Hi, I'm Tom O'Leary, Director of Instruction
for the Professional Swing Trainer. Now that you've got your swing trainer, hopefully it's
put together okay, the first thing I want to do is go over a couple of things as starting
off using the trainer, what I would like you to do. The main focus of this machine is to
train and teach you folks the proper swing path, the feel of the swing, and to teach
your muscles to learn that proper golf swing. The way we go about that is training and teaching
muscle memory. There's two exercise cords that come with your unit. The main focus of
the machine is the proper swing plane. The ring is your swing plane. Now on this machine
you can adjust the plane to use different clubs in your bag because from a wedge to
a driver your swing plane changes. You're going to have one plane for your short irons,
one plane for your medium long irons, and a third plane for your woods. Now as far as
adjusting the swing plane, it is very easy to do. There's four adjustments. You have
two top adjustments and you have two bottom adjustments. Everybody has their own swing
plane. Golfers have different builds, different height ranges. For instance, an individual
myself being 5'11", with a 5 iron, I have a certain swing plane. Now another individual
at 5'11", maybe skinnier than me, longer arms, swing more upright, maybe more broad
chested, bigger, have a flatter swing plane. So we give you a settings chart in your paperwork
that tells you based on your height what club you want to get on there with, that gives
you our suggested settings. Now those are just suggested settings. Everybody has their
own swing. The key is to make your swing consistent. So if what we suggest to you in our settings
chart feels off to you, if it feels too upright or it feels too flat, go ahead and adjust
it a little bit, find a place where you feel comfortable, and work from there. Now if we
give you a suggested setting for a 5 iron, say for instance, the fifth hole or sixth
hole at the top, and it feels too flat for you and you want to bring it a little upright,
maybe one notch. Now when you get on with one of your short irons or when you get on
there with a wood, you also want to compensate and make sure that you make that same adjustment
so that you are consistent in that slightly more upright swing plane. Now as far as adjusting
the plane, very easy to do. Take the pins out of the holes as I just showed, either
bring the top to a more upright or flatter position, and put the pins in a different
hole. It takes about five seconds to change the swing plane from one plane to the next.
Now with this plane, we have a opening here, and the reason for this opening is basically
two things. One, we feel that if an individual comes all the way back to this point on his
backswing, you are over swinging, over extending yourself, and that's where most folks have
a tendency to lose control of the golf swing. Now as I alluded to earlier, the exercise
cords that come with this machine, their main focus and function is to train and teach the
specific muscles you use at different stages of your swing to learn the proper swing and
to learn the proper positions to be in. But these cords, by putting resistance against
your backswing and follow through, are also going to do a lot of other things. One being
in your backswing, it's really not going to allow the individual to over swing. It puts
enough tension to where it doesn't allow you to get back to where you can come to that
point, which is good. It's going to train and teach your muscles to stop at a certain
position of your backswing. Also, another reason that we did this is because we feel
that the follow through is on a little more upright path than your backswing. When you're
coming back to this stage of your swing and you're on proper plane, well when a golfer
comes through on the follow through, his release is up normally over his left shoulder, therefore
it is not as flat as his backswing. This adjustment over here allows us to flatten or more upright
the follow through depending on what club you're using. But it allows us to get the follow
through to where it's on a little bit more of an upright path, a little bit more on target
line towards the pin. So, for instance, my setting's here with a five iron. Now the bottom
adjustments, you have one bottom left and one bottom right also. The bottom adjustments
are geared towards the balance point of your golf club. Whatever club an individual wants
to get onto this machine with, if they were to take it and balance it in their finger,
it's called the balance point of that shaft. Now when you're using it by sewing your club
to the ground, you want the bottom of the ring to come out to meet that shaft. So with
a five iron, most people are going to have it in the second hole. I'm using a five iron
here. That's the main club you want to start off with when starting to use and practice
with the trainer because it's the medium length club in your bag. Once you get used to the
five iron, you can then deviate and go to your short irons or your woods depending on
which club you really feel you have more problem with, though you need to use all your clubs
to learn all your different swing planes. With a short iron, it's going to be in the
first hole. With a medium iron, it's going to be in the second hole. And with a long
iron and woods, it'll be in the third hole, maybe a fourth hole if you have an extended
driver. So with me using a five iron, I had to pin in the second hole in the bottom on
both sides, the pin in the sixth hole on the top right, and the pin in the seventh hole
on the top left, giving me that little slightly more upright follow through on target line.
