Instagram is a dangerous place for a golfer—especially a desperate one. For every minute I spend on the app, I come away with three new swing thoughts that are sure to let me down, as well as two practice drills I’m sure to never actually try. Yet I repeat this cycle of overloading my brain on an almost hourly basis.
And then there are the ads. All. Those. Ads. Those social media ad algorithms do one heckuva job targeting suckers like me. And once I let my eyes gaze at one of those messages for even a few seconds, you can bet on it showing up in my feed later in the day.
Recently I’ve been hit by a wave of ads for the Sure-Set training aids. A swing instructor I follow on Instagram, Alex Clapp, is apparently one of the company’s pitchmen, which got me to watch a video involving one a few weeks back. And this (more) organic exposure to the product led to a barrage of promotions for it. Again, algorithms.
Having done a big podcast on the Golden Age of golf infomercials a few years back, I was sceptical. After all, how many golfers have a Hammer Driver or an Alien Wedge collecting dust in the attic? Still, I was curious because Clapp seems like he really knows what he’s talking about. And I know Edoardo Molinari knows what he’s talking about, and he says the Sure-Set is his favourite training aid—surely he isn’t lying.
Plus, my colleagues and Golf Digest instruction nerds, Luke Kerr-Dineen and Drew Powell, both follow Clapp on Instagram. So he must be legit! Thus, using the transitive property, the Sure-Set training aid must be legit!
I decided to ask them about it and to my pleasant surprise, Drew had a Sure-Set training aid I could take home from the office. And I was excited to give it a try after drawing some weird stares on the train ride home.
OK, so what do these things actually do? The Sure-Golf website bills the Sure-Set as “The ultimate backswing training solution.” It’s got a grip that you hold like a golf club, but a shaft that is bent in more than a 90-degree angle with a soft ball at the end. After adjusting the aid to the length of your arms, you use it by taking a backswing with that soft ball pushed into your body between your lead shoulder and chest. Or you start with the ball away from your body and lodge it into that position as you make your backswing, which takes a little more practice.
The point is that by keeping that ball in position there as you get to the top of the backswing, you are keeping your body and arms in sync. If that ball moves out of position and away from your body, you know something is moving out of sequence. It also allows you to keep that connected and wide—look how straight my lead arm is in that above photo—feeling as you practice your transition to the downswing. Although you’re only supposed to swing to about halfway down. To practice impact position, you need the newer Sure-Shot aid. And, luckily, Drew had one of those too!
So what did I think? Admittedly, I had trouble getting used to the Sure-Shot (probably user error) so I stuck with the Sure-Set to start. The more I did it, the less awkward it felt and it made me realize that I pull my arms and hands too far out and away from my body on my normal swing, which can cause inconsistencies. It also helped me to feel a proper wrist hinge and a squarer face at the top by keeping me from cupping my wrist too much. But after a few days of trying it, my return to the golf course produced more misses to the right than usual. However, I think that had to do with the fact that you’re not supposed to finish your downswing with this one so I wasn’t finishing my swing on the course, either.
I got back in the lab (aka my living room), and started fiddling around with the Sure-Shot. It looks very similar to the Sure-Set except it’s green instead of blue and has an added hinge for you to feel your hands being forward at impact to generate more power and better compression. After practicing with it, my next few range sessions went better. Same for my next round, in which I shot my best score in years (my recent putting lesson might have also helped. Man, I should have started writing these columns sooner!) The golf game finally clicking right at the end of golf season in the Northeast is a tale as old as time.
Are the Sure-Set or Sure-Shot miraculous devices for your golf game? Probably not, but they can’t hurt, and they can correct some swing faults. I’ll keep it around and use it from time to time, especially during the winter. It’s much less dangerous to swing around the house than an actual club. It doesn’t require any upkeep or battery replacement so it’s great for less tech-savvy people like myself. And my wife loves where I keep them.
Kidding! But, seriously, I also like that they don’t take up much space and that they’re small enough to take to the range. Alternating swings with one and hitting real shots is probably the most effective way to use it and ingrain good habits. And I haven’t drawn any weird stares there. Overall, I’m glad I saw these products on Instagram and that I gave them a try. But after writing this, I can only imagine how many more swing-aid ads I’m going to see on my Instagram timeline going forward.
Main Image: Supplied
