There are hundreds if not thousands of new training aids released every year. On an annual basis, it would be difficult, if not impossible to sort out the ones that help you drain putts from the ones that are only good for draining your wallet. Fortunately, unlike golf clubs, the best training aids are timeless. Proven winners are seldom replaced with a new and improved model, and are never completely obsoleted.
Unfortunately, the numbers alone make the training aid space a challenging fit for our series of Buyer's Guide. So rather than embark on a limited and likely futile effort to test the entirety of the market, we turned to our readers.
In a recent survey, we asked you to share with us the training aids that provide real results. More than 4000 of you responded. Here are the Top 5 Golf Training Aid on the market today, as determined by MyGolfSpy readers.
The Top 5
Alignment Sticks
Whether you choose Tour Sticks, some other made for golf alignment rods or repurposed driveway markers, sticks can be used to square your body to the target line, help keep your swing on plane, or serve as a target marker while you work to control the clubface and start the ball on the desired line.
Versatile enough to travel from the practice tee to the putting green, and inexpensive by any reasonable standard, it’s not the least bit surprising that alignment sticks are far and away your #1 Training Aid.
Orange Whip
Over the last several years, MyGolfSpy readers have consistently rated the Orange Whip as one of the best training aids in golf. Regular use of the Orange Whip will help you develop flexibility and remove tension from the golf swing while promoting a smooth tempo and transition.
Whether you’re looking for a quick pre-round stretch, or help building better timing, flow, and rhythm into your golf swing, the Orange Whip as a close to a can’t miss training aid as there is on the market today.
Tour Striker
Martin Chuck’s original training aid, the Tour Striker, can help you improve your ball striking.
A long-time staff and reader favorite, the Tour Striker is designed with no grooves below the sweet spot, and an aggressively rounded leading edge. The club’s unique shape intuitively teaches golfers forward shaft lean and proper impact position.
DST Compressor
Equal parts punishing and rewarding, the DST Compressor has quickly become one of the most popular training aids on the market today.
Designed to simulate the position of the shaft under maximum load, the DST forces you to locate and train the proper impact position. Feast or famine by design, either you make a good swing, or you suffer the consequences, but with frequent use, it won’t be long before the good swings outnumber the bad, and the improved ball striking translates to the course and your scorecard.
Eyeline Putting Mirror
The putting mirror was the only putting aid you voted to the top of the list, and no specific brand was listed more often that Eyeline.
One simple device teaches you to square your feet and shoulders to the target line and setup with your eyes over the ball while helping ensure that your putter stroke is square and to the target.
Rick
1 month agoI have the top 3, I use them occasionally, definitely need to incorporate them more consistently into practice routine.
Adam
2 months agoI’ve been using the PuttOut Pressure Putt Trainer in my living room and I love it. It’s fun and it allows you to hit so many putts in such a short period of time. I also use the foot spray at almost every range session to show me my contact point.
Brian Lawrence
2 months agoMy favourite aid came from 3 months off with a replacement hip.. I bought a “Putting sword” and as a low tech cheap help in straightening out my putting found it invaluable, especially when used with a mirror..
Davemac
2 months agoTony, I assume the list is in response to the survey a few days ago? For some reason, this survey failed to display correctly so I couldn’t participate.
I have to say I am surprised at the popularity of Tour Striker and the DST Compressor. IMO Tour Striker Educator is superior to both of these products by a large margin. It is significantly less expensive, it can be used on any of your own clubs, it teaches the correct impact conditions in a way that cannot be cheated, something that the Tour Striker and the DST compressor fail to do.
If you are tempted by Tour Striker or the DST compressor, take a risk on the Tour Striker Educator first.
golfraven
2 months ago#1,2,4,5 – got it, still looking for a Tour Striker Pro and may ditch the DST for it.
Jason
2 months agoI would love to see the data beyond the top five from the survey. There are so many and many t would be interesting to see more results than the top five.
Carolina Golfer 2
2 months agoLike others, I was surprised to see alignment sticks at the top, but they make total since.
I was at a course in Florida last week, that had an alignment stick laying in every section on the range, right next to the pyramid of balls. I had never seen that and thought how cool. And before anyone says, I asked a member there, he said they rarely ever ever “disappear”
I’ve always been intrigued by the Orange Whip and DST Compressor, I have this nonsensical fear of feeling like a nerd buying training aids, but need to get over it.
JV
2 months agoI think you should do another list of top 5 golf training apps for smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Dan
2 months agoDo the Tour Striker and DST Compressor overlap or do they have their own separate use?