Now as you start to begin to use the PST, the professional swing trainer, the first
thing I want to address is stance and posture. So many golfers, one of their biggest problems
that they have is improper alignment. Some golfers, individuals are left-eyed dominant,
some golfers are right-eyed dominant. So many golfers that I see whether it's on the practice
range or on the golf course, and I ask them where their target line is, especially in
the driving range, because it's very hard to pick out a target line a lot of times on
a driving range. But when they're out on the range or on the golf course, one of the biggest
problems most golfers have in alignment is they're either aimed left or right of target
line, even though they think they are aimed right at the target. And with this machine
here, one of the good things about it is when you set up in the address position, your stance,
you can see your feet down below you, and it's very easy to tell if a left or right
foot is a little bit closer than the other. Therefore, it's very easy to tell if you've
got an open or closed stance. So it's very easy to get in and set up square towards your
target line. And once you get used to this, when you go to the golf course, you're going
to see, and it may feel uncomfortable at first when you step up to the ball, and you've been
working with this machine, you're going to go, boy, maybe that feels a little bit like
I'm over to the left or over to the right, but in all actuality, you've been doing it
wrong before, and this is going to get you square towards your target line. Now secondly,
you always want to square your club towards your target and sole your club to the ground.
Sole your club to the ground, bring it back to where the shaft meets the ring, and let
it rest lightly against that. That's setting the pitch for your stance. Once you do that,
you step up, making sure both toes are even in distance from the ring, and take your normal
address position. Now the object, when swinging on the machine, is to let the club glide lightly
right along the ring, keeping the club in contact with the ring throughout the whole
swing. By doing that, you're staying on proper target line. Now one thing you always want
to make sure you do, and a couple basic exercises, which I'll explain here shortly, you always
want to make sure that the toe of the club is up at halfway up your backswing and up
at halfway up your follow through, getting the proper hand rotation and release of the
right hand through impact point. That's so important. One of the great things about this
machine is it really promotes and teaches the golfer how to get that proper release.
So many beginning golfers, one of the biggest things, the hardest things for an instructor
to teach them is how to get the proper release of the right hand and roll through impact
point. But on this machine here, just by taking two fingers on the club, you can see that
the toe goes up and the toe closes automatically. It really promotes the proper feel of the
release and where you should be. Now, as you start swinging on the machine the first couple
of days, the first thing I want you to do is just to get used to the feel of the ring,
making your club stay on that ring and getting used to that feel throughout the whole swing.
I usually have my students the first couple of times on there take half swings back and
forth, making sure that club is keeping in contact with the ring. Once they get used
to that feeling, go a little bit further back, a little bit further through until before
you know it, you'll be swinging back and forth and the club will be staying in contact with
the ring throughout the whole swing. Now, what that is going to do for an individual,
one, is give you the feel of your swing plane and where you should be throughout the swing.
And feel is so important to a golfer. That's one thing I cannot teach an individual. Out
on the lesson tee, if a golfer is coming off plane, I can only stop the individual and
say, this is where you are, this is where you should be. But until that golfer can actually
feel what I'm trying to tell him, it's very hard for him to repeat that, especially when
I'm not there. And on this machine, by keeping your club in contact with the ring, it's giving
you the feel of where you should be every time. Now, if your club has a tendency to
come off the ring, and a lot of times individuals, the main two places where they're going to
really feel this problem or see this problem in the beginning of using this machine is
that takeaway. A lot of people have a tendency to want to take the club out, get used to
taking that takeaway and keeping that club right on that ring. And secondly, a second
spot is the transition from the backswing to the downswing. A lot of people get up to
the top of their swing and they have a tendency to what they call cast or want to come over
the top. Now, if you're swinging on the machine the first couple of days you have it and you're
getting to that top position and your club's coming off the ring, just try to get used
to keeping it on that ring and starting that downswing with a proper hip rotation and everything
else comes in behind it. Now, as I was saying earlier, the exercise cords are the main focus
of this machine. These training cords are going to train and teach your muscles to learn
the proper swing, they're going to force your body to get the proper body movements
throughout the swing, and they're going to help stretch out and strengthen the muscles
that you use in the golf swing. Besides just training and teaching muscle memory, they're
going to help you get added distance on your swing with your clubs also. Usually in about
a 30 to 45 day time you'll see your driver going about, oh, 20 to 30 yards further. Because
this machine is strengthening the muscles that you use in the swing and it's forcing
you to get your body involved in the swing in the proper ways. The cord to your left
for a right-handed golfer works the backswing, the cord to your right works the follow through.
