Are you a high handicapper? Are you working on your game? Do you want to be able to fix your swing without spending piles of money on instruction?

I am too, so I decided I would take a look and see what’s available out there. When I was done one thing became obvious: There is nothing to replace an instructor and time on the range or the course.

But that doesn’t mean that some training aids can’t help golfers improve certain things. For that reason, here is a list of some of the most popular training aids available on the market today. It is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list, but it will give golfers a good idea of what’s out there.

Fitness Aids

These are mainly focused on keeping you in shape and healthy. Most fitness aids come with exercises and routines that are supposed to help with golf specific movements and muscles. Their key components are improving stability, strength and flexibility.

Many golf fitness aids can benefit just about anyone. Most golfers strive to be in better shape (it’s awful getting tired at the end of a round and screwing up their personal best), and if they’re doing it in a manner that can help their golf game, all the better right?

The biggest downfall of many products and exercises is the fact that they don’t necessarily work multiple muscles at once. Too many people want to work on “golf-only”  or “mirror” muscles and they neglect to balance that work. For example, doing a million pushups but ignoring the supporting muscle groups can cause swing problems.

Anyone delving into fitness should do so in an informed manner. Talk to a doctor, and/or a fitness expert and come up with an appropriate plan. In the end, get yourself in better shape. If golf related exercises fit into a routine and help your overall fitness go right ahead!

A simple fitness aid is basically a medicine ball with handles. It’s great for working the core and strengthening the shoulders and arms.

“Fitness kits” vary in composition. They usually include a variety of devices that strengthen certain muscles or work to ingrain certain swing patterns. Some of them are useful, some are far from it.

Above is the “Orange Whip,” which costs around $110. It is considered the cream of the crop of weighted clubs.

Swing trainers like the Orange Whip help with swing tempo and fitness. The extra weight and flexibility of the club helps work out and stretch muscles. To swing the club properly, one has to even their tempo out and resist the urge to yank the club down from the top.

Swing Aids

Ahh, here is probably the biggest market for people trying to make a quick buck on us poor unsuspecting golfers. There are so many different options out there. There are weighted clubs (mentioned above in the fitness section), hinged clubs, flexible weighted swing trainers, alignment sticks, items to keep wrist hinge correct, swing analyzers that attach to the club… the list goes on and on.

Do they work? It’s up to the person trying it out. Tempo problems? Well then some of the tempo aids MAY assist you.

What about alignment, is it horrible? Alignment sticks may help depending on WHY one’s alignment is wrong. No one has the same swing and a particular swing aid may try to force someone into movements that don’t work for them. In the end if a product can help deliver the club face to the ball in a repeatable manner then it most likely works.

Medicus dual hinged clubs (around $150) are used to supposedly help you swing “on plane” and “on tempo.” They can definitely help with  tempo because any jerky motions will cause the hinges to “break.” Helping you find the proper plane, on the other hand, is debatable. The clubs can allow a person to get very over the top or make other very bad swing motions and still keep the hinges from breaking.

Impact bags allow for learning the proper feel at impact. They can be used at home and are easy to find.

Alignment sticks are used for many, many purposes. They can be run along the feet to show alignment, set up to assist with the swing plane, create a gate for aiming (hit the ball through the gate) and have many other uses. There is even an accessory that can turn an alignment stick into an iPhone mount for taking video.

Putting Aids

Lastly we have putting aids. Who loses a ton of strokes on the putting green? Yep, high handicappers (and most amatuer golfers).

Again, putting is a unique swing. Each person is different. Does the putter move in a straight line? Maybe it moves in an arc? There is a device for that!

There are smartphone apps that can be attached to a putter such as Ping’s iPing. There are boards with lines and tracks to keep the putter moving in the right direction. Of course, each person is going to be the only one who can determine what works and what does not.

A putting mirror ($60 from EyeLine Golf) has alignment markers, allows one to see their setup, and “gates” can be added to keep the stroke in line, etc. A great aid for putting.

A putting rail ($60 EyeLine Golf) helps ingrain a putting stroke with a slight arc and also assists with set up.

A hinged putter ($60 from SKLZ) will help with tempo and takeaway. If the move is too fast or too offline it will “break.”

Conclusion

It’s easy to spend almost as much on “golf aids” as it is on the equipment itself and guess what? It’s very possible not one bit of it will make a person a better golfer.

The only surefire way to get better is by learning from an instructor who is compatible with the particular student. This is someone who teaches in manner that allows for lessons to be digested and applied. It might take a few different instructors before the student finds the right teacher. Once you find the right one, all that is left is practicing, either on the range or out on the course.  The more of it that is done, the better one’s game will get.

Lessons can be expensive and gadgets are cheap (usually). The problem is that most times golfers purchase many gadgets before they stumble onto the useful ones for them. At that point, it is very likely that more has been spent on the gadgets than expected!

I’ve personally taken the route of instruction and my game is trending in the right direction. I believe yours should too. One final benefit to getting instruction versus adding gadgets? My garage is MUCH cleaner than it has been.