Instruction
This putting laser from Laser Optics could be revolutionary
It’s important to remember that I have no horse in the retail race, but I am obsessed with helping golfers get better at the game. And as a golf instructor, I’m always on the look out for products that can help me better relay concepts to my students so they can get good feedback on their swing or setup.
The part of the game that I’ve found most difficult for most to get feedback on during practice sessions is putting, as Dave Pelz’s research has shown us for years. In fact, a simple miss or make is the last thing you should consider on the putting green when working on your stroke. The more you practice a certain putt, the more you can “work” yourself into making it. The compensations that work on the putting green often come back to bite you on the first green.
This is precisely the reason why Pelz and other great putting coaches such as Paul Hurrion, Mike Shannon, Craig Farnsworth, Dave Stockton Sr./Jr., John Graham, and Stan Utley always use training aids, such as this one, to get their points across.
If you watched The Players Championship this week, or browsed our weekly photos, you may have seen several professionals on the putting green using a multitude of different training aids, but one in particular caught my eye.
Rick Wright has a new training aid on the market called Laser Optics. It shoots an ultra-powerful green laser line across the green that can be seen in direct sunlight. Most instructors have used lasers that projects a “dot,” providing the alignment of your putter face at address, but the Laser Optics technology is the first one I’ve seen that projects an actual LINE on the green.
This is a breakthrough for putting instructors and players because we can now see, with visual proof, the actual line and the ball’s starting direction relative to our aiming point. From here, we can pay more attention to the dynamics of our stroke that helps us start the ball on the intended line. Obviously there are many other uses for this device, but first and foremost using this to audit the face angle at address, the ball’s starting direction, and the line will help every golfer from top to bottom.
I would highly recommend you take a look at his product and see how it can help your game. It’s helping the professionals and teachers on Tour already, and now it’s available to golfers everywhere. For more information on Rick Wright and his Putting Laser, check out the website here.
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Instruction
How a towel can fix your golf swing
This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Instruction
Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks
You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!
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emerson boozer
Jun 1, 2016 at 4:21 am
a mirror on the putter to determine if your face is square would make it more useful.
a chalk line will show you subtle green undulations that the laser will not. are any greens purely flat?
Chuck
May 27, 2016 at 11:23 pm
I am going to ask — not as a smart aleck but because I’d like to learn — what is the main advantage of this device, over snapping a line with a simple chalk line? A chalk line will give you a visible straight line to and from any two points you’d like on the green. Perhaps this laser does more; or does it more easily.
?
leon
May 27, 2016 at 10:08 am
Grabbed a laser line and a cellphone tripod online, $30 in total, work as a charm for me. Plus, I can still use them separately for each original function when needed.
dave
May 27, 2016 at 8:37 am
i bought a red laser putting alignment device but it was totally unusable in normal light. i have access to both a green and purple laser pointer but they project a point. need to mashup the optics from the red laser (vertical line) with the green or purple pointer light source
+2 man
May 26, 2016 at 5:53 pm
I use a long metal ruler. If I can keep it on the ruler for 24 inches, its on the intended line, no? Why is laser (which is admittedly cool) any better?
Todd
May 27, 2016 at 8:32 am
Visible all the way to the hole or intended line
PG
May 26, 2016 at 9:28 am
I’ve been doing this for 10 years in my garage with a Stanley laser line. Works good, but you can’t take it outside. This high power laser looks good.
ph00ny
May 29, 2016 at 8:53 am
$129 for this laser??? With similar amount of money, i can get a bosch self leveling laser with a long distance visibility that i can use to putt and use it at home for hanging stuff on the wall