible shaft forces the club head to remain behind your hands as you rotate back towards the ball. With just a few swings of the Lag Shot 7-iron, you will begin to feel what it means to lead with your hands and create lag. Many golfers will use the Lag Shot on the range while switching back and forth between it and their actual 7-iron. We have a Lag Shot here in the office and I have found that it is exceptional in helping me get my hands back “in the slot” when I’m not creating the lag that I want.
The Lag Shot isn’t just for working on your iron game either. The company has release a Driver as well as a wedge and all three clubs can be purchased for men, junior golfers and just recently Lag Shot added a ladies line of training clubs. You can pick up the original men’s Lag Shot 7-iron for $199 or you can get the complete Triple Threat set for only $299. For a limited time, we’ve teamed up with Lag Shot to bring our readers a special bonus. When you use the promo code PROOFGOLF at checkout, you’ll receive an additional 15% off your entire order over $75. With your purchase, you will also get access to some exclusive video content on how to make the most out of your Lag Shot clubs. Lag Shot also offers a 30-day money back guarantee which makes it very easy to try them out.
Alignment Sticks
This is one of those training aids that every golfer should use but most non-pros probably don’t. I’m sure you’ve been to a driving range where there were fiberglass sticks sitting there for you to use and maybe you thought, “what the heck is that for?” If you don’t know, let me enlighten you. Those are alignment sticks and they do exactly what their name says. They help you align stuff.
Many of the golfers I know have serious alignment problems when they step up to address the ball. It’s common sense that, if you aren’t square to your target, you can’t hit the ball consistently at said target. These sticks help you to understand how to align yourself when setting up your shot. For many, you have possibly been addressing the ball off angle for years and since that’s how you step up, your brain is telling you that you’re square to the target even though you aren’t.
This is where practicing regularly with alignment sticks can be a literal game changer. Retraining your brain to properly align your feet and club face at address can drastically improve your game. Some of these tools are as simple as plain old fiberglass or resin sticks that you can carry in your bag. Lay them down aligned with your target and use them while you practice to ensure you’re setting up correctly. Other models, like the Tour Aim alignment aid can assist you in keeping your putter straight as well as making sure your club is at the proper angle from the ground at address.
You can pick up basic alignment sticks for as little as six bucks or go all in on something like the Tour Aim for around $90. Either way, alignment sticks are a must-have for anyone that seriously wants to improve their golf game. You can find my recommendations at the links below.
Impact Ball
You’ve probably seen “swing vest” of all shapes and sizes and while many of them do promote a great swing form, most of them look absolutely ridiculous. I’m not opposed to looking silly if I’m fixing my swing but I’m happy to inform you that there are alternatives that will get the job done while looking slightly less peculiar.
The Impact Ball is a simple foam ball that has an indention on each side for your arms or your legs if you so choose to use it that way. The premise is to keep the ball squeezed firmly between your arms throughout your swing. This promotes proper distance between your arms while keeping them straight and extended. This promotes a natural rotation of the club face which can result in straighter, more consistent ball striking. When used along with one for your legs, the Impact Ball helps you to feel more fluid, uniform body movement.
The Impact Ball comes in three sizes to accommodate about any golfer and it’s a great tool for creating a consistent formation of your arms throughout your swing. The ball is a bit awkward at first but once you get the feel for it, you’ll find yourself taking near full swings without dropping it. It doesn’t take long for that consistency to translate into your normal swing and you’ll find yourself hitting better shots in no time.