Bryant
2 months agoJust speculation here, based on what I know about the products.. They can certainly be perceived as similar, but I would argue that the DST Compressor is designed to teach you proper full-body impact position, while the TourStriker is designed to teach you how to make contact with the ball.. The Compressor’s unique shaft accounts for several dynamic aspects of the swing, only rewarding the golfer who gets his entire body (including club) into a very specific position at the perfect moment.. The Tour Striker only focuses on proper shaft lean, promoting the action of “hitting down on the ball”, as one doors with good iron swings (such as taking a divot).. The two certainly aren’t mutually exclusive, but don’t overlap too much either..
Peter Eller
2 months agomine are as follows
1: zepp golf
2: iPhone 6 slow mo camera
3: Foot Spray for impact
4: alignment sticks
5: PuttOut Pressure Putt Trainer
golfraven
2 months agoI join your list. Need to get the foot spray out more often.
MikeyB
2 months agoI have found the Power Chute to be quite helpful in generating more club head speed. You clip it onto your driver, and take any number of swings (usually 5 or 6) to ‘warm up’. Your first swing after using the device usually feels like the club is about to fly out of your hands!
Used as part of a 10-20 swing a day routine, I’ve gone from 102-103, to 110 mph inside a month. When I get everything aligned and really turn on a ball I’ve seen 115-118 mph swings. Played once a week during the winter, and warmed up with the device by taking 10 swings. On an E6 simulator with 0% ‘boost’ (no cheating) my driving average was 279 yards over 12 weeks. Longest ball hit was 314 yards, and every round I played featured a 290+ yard drive either in driving range mode warming up, or during the round played.
For context, I’m 56 years old, a little arthritic, overweight, and not yoga class flexible by any means. These numbers represented a 19 yard boost in average drive, and brand new territory (300+ yards) as a golfer. Prior to this my only 300+ yard drive ever, was from an elevated tee, middle of summer, over 90 degrees, and hard fairways.
Think it’s a quality product, and can honestly say it helped.
leftybradd
2 months agoI would be curious to see where Tour Tempo fell on the list. I know historically it was one of the only training aids that MGS gave a 100 rating on. I have been using it for years and I am shocked how much better and further I hit the ball when my tempo is on. I have the book, the app, and the MIcroPlayer and use them all the time. I just bought the microplayer this year and it is a staple with me every time I am on the range. The long game tones are amazing but I have gotten the most benefit from the short game tones. The science is fascinating. I am not affiliated with them at all, I have just been using it for several years and have seen the results. I am not a scratch golfer either, I’m a 12 handicap with 3 kids (hence why I’m not an 8). Will be curious if others have had the same experience with this aid.
Dennis Duncan
2 months agoTry The Ultimate Swing Trainer AND try Super Speed Golf Training system
TJ Guidry
2 months agoWould love to see a video of someone using as many training aids as possible at the same time.
Golf Scientist
2 months agoI believe training aids that put you in the correct position are the ones that can be beneficial. Aids that say you’re supposed to hit them in a certain way (aka: don’t hit this object at impact, position your body part in ____ position), but don’t put you in that position are worthless. What is to say that is even the correct way to be, and not someone (the creators) assumption of what happens in a golf swing.
I remember many years ago Golf Channel had their awful show with Hank Haney (who I see as an awful instructor) on it telling Rush Limbaha (spic) to swing over an object before hitting balls. He didn’t explain to him how to make the correct action, nor what may have been causing the incorrect action. (I say may because even if Haney had made an assumption about the cause it doesn’t mean his assumption would have been correct). The instruction and the device were both failures because they didn’t put the golfer in correct positions.
I believe the putting mirror can be helpful (if you know how to setup to it correctly, and then setup correctly to it), and the alignment sticks can be helpful (again if you know how to position them correctly, and then use them in the correct way). (Just laying down alignment sticks, or stick them in the ground at angles is not going to make a swing intently better. You have to set them up in a correct way, and swing in a way that makes use of them). Likewise I believe aids like Butch Harmon right grip golf gloves can be helpful (putting your hands in the correct position on the grip/handle), so long as that hand position matches with your hip motion. (People with aggressive core rotation at impact ex: Dustin Johnson, Fred Couples, David Duval, Paul Azinger use strong grips with both hands rotated to the right because they all have their hips, core, pelvis, thorax (what ever you choose to call the area of their body) rotated extremely open at impact, and the hands/hips package matches. For them having the nubs directly on top of the grip wouldn’t be beneficial, but if they had them rotated to the right, then it could be helpful.
