Welcome To The Best Golf Training Aids!
You have come to The Best Golf Training Aids website looking for answers! Something is not quite right with your golf game. Maybe you have memories of your last three-putt. Or a recent shank off the hosel of your nine iron. Or a disaster on the first tee in front of your friends. These things happen. We all just wish that they happened less frequently.
Many have seen and chuckled at the recent internet video of the little boy missing a putt. We can all relate to that state of sheer anguish from the golf ball’s betrayal. After all, it really is the golf ball’s fault! Right? Ok, probably not. We all want to improve our golf games to prevent the next bad shot and meltdown.
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With all of the training tools in the market, it is difficult to choose the exact right one. We are here to help sort through the clutter. We do the research, read the reviews, test the equipment, and make price comparisons so that you don’t have to. For the most part, we recommend intuitive, easy to use products that golfers can understand, and immediately put to use. While we tend to like physical products, we also make a few recommendations on instructional books / DVDs and outstanding technology-based training aids.
Through our research, we determine what we believe to be the best golf training aid for a particular purpose. For instance, body alignment is an essential and fundamental part of the golf stance setup. One of the simplest aids for this type of practice is golf alignment rods. If you were to enter a search on Amazon for “golf alignment rods” (quick hint: Any text in red is clickable!), you would receive over 100 results. Most folks, when presented with that many options, either walk away or make a rushed, uninformed decision. Our job is working through all of the marketplace noise to simplify your selection process. By the way, we recommend the Elixir Golf Alignment Sticks because of their unique features and price point.
We have created five categories of training aids:
Some training aids are listed in multiple categories. For instance, the alignment rods are listed in all three swing categories. As a second example, all of the training aids listed within the Technology category are listed in one or multiple of the swing categories.
There are multiple ways of selecting or switching between the five categories. You can use the top navigation menu. Click on the highlighted bullet points above. Or, click on any of the four product section headings below.
Best Golf Training Aids for Full Swings
Everyone wants to hit their driver and approach shots farther and with more control of trajectory and shape. Most of us would love to be long-hitters or flush irons players. The key to gaining distance and control is a predictable ball flight. A predictable ball flight comes from having a consistent, synchronized, and powerful swing with a smooth tempo and a squared clubface making contact with the ball. So, the real challenge for golfers is that they have to master all aspects of their swing to gain distance and consistency.
To help with the full swing challenge, we have identified products that will help you improve your set up, body alignment, backswing, forward swing, impact, follow-through, and tempo. For the most part, these full swing training aids are relatively straightforward tools that every golfer should use. We have left the bio-mechanics, neurophysiology, spatial X Y factor dynamic, and rock-paper-scissors game theory in the lab for the scientists. …mainly because we don’t fully understand them! And, neither do most average golfers.
We have identified and recommend the most reliable and user-friendly training aids that we have found for the full swing.
Best Golf Training Aids for Short Game Improvement
Many golfers struggle with their short games and take too many strokes from 100 yards into the green. They will duff a pitch into a sand trap or fly a sand wedge over the green. Worse yet, they “chili-dip” a simple wedge shot creating a massive divot while watching the ball trickle forward a few feet or yards. Sub-optimal, to say the least.
What many golf gurus say is that golfers do not spend enough time practicing their short game. For many golfers, it is just a lot more fun, satisfying, and even ego-boosting to take out their drivers and irons and go “scrape and hit” 100 balls repetitively on the driving range. Face it; there is very little joy in continuously bending over and picking up golf balls across a short game practice green. It can be sheer drudgery.
By the way, our absolute favorite short game tool cures the drudgery of short game practice. Click here!
The short game category focuses on helping golfers improve their performance from 100 yards to the green. What we have found is that improvement in the short game comes down to mastering simple fundamentals. The key fundamentals are alignment, set up positions, swing basics, and practicing with a precise target in mind.
Best Golf Training Aids for Putting Improvement
We have sweat over many three footers. So, we sympathize with golfers who need to improve their putting. It is amazing how many of us are champions as mini-golf players, yet struggle to consistently line up and execute a 6 to 8-foot putt. We all tend to reach our putting plateau and stay there. Through focused effort, many golfers find that practicing a proper putting stroke (technique, aim, and tempo) is one of the fastest ways to improve their golf score. Putting (and the short game) is a real equalizer for golfers who aren’t participants in the long drive competitions.