Now, for a left-handed golfer it would be just the opposite, the right cord would work
the backswing, the left swing would work the follow through, the left strap. Now, these
cords are going to have you do some exercises stopping at different stages of your swing
and holding it there to train and teach the specific muscles that you're using at that
stage of your swing to learn that proper position. Because at different stages of your golf swing
you use different muscles. Take away is mostly arm, left arm, halfway to three quarters upper
chest and shoulder, very top of your backswing is lower stomach and back muscles. Same thing
on the follow through. Your backside is using left side muscles, your follow through is
using right side muscles. Now, the three exercises I'm going to have you do when using this backswing
cord, first off let me show you the proper way to put it in your hand. You got the cord,
you slide your hand straight in, then turn your hand sideways and grip the golf club.
Now, three exercises I'm going to have you do with the backswing cord. The first one
is to take the cord halfway up your backswing, stop and hold it there. Now, as I said before,
make sure that the toe of the club is pointing up so you're getting the proper wrist rotation.
Once you get it there, stop and hold it. Now, you men are stronger individuals, but I usually
recommend to take your right hand off and hold it there. And you can see it's pulling
against all the muscles on the left side of my arm and upper chest area. It's also pulling
against the muscles down my left leg, forcing me to get that proper weight shift over to
the right side. Now, hold it there for about five seconds. Now, as you do these exercises,
as you go along, you may build up to 10 seconds, maybe even 15 seconds, but at the beginning,
always start off light and work your way up. So, the first exercise I told you is right
there, stopping and holding it for 10 seconds. Second exercise I'm going to have you do is
going to the three-quarter position, right to there, hands at shoulder height. Now, once
again, when you're using these exercise cords, it is very vital to make sure that your hands
are keeping even with the ring. You don't want your hands to be getting back behind
the ring or out in front of the ring. That's taking your club face off target line. So,
as you do these exercises, always reference over and make sure your hands are even with
the ring. Put your head back down to where the ball would be to give you that natural
feeling. Hold it there for five seconds and then release through. The third exercise is
going to the very top. Making sure your hands are even with the ring. Put your head back
down. Now, these exercise cords, as I said, different parts of your swing are using different
muscles, but also they're doing other things also. One is they're going to force you to
get proper weight shift in the lower body. A lot of golfers have a tendency to what they
call reverse pivot, meaning on your backswing where your weight should be on your right
foot. You have a tendency to reverse pivot and leave your weight on your left foot. What
that's going to do is going to get, one, it's going to lead to very inconsistent ball striking
because when you leave your weight on your left foot, when you swing through, it goes
to your back foot. You have a tendency to hit behind the ball or lift up and top the
ball quite a bit. But these cords, when you get to the halfway or three quarter position
in the very top of your swing, if your weight is not on your right foot where it should
be on the backswing and you're trying to stop and hold it there, it's going to pull you
off balance. Let me illustrate that for you. You always want to get good weight distribution
in the lower body, balance. You want to be balanced throughout the whole swing, but you
want to get that weight to the right foot on the backswing and to the left foot on the
follow through. So when you go to the three quarter position of the backswing and you
try to hold it there, if your weight's on your left foot, it's going to pull you right
off balance, telling you right away that you're not getting proper weight distribution. So
in order to be able to hold that there for ten seconds, the weight has got to be on the
right foot where it should be. So it's forcing you to get proper weight shift. At the very
top of your swing, same thing. If your weight's on your left foot, it's going to pull you
right off balance. But the only way you can get up there and hold it in the proper position
to train and teach those muscles is to have that weight where it should be. Now secondly,
these cords are going to force you to get a proper hip and shoulder turn in the upper
body. If you have a tendency to swing with just your arms and not get a good upper body
hip and shoulder turn, you're not going to be able to stretch this cord out enough to
finish your backswing. Let me illustrate that to you. Now just by getting arm swing, I can't
finish my backswing. The tension in that cord is very tight. So in order to get a proper
hip and shoulder turn to finish your swing, it's going to force you to do that. Right
there. Force you to get that proper hip and shoulder turn. Force you to get that proper
weight shift. And now it's working all the muscles from my left arm, to my shoulder,
to my side, to my hips, back, stomach, all the way through. Now each of these three exercises,
I want you to start off doing five of those a day, holding it for five seconds each. As
you build up and gradually get those muscles a little bit stronger, you can go to ten times
a day for ten seconds and then ten times a day for about fifteen seconds. These cords
are vital. These cords are what are going to train and teach your muscles to learn the
proper swing, the proper positions to be in. And after about four or five weeks, that muscle
memory forms. When you step out, that swing is going to follow you right to the golf course
every time. Proper weight shift, proper hip and shoulder turn, all the way through. Now
this cord here works the follow through the same way. What I'm going to have you do is
take about an exaggerated three quarter half speed backswing, okay, and then come to the
halfway position of your follow through and hold it there. Once again, making sure the
toe of that club is up. You may want to take that left hand off to get those muscles there
working to learn that right side. That's the proper position you want to be in. Getting
that proper release of the right foot so that you can get that hips release to aim towards
your target line. Second exercise, the three quarter position. Right before, as you saw
my club almost came off over, stop it right before the cut in the ring. And the third
exercise is the finish. Make sure when you finish you stretch that cord out. Good finish.
