Most golfers own two or three training aids and use none of them. The problem is almost never the aid. It is that it was bought for a fault the golfer did not actually have.
1. Name the fault first
Not "I want to hit it better". Name the miss. Do you lose it right? Do you hit it heavy? Do you push short putts? Every useful aid targets one named fault. If you cannot name yours, no purchase will help, and the fix is a video of your own swing from face on and down the line.
2. Ask what it does when you are wrong
This is the whole game. A good aid changes something the instant you make the error: it slips, it gives, you clip a rod, the reflection goes crooked. A weak aid feels the same whether you did it right or not, which means it is decoration.
3. Check you can use it where you actually practise
Be honest about your week. If you get to a range twice a month but walk past a hallway ten times a day, a home-friendly aid you will use is worth more than a range-only aid you will not. Something that packs into a bag pocket gets used. Something that needs setting up rarely does.
4. Make sure it comes off
The reps that count are the ones after you remove it. An aid you have to wear to swing well has not taught you anything. Use it for slow rehearsal swings, take it off, hit shots, and see whether the feel survived. That is the only test that matters.
A rough map by fault
- Arms coming apart, thin and heavy strikes: a connection aid such as the Sync Band or WidthPro.
- Slices, pulls, path problems: a physical gate like TrueLine.
- Missed short putts: an alignment mirror like TrueRoll.
Buy for the fault you actually have, use it for ten minutes rather than an hour, and take it off before you hit full shots.