Putting is probably the most idiosyncratic part of the game of golf. For example, think about the variations in grips that you see on the tour these days. There is the overlap, interlock, cross-handed, and multiple varieties of claw grip, to name a few. Then there are countless varieties of standard to oversized grips. And there is significant variation in putter shaft lengths including the now illegal anchored clubs. Add to those variables the explosion in the types, sizes, and positioning of the putter head. Not too long ago, there were just blade putters. Today the putters come in a near-infinite number of shapes and sizes with a variety of shaft positions. Putting has become highly personalized.
With all these variations in grip and equipment, you might think that putting would draw the most attention in terms of teaching and practice. In reality, putting aids are fewer in number and diversity than in other aspects of the game. In addition, the majority of putting training aids tend to be simpler and more straightforward than their full swing and short game counterparts.
As in our other categories, the putting training aids focus on the fundamentals. For example, one of our training aids helps to ensure that your alignment is consistent and appropriate. It takes the guesswork out of setting your shoulders, eyes, and swing path to be parallel with the desired direction of the ball. Other aids will assist you in practicing the proper speed of the ball and visualizing the curvature of its path so that it will consistently find the bottom of the hole.
Best Golf Training Aids that are Technology-Based
As mentioned previously, we tend to recommend training aids that are manual, easy to understand, and easy to use. We tend to shy away from training aids that have to be plugged in – in part because of complexity, but also because of cost considerations for the average golfer. That said, the one thing that we care most about is whether the training aid delivers results! Simplicity is great, but results matter most!
Electronic based training aids are exploding in the marketplace and in the training bays of teaching professionals. There are multitudes of computer-based training aids aimed at measuring: every aspect of a club’s path and speed; a golfer’s weight shift as he swings a club; as well as a ball’s flight, spin speed, and distance. Many of these enhanced tools are too expensive for recreational golfers. Prices are dropping at the same time that effectiveness and reliability are increasing. Over time we will be identifying the best electronic-based training and performance aids. Our recommended tools will range from consumer accessible launch monitors to the latest and best GP watches, to club motion tracking devices, and more.
The technology category is one of the fastest-growing, and we will do our thorough research before making our recommendations.
Crowdsourcing of Ideas on The Best Golf Training Aids
While we do a ton of research, we know that we will never know everything. Thankfully we live in the internet age. So we are humbly asking folks who visit the site to take a moment and give us your opinion on what is the best golf training aid that you have used? What has worked for you? What makes it great? And, how did it improve your game?
Our goal is to help golfers solve problems in their golf games, utilizing the most effective golf training aids on the market. Over time we plan to identify the top 50. We look forward to your comments and recommendations!
A Quick Caution and a Parting Thought
The quick caution: No golf performance tool or aid will give instantaneous, breakthrough results regardless of what they say on the late-night golf infomercials. Bad habits must be broken. And, preferred patterns need to be hardwired into mind and muscle memory before the results of the training will be seen on the course. The tools we recommend will help you improve if used correctly and consistently.
The parting thought: This year can be the year that you break 100, 90, 80, 70! It will take a couple of things to accomplish your goals:
- The first step is frequently overlooked. Take the time and actually set a goal for what golf results you would like to achieve. The goal should be specific, even if it has nothing to do with how well you score. For instance, you might want to feel more comfortable playing golf so that you can enjoy the more social aspects of the game.
- Second, determine what parts of your game are standing in the way of you reaching that goal. Is it your long game, short game, putting, or something else that is holding your performance back? And then, think critically about what aspect of that part of your game needs work. Is your fade actually a massive slice? Is your chipping too much of an underground exploration?
- And lastly, practice: Once you have gotten specific on what you need to work on, you will then have to become focused on actually practicing. And as needed, you should purchase the best golf training aids available to target your specific areas of focus and accelerate your improvement.
Good luck, and we look forward to seeing you out on the links!
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The video of the little boy missing the putt was so sweet. I agree we have all had our moments. Enjoyed touring your website. Very informative content. Browsing through the different website links was very fluid and very easy to understand. I will definitely forward your website to my friends that play a lot of golf to get them better equipped so they can get their game on.