The orange whip, tour striker, and compressor devices can all be swung in ways that can make a persons swing worse instead of better, and I’d never put them in my list of top 5 (nor 10) training devices.
The Butch Harmon Right Grip golf gloves, and the alignment/ball position/stance width tool Faldo promoted years back are much more useful training aids.
AAA
2 months agoGS All I can say is I’m glad someone besides myself think Haney is a Fraud. Not saying anyone could help those pupils he had on that show but he was like a tennis coach giving teaching golf instruction a try.
Lets also mention that Haney would pimp live grenades if they paid him enough. When he was with TM , “oh you can’t buy a better club” then Calloway pays him a dollar more to say the same thing. * I use the Impact Snap, (another Haney pimp job) though.
Matt
2 months agoSurprised the impact snap or swish not in top 5. But those 5 are good as well
John Kramer
2 months agoThank you for taking this survey on. The alignment sticks were no surprise, but several other I had never heard of.
robin
2 months agoPower package has help me alot
William Morgan
2 months agoAlignment sticks are useful for far more than alignment.
I use them for swing plane, extended shaft , hip turn, and even balance drills. In terms of ROI, they’re the best training aid by far. I have, or have had, the others on the top 5 list; the alignment sticks – $2.50 when sold as driveway markers – are the best.
https://golfmoreswingless.com/alignment-sticks-10-drills-for-improvement/
Deron
2 months agoIn my humble opinion, the Tour Striker Smart Ball is one of the best aids out there hands down
Dan
2 months agoI used the tourstriker but found that the DST Compressor worked really well. Thanks and a shout out to a blogger “breakingeighty” by Sean Ogle. He talks a lot about courses and his experience with other golfers who are always trying to break 80.
Kirlkand
2 months agoThe Orange Whip looks great, but for half the price, I found the Rukket Red Head on Amazon. It looks like roughly the same thing for half the price and gets good reviews. Do you think I should pay the extra coin for the Orange Whip?
TopPakRat
2 months agoNo question the alignment stick is number #1. I own a golf repair / fitting facility. We have found the biggest initial problem is in directional control. We actually take old driver shafts with broken tips and repurpose them as alignment sticks. We give them away (NO CHARGE). Suggest your readers look at doing the same. Check your local repair facility and see if they have an old shaft around that you can slide into your bag.
James Dailey
2 months agoV1 or the like…drills and seeing your swing is all a good player needs. Those other aids are likely better for higher handicaps. Alignment sticks are good all around though.
Donald Brenda Stage
2 months agoPros are far more likely to use any aid than the high handicap. just go to the range at the pro am of any tour event and check out the difference. Pros have alignment sticks, headcovers under their arms, balls between the arms, wedges under their feet. amateurs rake and hit
Mike Fraser
2 months agoAlignment sticks – YES!
Instead of the Orange Whip, I use an old weighted swing trainer with a molded grip for range of motion and flexibility.
Tiba Putt and The Pill for putting.
I’ve seen Dan and his DST Compressor, seems like a good product but I will stick to exercise to build up my core and conditioning to be able to improve my impact zone consistency.
All the best!
Larry. Werner
2 months agoI use alignment sticks every time at the driving range which is an average of 4 times a wk. The sticks have taught me to align my feet and shoulders with the target line I have picked out of the to the yardage pin. They are in my bag from when I start until my last rd in the winter. I have 2 sets. A must for any serious golfer
Donald Brenda Stage
2 months agoalmost every pro own the same aid for a reason
GolfsNotHard
2 months agoVideo cameras, V1 Golf, etc? If alignment sticks qualify, in surprised that doesn’t. Oh well.
Mike
2 months agoAlignment sticks as the best training aid? Come on
Tony Covey
2 months agoI know. They’re not particularly exciting, but alignment sticks received nearly 2X more votes than the 2nd ranked training aid. They’re in nearly every (if not every) Tour Pro’s bag, and they’re recommended by nearly every teaching professional I’ve ever come across.
Dirt Cheap? Uh huh.
Boring? Yup.
Low tech? Absolutely.
Effective? Unquestionably.
It’s hard to argue with that.
Shortside
2 months agoI would guess alignment is far and away most amateurs biggest problem. As they say it all starts with the set up. Who hasn’t hit countless shots wondering what exactly we were aiming at.
Dan
2 months agoI am assuming that an alignment stick is a given, that everyone uses one? Oh well, I know the expression…
Donald Brenda Stage
2 months agothats kind of the point if you cant hit them you need them. I tried them and had no issue so its worthless to me, my miss is off the top of the blade because i come in too steep not too shallow.