Everything's aiming right down towards the target line. Now for you golfers who do have
a tendency to come across the ball, which is a lot of golfers out there, at the top
of your backswing you have a tendency to what they call cast or want to come over the top.
One exercise that you really want to work on, when you get to the top of your swing
and you stop and you're holding the club there, okay, do that for ten seconds and start your
hip turn down and stop and hold it there for about ten seconds. Teaching those muscles
to learn that once you're to the top of your swing you don't want to have that first move
coming out over the top, you want to have that first move coming back inside. And it's
all done by starting your downswing with your hips. Don't start it with your arms or hands,
start it with your hips. So you get to the very top, hold it and start down with your
hips and hold it right there. That's going to teach those muscles to start back down
on that inside path and that tendency to want to come over the top in about two to three
weeks will be gone. Get to the very top of your swing and start down and then release.
So the exercise cords are very vital. The main focus of the machine as I said earlier
is swing plane. The swing plane is where most golfers have their biggest problem with consistency
but these exercise cords are going to train and teach your muscles to learn the proper
swing, the proper positions to be in. They're going to force you to get your body involved
properly where you're getting proper leg shift and a proper leg drive through impact point.
You're getting a proper hip and shoulder turn to get that proper extension on your backswing
to create a little more club head speed and get that proper finish through and your weight
back to your left foot. So they're forcing proper weight shift in the lower body, they're
forcing a proper hip and shoulder turn in the upper body and they're training and teaching
your muscles to learn that swing. Now when you're not using the exercise cords on occasion
I do advocate individuals to try to hit a golf ball from this machine. Now the main
focus of the machine is not to hit golf balls from it but so many of you amateur golfers
have a tendency to take a beautiful practice swing when you're on the tee but as soon as
a ball is put down in front of you everything changes. So from that standpoint the psychology
of it to get used to taking that same consistent swing over and over again and making contact
with the golf ball, the natural feeling of having a ball down in front of you, I do advocate
on occasion to try to hit balls from the machine. Now if you're in a set up in a backyard where
you don't have an area to hit golf balls, if you don't have a net you can put a plastic
wiffle ball down and it's just as effective as hitting a regular golf ball. Don't worry
about the flight pattern of the ball, just get used to taking that same consistent swing
over and over again and making contact with a golf ball and by doing that when you get
on the golf course and that golf ball is put down in front of you that reflex motion will
take over and that swing will become automatic every time without thinking about it and that's
the whole key to playing good golf is to have a consistent repeating golf swing. The only
way you get consistency is through repetition but that repetition has got to be done the
same every time and it's got to be done correct or you're not helping yourself and so many
golfers that go to the driving range and they come to me and they go, I practice all the
time but I'm not getting any better. Well practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice
makes perfect and that's why this machine is so effective is one, it forces the golfer
to fundamentally take the same correct swing every time, staying on proper plane, all the
body fundamentals are correct. Secondly, it's training and teaching your muscles to learn
that. The exercise cords are accelerating the learning process in your muscles. You
can build muscle memory just through swinging the golf club. You can build muscle memory
just swinging on this machine back and forth but by putting tension against your swing,
your backswing and follow through, those muscles are progressing about three or four times
faster than by just swinging the golf club. So what I tell folks that fifteen minutes
of using this machine is the equality of going to a driving range and hitting golf balls
for an hour but doing it perfect every time because the machine is forcing you to do it
the same every time. Now when you're not using the exercise cords, a couple of things that
this machine is good for, one, there's not a better piece of equipment on the market
in my opinion to help timing and tempo and timing and tempo is so important to a golfer.
