SKLZ Gyro Review

 

>> REVIEW BY: Rob over at http://www.sandbox8.com/ check out his blog! <<

>> REVIEW BY: Rob over at http://www.sandbox8.com/ check out his blog! <<

SKLZ Gyro Swing Trainer – Reviewed

If you watched the show Fore Inventors Only on the Golf Channel, you would have seen the invention of semifinalist Larry Kelly called the Gyro Swing. The idea for the Gyro Swing, was developed by Larry in search of a golf training aid that focused on feel, instead mechanics and positions. Larry who is also an avid golfer and tinkerer, knew that gyroscopes can maintain a perfect arc around the center point in space. This lead Larry to hypothesize, that if you placed a gyroscope on the end of a clubhead, it would keep your swing on the perfect plane around the golfer’s spine, and help build muscle memory for what a perfect swing feels like.

First Impression – (9.0 RATING)

I’m always skeptical of swing training aids that make claims, that by using their device it will help groove your swing, etc. So when I heard about the Gyro Swing, I thought that this was either going to be a huge disappointment and not work well, or it would be so, so. The idea of having 20,000 RPM motorized gyroscope in the head of a golf club does sound gimmicky. I’m a firm believer that feel versus real is very important in learning the mechanics of the golf swing, and the basic laws of physics that is employed in a gyroscope should work in theory for a golf swing. Hell, they use gyroscopes to keep you balanced on a Segway.

(What You Get)

• Instructional DVD
• 4 -battery recharger
• Six rechargeable NiMH batteries
• Gyro Swing Driver
• Padded clubhead cover.

  

(How Features Work)

The Gyro Swing driver is considerably shorter than a traditional driver, and about the same length or bit shorter than your sand wedge. The Shaft of the Gyro Swing is a dual-colored, black on top and yellow on the bottom of the shaft. The dual-color shaft is used to help you determine when your on plane or off plane in your swing, more on this later.

The next feature is the clear integrated grip on the Gyro Swing. The clear grip has a hand outline(Yellow for your left hand and Grey for your right hand) on it so you can place your hands properly on the grip and easily square the clubface.

In order to begin using the SKLZ Gyro Swing you need to charge the six rechargeable NiMH batteries that came in the box, the only caveat is that the included wall charger, can only charge 4 batteries at a time. So you need to charge the batteries in two waves. 4 batteries take about 120 minutes to completely charge and 2 batteries takes about 60 minutes.

This in my opinion is a bit of an inconvenience and hassle. You waste 3 hours getting the batteries charged, before you can use the Gyro Swing. It would be nice if they provided a six battery charger. After you charge all the batteries, you just insert them in the grip end of the shaft and screw on the new improved on/off cap and your ready to start using it.

Before practicing with SKLZ Gyro Swing, I watched the included DVD, which features Rick Smith one of the country’s top golf instructors talk about how to use the Gyro Swing and drills that you can perform with it. The DVD is about 30 minutes long and it gave me some great background, useful instructions, and drills (Swing Plane Drill, Waggle Drill, Right Arm Drill, Left Arm Drill, Impact & Release Drill) for using the Gyro Swing.

(How To Swing This Sucker!)

To start using the SKLZ Gyro Swing you flip the switch on the grip end of the club and the Gyro Swing’s motor will start spinning and getting up to full speed. The sound it makes, reminded me of a rechargeable electric shaver who’s battery were beginning to drain-that dull buzzing sound. While waiting for the Swing Gyro to get up to speed, take a comfortable, stable and balanced golf stance, and use the integrated grip guide for proper hand alignment. Whatever you do, your not supposed to ground the club. The Gyro Swing is not meant to hit balls with or hit against the ground as it can cause the motor or internal parts to break. As the the speed increases, swing back and forth at 50% effort starting with smaller movement and gradually increasing to a full motion. While performing this movement, you need to keep a light grip on the club to get a full feel of the gyroscopic resistance. Focus on squaring the clubface where the ball would be positioned, and releasing just beyond that point. Keep only the black portion of the dual-colored shaft in view throughout the swing. If you see the Yellow, that means the clubface is off-plane.

Now that the Gyro Swing is up to speed, take full swings with a good tempo, focusing on a balanced finish. The Gyro Swing will keep you from having to think about the mechanics of the swing and focus on the feel and developing a good tempo. Keep swinging continually at full speed for several minutes to groove the proper feel.

Turn off the Gyro Swing, by flipping the switch to the off position. As the Gyro Swing motor begins to slow down, you will still hear the motor spinning. Continue the session while the motor is slowing all the way until it stops completely. Take the feel you developed while using the Gyro Swing with you into the rest of your warm-up or go play golf.

I was really impressed with how well the Gyro Swing works, you really can feel it turn the clubface over at impact when you release the club properly. I was also equally impressed by how you could feel resistance in the club whenever I started my downswing to steep or over the top. I went from being a skeptic, to thinking that this might actually be a useful swing training aid!