Thanks for checking us out. I can’t tell you how many times I have watched the video. Too many. And I can say that I have never gotten quite that frenzied about missing a two footer. But I have been close!
Hi, I’m not a golfer myself but I occasionally do some translations on golfwear with a lot of terminology concerning the game. Will definitely bookmark this page for future reference 🙂 Thanks for lots of explanation. Have to find a similar page in my own language now.
Are you planning on desribing more apparel for golfers? Shoes especially. Because that’s what I would be looking for definitely :). But the explanation of the game itself is great too.
Best
Anna
Thank you for stopping by. At some point I probably will look at footwear. It probably won’t be until late summer after we have gotten further in our quest to identify the 50 best golf training aids. I walk a lot of courses and nothing will impact your game quicker than blisters.
Hahaha, right :). Will keep visiting then 🙂
Thanks!
That video is so funny. My husband gets frustrated but not like that. However, he has seen men throw their clubs in the water or across the green when missing a put. I love the set up on your site and will send my husband to check it out. I bookmarked your site 🙂
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it. It is amazing the ups and downs you can experience playing golf.
I’m so glad I came across this website! I do believe the name is appropriate: the best golf training aids indeed! You cover all the important aspects, the website is easy to navigate, and the articles are clear, useful, and written in a very pleasant tone, that is easy to follow and understand. Thanks again! I’m bookmarking this!
Thank you for the comment and bookmark! We try to be straightforward, fact-based and pleasant in our approach.
Brad,
So you’re saying there may be hope for me yet?!!
We had golf in phys ed in college (way long ago), and I haven’t played since! I was never that good (maybe why I haven’t played?), so I’m glad to have so many options to improve my game.
Your point about the “short game” and the accompanying images of the young child who missed his put (who can’t relate to that?) was insightful. For the past many years the closest I came to golf was mini golf (which I do love!), and that’s basically all short game, so maybe that will translate into a shorter learning curve for me there?
The humor you sprinkle throughout the site also makes it easy and fun to read!
Anyway, love the suggestions and options. Glad to have you to guide me through the morass of choices!
Finally, did you see the young player who hit the hole in one? It was on the news a few days ago. I believe Tiger Woods was there, but no hole in one for him.
Fore!
Thanks for stopping by. The hole in one in front of Tiger was awesome. I can’t imagine how excited, happy and overwhelmed the kid must have been!
Great article!
I haven’t played golf in a very long time and I really wanna get back at it. And this article really makes me want to even more. The next time I get a chance to play the game I will be sure to take some of the things you have talked about here and put them into play.
Thanks for great read!
Thanks for the stop by and comment. Golf is an amazing game once you get hooked. And it is a sport you can play for life! Good luck! Enjoy!
Hey, Brad. I got here by a link is a website called the retirement cash organization. Just Google those words. I have really enjoyed reading your website pages. Is there a reason they want so much more for “Ping” or is it just a brand thing like Nike?
I don’t think we mere mortals have a chance of figuring out pricing. I think when it comes to things like golf carry bags for example, PING is trying to position itself as one of the high quality players. Thanks for stopping by and looking at both of our websites.
IMO, the Phil’s “Best Short Game Book” is exceptional in every aspect except putting. If Phil could read the green, he wins US Opens and completes the career grand slam. Phil admits that in magazine articles I can send. The path to Phil winning a US Open at link below:
Thanks,
Andy
http://www.expertgreenreading.com/
I agree that the putting section isn’t as strong as the other sections. It’s good but not great.
The book did markedly improve my chipping and pitching.
That video of the little kid missing his shot made my day, hilarious. Reminds me of myself when I miss an easy putt, ha ha. I think I’m definitely in need of some golf training aids to improve my game. Great site, by the way. I have had a look around and am impressed. Consider yourself bookmarked …
Hey, Thanks for the positive comments. I think we all feel like that child sometimes!
Very good article. As a newbie to the sport of golf, I’m always looking for training aids that will help my swing quickly. I prefer to use a modern approach so I would prefer an aid that can sync to my mobile devices and provide real-time information that will me improve my game. Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks for the question! Absolutely, you should look at the Arrcos 360 Golf Performance Tracking System. http://thebestgolftrainingaids…