No matter how good of a swing you have, if your timing is slightly off, you're not going
to get the results that you want. If your tempo, your rhythm is off, you're not going
to get the results that you want. And one of the great things about the swing trainer
is it allows a golfer to physically listen to your swing speed. You know there's all
kind of digital things that you can put on the ground that when your club head comes
by it'll register the club head speed but that doesn't necessarily help a golfer. It
may help a club fitter determine what type of shaft you should have on your club but
it doesn't help you become a better golfer. And so many golfers, I mean they get these
machines and they put them down in front of them and it's kind of like a contest of who
can swing the hardest and that's not going to make you a better golfer at all. But on
this machine here, when your club is riding along the ring, you can hear it. It's the
only piece of equipment that I know of that allows a golfer to physically listen to his
swing speed. So once you're done doing that initial 10 or 15 minutes of exercising and
building the muscles up, the next thing I want you to go on to is the timing and tempo
aspect. Get on the machine for about 5 to 7 minutes and just swing. First off, just
back and forth. Hear your backswing, hear yourself accelerate down through impact point.
Now I want you to take about 15 to 20 swings, stopping as you would on a golf course as
if there was a ball down in front of you. Take the address position and then hear your
backswing and hear yourself accelerate through and try to listen and make a count out of
it. 1001, boom. 1001, boom. You can actually hear your swing speed. So one of the great
things about it is it allows a golfer to get into a good rhythm, to try to take about 20
swings or more and repeat the same sound, the length of that sound over and over again.
What that's going to do, it's going to get you into a great tempo, a good rhythm. When
you get on the golf course, that's so important to have every swing speed the same. Second
thing is the timing aspect. It's one of the greatest things out there from the top of
your backswing down to impact point to be able to hear your swing so that you can get
your hands and hips through impact point at the same time. So your hands are on ahead
of your body or your hips are overly ahead of your hands. As you come down through impact
point, get set at the top of your swing as you should be and as you come down to impact
point, being able to hear your swing, it helps tremendously to get the hips and hands to
impact point at the same time. So start in your dress position, go up and back through
and listen to that downswing as you come through so that your hands and hips are coming through
at the same time. By being able to listen to your swing speed, it's going to help you
get into a good rhythm, it's going to help you get into a good timing and tempo, which
is going to carry over to the golf course. Now, the third thing that I want to address
with this machine here is your practice habits. When you're on the machine, always take your
practice seriously. It doesn't do any good to go out if you're not thinking about your
golf. And when you're utilizing this machine, one of the good things about it before you
go to the golf course is you can get on the machine and in lieu of going to the golf course
and beating golf balls around, hitting a bucket of balls, which doesn't benefit most people
because it doesn't do any good to practice incorrectly. To go to the golf course and
hit balls with faults and flaws and inconsistencies in your swing, the only thing you're doing
is practicing bad habits. And so many golfers do that and that doesn't benefit them at all.
So before you go to the golf course, it's really good once that muscle memory has been
built up and you're using the machine, that swing's got pretty consistent. To get on these,
on there, and use these exercise cords to loosen up as a loosening up tool before you
go play, there's nothing better out there. To get on here, get each cord in each hand,
but the only time I usually use both cords and get on there and take that backswing and
feel that stretch in the back, lower back muscles all the way down, your legs, your
hamstrings, your thighs. You can really feel that stretch in the left side of your backswing.
Get all those muscles nice and loose before you go to the golf course. Hold it up there,
swing through, hold it there. Do that for about five to seven minutes before you go
play and you'll be amazed at how loose you are when you get to the course and step up
on the first tee. Always try to stretch both cords on the finish. When you finish, get
that right cord wrapped around you so it's stretching the lower back muscles and get
that left cord as you come through finish to make sure you finish the swing. If that
cord is left loose, that means you have not finished your swing correctly. When you finish
your swing correctly, both cords are going to be stretched out with tension on both of
them. Getting that good drive, making sure your stomach, your hips and everything are
geared right towards the target line. Now as I explained to you, with different clubs
you have a different swing plane. As demonstrated down here, I have a nine iron and a five iron.
Both clubs are sold flatly to the ground and as you can see as you pull away, as it goes
up the shaft, that there is a different pitch. Though slight as it may be, there's a different
pitch. So you have to compensate for that when you're practicing on the machine with
different clubs, you're going to have a different swing plane. The shorter the club, the more
upright the plane, the longer the club, the flatter the plane gets. So when you're practicing
on the machine, make sure that you one, check the settings chart out and set the plane correctly
for that club that you want to get on there with. Don't practice with a five iron and
a nine iron on the same plane. That's going to be very unbeneficial to you, it's going
to create a lot of bad habits. So when you change from a short iron to a medium iron
or a medium iron to a wood, you have to adjust the plane also. Now as I was telling you earlier,
you always want to make sure that your hands are even and on plane with the golf swing.
When your club is riding up and down the ring, the shaft of your club is on plane if it's
touching the ring, which is ideally what you want. Now as you're going up in your swing,
you do not want your hands to be out in front. That's called laying off, as you can see that
position the club head is laid off to the back, or you don't want your hands to be
out here, it's going to force the club head out in front. You want to keep everything
on target line. If the shaft of your club is touching the ring, you want to make sure
your hands are even with the ring from the halfway position to the very top of your swing.