Concept – (9.0 RATING)

The SKLZ Gyro Swing training club is meant to teach you the proper “feel” of a correct swing-perfectly on-plane with a proper release. Using a 20,000 RPM motorized gyroscope in the clubhead, it creates resistance when your off plane, encourages the proper release of the club and squaring of the face of the club at impact. All while keeping the club on the perfect arc around the center of your spine during the entire swing. The Gyro Swing is a perfect pre-round warm-up, keeping “feel” in the off season, or anytime you want to groove your swing in 4 minute sessions.

The Gyro Swing is intended to help with four areas of the golf swing:

1. backswing
2. downswing
3. weight shift & impact
4. release.

In the backswing, if you takeaway the club inside or outside, the Gyro Swing will resist that movement and try to push your club back on plane. Same thing if you the club too steep or flat at the half-way point of the backswing. If done correctly, you will feel no resistance. In the downswing, if you come in over the top, too steep, or start casting the club off-plane, the Gyro Swing will resist that movement and try to push your club back on plane. If done correctly, you will feel no resistance.

For weight shift & impact, if you hang back and don’t shift your weight forward, or the clubhead outraces your hands to the ball before impact, the Gyro Swing will turn over to early, well before the ball position, near your back foot. If done correctly, you will feel clubface squaring to the point of the ball at impact. On the release, if you throw the clubhead, or don’t extend your arms properly, the Gyro Swing will turn your hands over too early, well before the ball position, close to your back leg. If done correctly, you feel your hands turn over and release right at impact or just after.

Does It Work (AKA: Functionality) – (8.0 RATING)

Will the SKLZ Gyro Swing help you with how to shift your weight properly, how to initiate the downswing, or get into a proper setup? No,these can only be learned through golf lessons.

The SKLZ Gyro Swing does a great job of helping you develop what an on-plane swing and release feels like, without having to think about the mechanics and lives up to it’s tag line “Feel the correct plane & release.” This can be attributed to the 20,000 RPM motorized gyroscope in the head of golf club. Like I mentioned earlier, I was a bit skeptical before I started using the Gyro Swing, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works. After you fire up the Gyro Swing and do a small back and forth movements, you can feel the gyroscope turning the club over at where the ball would be at impact. If you tried taking the club too outside or inside the target line on the takeaway of the backswing, you would really feel the resistance in the clubhead.

On the downswing, if I went over the top or was too steep you would feel resistance in the clubhead. When I dropped my arms properly in the slot, the club would just glide effortlessly, with no resistance at all. If you attempted to release the club to early, the Gyro Swing would turn my hands over right away, the instant feedback was amazing. Without a doubt it does help you ingrain the proper feel of a on-plane swing and release, without out thinking about if your doing the mechanics correctly.

I also really liked the dual-colored shaft, because it also provides a quick visual swing plane check the entire time your swing the club. Just as long as you only see the black top of the shaft you know your swinging the club on plane. The minute you start seeing the Yellow bottom of the shaft, you know the club is no longer on plane.

There are a some drawbacks to the Gyro Swing: those are you cannot hit golf balls with it, which would be nice in my opinion so you could see the actual results of swinging on-plane and good release without having to switch clubs. Next, it would have been nice they included longer lasting batteries. The 6 NiMH batteries will only last for seven, four minute sessions (28 minutes of continuous use) before you have to to recharge the batteries. Either SKLZ could provide a 6 battery charger, or longer lasting Lithium batteries that will provide you with up to eleven, four minute sessions (44 minutes of continuous use).

I would have also liked to have seen them include either and ball decal that can be placed on the floor, so that when you practice at home, you could see if your hands are releasing at or after the ball at impact. Otherwise you need to imagine where the ball would be or use a piece of blue painters tape on the ground, like I did. There is no left-handed model available of the Gyro Swing, hopefully they will come out with one for the lefty’s.

Value – (9.5 RATING)

The $199 price tag for SKLZ Gyro Swing, is from their online store and might seem a little expensive. That is why all our links will take you either Amazon or EBAY ads for th SKLZ Gyro, it can save you about $50! And if you are still on the fence with this think about it like this, a one hour lesson can cost as much or more then the price of the Gyro Swing.

Overall Rating – (8.5 RATING)

The Gyro Swing is ideal in my opinion for beginning golfers or high handicappers who want to learn the feel of a proper swing and develop good habits. I also think that low handicap golfers could also benefit from the Gyro Swing too, in refining their swing and timing. You can’t put a price on learning good habits, especially in golf.

Where To Buy

Like we said you can go to the SKLZ Online Store and pay if you would like…although the cost is a little higher. So…we if you are looking to buy one we have given a few other options to save you some money…why spend more then you have to?

SKLZ On-line Store: Cost $199 (click here)
Amazon Stores: Cost $169 (click here)
EBAY Stores: Cost $144-169 (click here)

>>>REVIEW BY: Rob over at http://www.sandbox8.com/ check out his blog!<<<

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