With temperatures falling and courses shuttering, the offseason can feel like the time your golf game goes dormant. Nonsense. While it’s certainly not the same as being on the course, it’s time you view the offseason as an opportunity to make some needed swing improvements. Fortunately, there are several devices to help you make lasting changes to your swing that you’ll see pay off on the course next season.
The Tour Striker Smart Ball
When golfers talk about needing improved tempo or rhythm, the culprit is usually a lack of sequencing and synchronization in the swing. Think about it: what good is smooth tempo if the levers of your swing are out of whack anyway? The Smart Ball from Tour Striker will fix that. Inflate the ball, clip it to the lanyard that goes around your neck and hold the ball between your forearms. Now, swing. Using the ball will synchronize your arms and body, eliminate any “chicken wing” in your swing, help you learn to swing from the inside, and teach you to use and strengthen your body’s pivot.
Like all Tour Striker products, the Smart Ball also comes with access to a series of video lesson protocols from coach and inventor Martin Chuck. What’s more, Tour Striker recently released a sleeve system to take the ball off the lanyard and position it at various points across your swing, unlocking new drills and gains. Even if you’re relegated to wiffle balls indoors, the Smart Ball WILL improve your swing.
The StraightAway
They say impact is “the moment of truth” in the golf swing, and the idea has merit. The fact is, if the clubhead gets to impact in the right position it doesn’t really matter how it gets there. But if things start going wrong in the swing they usually start in the takeaway. Many golf coaches will tell you, the downswing (that part right before impact) is usually a reaction to what you’ve done in the backswing. In other words, build a good takeaway and you’ll build a good swing. Enter the StraightAway.
Clip the StraightAway on your club just below the grip, set an alignment rod at your toe line, and learn a takeaway that aligns the StraightAway’s arrow with the alignment rod. You’ll learn to use your core to start the swing rather than lift the club with your hands, and you’ll cure the inside takeaway that rips the club too far behind the body and opens the clubface. Armed with your new tour-quality takeaway, you’ll be free to react with a powerful downswing.
The Divot Board
Ask most golfers what they’re working on in their swing, and they’ll spout off something about wrist angles, their turn, or keeping their left arm straight. In other words, positions in the swing. This offseason, consider focusing less on position and more on the skill of striking the golf ball. The Divot Board will help you do that.
Lay the board at your feet and hit shots, or even take dry swings without a ball, and the board will provide instant visual feedback as to the quality of your strike. You’ll know if you’ve hit a heeled, toed, or centered shot, and if you hit it fat or achieved the desired “ball first” contact, all from the visual feedback. Then, swipe back across the board to reset it, and go again. It’s the perfect way to train for improved strike quality when you’re stuck indoors.
The Smart Ball, the StraightAway, and the Divot Board are three devices that work to help golfers make appreciable swing changes. Get them, use them, and turn the offseason into a season of improvement. You’ll see the results when you get back on the course.