Make sure those hands are even. So as I was demonstrating earlier with the exercise cords,
the exercises that you're going to do, the three exercises, from this side angle here
I'm going to show you what I mean. Halfway position, stop and hold it. Making sure the
toe of your club is up, not hooded, and your hands are even with the ring, not behind or
out in front. So an individual, the good thing about using these exercise cords is if you
are doing something wrong, you can correct it, make sure that it's right, and then hold
it there to teach the muscles to learn that proper position. So if you get to a certain
position and you stop and you hold it there and your hands are behind it, make sure they're
even, get them back in right position, put your head back down looking towards the ball
and hold it there. Five seconds, do that exercise ten times a day. Once you get a little bit
stronger with your arms, you can do it for ten seconds and then fifteen seconds. The
second exercise on the backswing, right to there, shoulder height, making sure your hands
aren't behind or out in front. If they are, when you get to that position, get them in
line, put your head back down, stop and hold it there. Do that exercise ten times a day,
making sure your hands are even with the ring. The final one is the very top of the swing,
making sure your hands are blocked by the ring, throughout in front or behind, which
most people have a tendency to get them back behind there, even them up, stop and hold
it there, put your head back down like you're looking at the ball, and then release. Those
are the three exercises on the backswing. It's very vital that you make sure that the shaft
of your club is touching the ring when you stop at each exercise, and make sure that
your hands are even with the ring, so that everything is on target line. The three exercises
that get on the follow through, you want to make sure that your hands are even with the
ring. You've got slightly three quarter backswing, make sure your hands are even with the ring,
put your head back down, stop and hold it there. The second exercise, add it to the
very top before the ring ends, stop and hold it there, making sure your hands are not back
or in front of the ring. As you can see from this angle, we have the follow through path
on a slightly more upright path than the backswing path. That's the normal natural follow through
a golfer should have. That's why we split the ring so that you can get a proper release
and come back on your follow through and finish at the correct position. In that final exercise,
take that backswing, come through and finish. Holding that cord there, making sure everything
is towards your target line, forcing you to get that weight on your left foot, right toe,
everything's done correctly. These cords, as I said earlier, are putting tension against
your backswing and follow through, therefore, they're forcing you to get a proper weight
shift on the backswing to your right foot, on the follow through to your left foot, forcing
you to get a proper hip and shoulder turn, 90 degree on your backswing, belly button
aiming towards your target on your follow through, and they're going to help strengthen
and train those muscles to learn all those proper positions.
Okay, now for you folks who got a two ring model, the different rings allowing different
height groups to use it. Now remember, we have three size rings, a junior ring which
fits anyone from four feet tall to five feet tall, the medium size ring which fits anyone
from five feet tall to five eleven, and this here is the large ring which fits anyone five
eleven up to about six eight. Now with our ring set up, you can attach a medium ring
to a large ring or a junior ring to a medium ring. Now let me show you, there's been a
lot of questions, we have a lot of folks that call and ask, the illustrations aren't quite
that clear on how to connect the second ring to the first ring. First off, with each machine
that you get, you will have these two what we call connecting arms, upper extension connecting
arms. Now when connecting these, you have a long end and you have a short end, okay?
The upper extension, the piece that has the holes in it, there's about a two inch area
between the last hole and the cuplink at the top. Now what you're going to do with these
is you're going to take the short end clamp, clamps that screw on each end, and you're
going to connect it right to this extension and butt it up tight against it, aiming to
the inside. Same thing on the other side. Take that clamp, butt it up against that cuplink.
Now these arms here swivel, okay? Now what a lot of our customers do and what we do here,
and if you want to go to the trouble in the back here where they clamp on, you can put
a screw in to make them a permanent piece on this ring. But when you get done taking
the ring off and these arms are sticking out here, you can just take these arms, swivel
them down, and the person who's using the taller ring can then go ahead and start using
this ring. Now let me show you how to connect the smaller ring to the larger ring. When
you're putting together the rings, first off, when assembling the machine, make sure you
always put the rings together on a flat surface. That way the seams will go together tightly
and there will be no rough edges on the seams. Now when connecting or putting the smaller
of the two rings together, you're going to have two what we call sets of C-clamps here,
short standoffs, which there's going to be holes where you can screw them in and connect
them. Now when attaching the second ring to the smaller ring, these two clamps on this
smaller ring are where they're going to attach onto the ring at the bottom. Each ring has
a seam in the very middle on the bottom. What you're going to do, let me have it turn around
here, is you're going to get the two seams aligned up together, pick it up, and just
push it, snap it on. That's not correct there. Here we go. Okay. Push it, push it. Now that's
where the rings attach on the bottom and then you take these standoffs here and bring them
up and align the clamp to match the angle of the ring and that's where they will attach
onto the top. So you're going to have the two short standoffs aiming towards each other
to the inside coming out and connecting at the very top. So now the smaller the two people
or whoever's using the smaller ring gets on and swings on the smaller ring. Then when
the taller person wants to use it, you just take that off, swivel that arm down, take
this off, swivel this arm down, pop it off, and that's it. Now one other little hint
that I may want to give folks as far as setup of the machine, in the directions of putting
the machine together, it instructs you to put sand in the base piping of the unit in
order to weight it down so that when you're using the exercise cords, these cords are
putting tension against your swing. And when you take your backswing, a lot of times the
machine will move. By putting sand in the base piping here, that'll put enough weight
on the machine to where it will not move. Now if you're in a situation where you're
up north in a garage area over the winter months where you're going to be taking the
machine down and putting it back together on occasion where you don't have an area
to leave it up all the time, what we do here is we have about a five pound sandbag which
you just lay over the back base of the machine. That way it mobilizes the machine, the machine
won't move at all. If you want to take the machine apart on a partial basis, by taking
these four pins where you adjust the swing plane of the machine, you take the four pins
off at each juncture, this ring will disengage from the base. You can take your ring, without
the ring here the two top legs will collapse right down the ground at the bottom legs.
You take your base and you take your ring and you can hang it on a wall in your garage.
We use bicycle hooks. It takes about a minute and a half to take apart and a minute and
a half to put back together again. But if you're going to do that, you're not going
to want to be dumping sand out and putting sand back in all the time. So we just use
about a ten pound sandbag, lay it over the back base, that way when you're using it the
machine doesn't move. When you want to take it apart, you just take the sandbag off, there's
no mess, very easy to do. Before I leave you, one other thing I want
to address to you folks, we have what's called a head and hand stabilizer. It's an optional
attachment that we offer to you folks and it's very helpful to individuals, especially
beginning golfers, but to any individual who feel that they have a problem coming off the
ball, swaying too much side to side as they swing the golf club or lifting up and down.
And this piece of equipment is designed to force the golfer in their swing when they
go back to train them to keep their head still so that they are turning around their spine,
pivoting around the spine. A lot of golfers have a tendency to want to sway off the ball
and sway back through and by doing that it's going to make for very inconsistent ball striking.
You'll hit behind it, you'll top it sometimes and individuals also have a tendency when
they swing to want to lift up, especially women because of physical body build. A lot
of women have a tendency because of breast to want to have to lift up and swing underneath
or to swing too much around, therefore they have too much head to head, head side to side
or lifting up and down. Now this piece right here, the pole part of it is going to align
up with the middle of your forehead right down your spine angle and it is designed to
force the golfer to stay properly in the swing, therefore not coming out of it, to pivot around
their spine rather than to sway side to side. There's a piece that comes off of it here
which is geared towards hand position, forcing the golfer to come back through impact point
with his hands on plane so that his club face is coming back square towards his target.
It's going to let you know if you're coming inside out with an open or outside in with
a closed face which is going to give the golfer a slice or a draw spin on the ball. Let me
show you very quickly here how this works. What you want to do as you get yourself addressed
squarely inside the trainer, you want to set this outside the machine and this pole here
swivels back and forth. Now see right there you want to get it to the proper angle of
the plane. As you can see, this right here is the same angle as this plane is right here.
Now as you sole your club to the ground, bring it back to rest against the ring in the address
position and you take your proper stance, you're going to rest this pole lightly against
your forehead. Now the object without using the hand part right now is to take a golf
swing, back swing, down swing and follow through and keep this pole against your head forcing
you to rotate around your spine to get a proper hip and shoulder turn rather than to sway
back and forth. So the object and it may be a little uncomfortable at first but it takes
a while to get used to but believe me once you do and you step outside the machine with
this pole not there you'll be amazed at the proper hip and shoulder turn you'll get and
the proper leg drive because of it. Just take your swing and you may want to start off with
about a half speed swing at first, making sure that club at the top of your swing is
on the left. Your head's going to move slightly, it's going to move over towards the left center
of your forehead or the top ball of your head. Then as you swing through it's going to come
over to the right side. Now the old theory years ago was that the head didn't move at
all but through modern camera work, stop action pictures it's known now that the head does
slightly move, inch and a half on the back swing and there again on the follow through.
But if this comes off to your left shoulder on your back swing or your right shoulder
on your follow through that's too much side to side movement and that's letting you know
right away that you're swaying too much and this will help correct that. Now this piece
right here, the main focus of this piece right here is hand position. When you're in the
address position this piece right here can move up and down depending on the height of
the golfer that's going to use it. So when you bring that pole forward and get the pole
centered correctly you get it to hand height, the foam rubber piece is telescopic, moves
in and out. It's not going to hurt you when you swing through if your hands hit it. And
what you do in the address position is you set it about an inch from your hands, once
you get a little better you can bring it in a little bit closer. But the object as you
come through making sure that pole is against your head is the not to hit that piece of
foam. Now if you do hit the piece of foam rubber that's going to be telling you that
either one your hands are coming on a, you're getting your hands back too far on your back
swing, they're not even with the ring as I told you they should be. So if your hands
are coming too far back you're going to come on a natural inside out path and come across
the line. Or if you're at the top of your swing, if you're getting your hands out in
front of the ring and not on plane you're going to have, that's a natural tendency to
want to swing outside in. So as you come down through your hands are going to hit that piece
of foam rubber because they're coming outside in or they're going to hit it because your
hands are coming inside out. So if your hands come through without hitting it that's just
letting you know that your hands are coming back through therefore your club face is coming
back square towards your target. Now when I have a golfer who has a tendency to want
to lift his head up or come up off the ball I'll take that piece and put it right on the
top of his head so that if he does have a tendency to want to lift it stops him. So
when he gets into his swing, he gets in the adjust position, his swing is going to force
him to stay down into the proper posture position he wants to be in. As soon as he has a tendency
to want to come and lift up it stops him, it doesn't allow him to want to lift up.
So this piece of equipment is very beneficial as I said especially for beginning high handicap
golfers. We have a lot of tour players that use this piece right here for the hand position
that want to keep their hands in proper position through ball impact striking point. So if
you feel this is something that you may want to take advantage of, if you didn't get it
with your initial package please give us a call and we'll be glad to get one out to you
very quickly. It's very beneficial to a golfer and can help straighten out a lot of problems
in your golf swing. Now, one thing I want to tell you folks, if you ever have any questions
at all, if you're not sure of something whether it's putting the machine together, use of
it, getting the proper swing plane for yourself, don't hesitate to call us. Between myself,
a couple of my assistants, there's somebody always there. Now we're Eastern Standard
time in Florida. Eastern time there's usually somebody in the office between 8.30 in the
morning till 9 to 10 o'clock in the evening. So if at any time you folks have any questions
whatsoever please don't hesitate to call us. Also, we do offer a video analysis program
and our video program has become quite popular to individuals who have taken advantage of
it. What it is, when somebody purchases our video analysis program it allows that individual
eight times a year to send videotape of his or her golf swing into me. And before they
do it each time they call me, I tell them what I want done on each particular videotape,
I tell them what angles I want done, we build a little library of each individual. When
I get a second or third videotape in I'll review the first one or two, let that individual
know what they're progressing in. But every time I get a videotape in I will analyze your
swing for you, I'll give you a call back, I'll give you some of my personal feedback
of what I think you need to work on, any problems that I saw, I'll give you some suggestions
of what you can do either on or off the machine to help combat or correct those problems.
So if you feel you're having some problems still, you want to take advantage of our video
analysis program, please give us a call. It's a way for us to get some insight on your golf
swing because as I said earlier everybody has their own swing and the key is to make
your swing consistent. And that's what this machine is going to do, it's going to make
your swing consistent and that's the whole key to playing better golf. So if you feel
you're still having some problems, you can't get it straightened out, give us a call, we'd
be glad to help you out, take a look at some videotape, analyze it, get back with you,
give you some feedback and help you out a bunch that way also. It's been very beneficial
to most people who have taken advantage of it and we get a few laughs from some of the
ones that we see sometimes but don't be embarrassed as you know everybody's got to start somewhere
and it's our job to help you folks become better golfers. So whether you're a beginning
golfer just learning, which can really be beneficial to the video program, we can make
sure your stance is proper, your grip is correct, give you some inside tips. There's a lot of
things that we know what to do with this machine that aren't naturally going to be shown today
just due to length of time of the training videotape but there's a lot of little secrets
that we know either on or off the machine. It's like getting a lesson through videotape.
So if you folks feel you want a little more input, you'd like to get your swing analyzed,
you can take advantage of it eight times a year, please feel free to call us. We'd be
glad to help you out that way also.
We'll see you next time.