There are a lot of important things happening in the golf swing, but it's hard to argue with the importance of good tempo.
If you use a tempo-training device, like the Garmin Approach S6, you know the raw numbers: It's good to have about a 3-to-1 ratio in speed from the downswing compared to the backswing. However, it's hard to really feel what that should be like specifically for you out on the course or on the practice range.
Enter the Orange Whip, a tried-and-true product that a lot of players, including pros, stand by to help them with their tempo.
The product looks simple, but there's a lot more at work than meets the eye. The Orange Whip looks like a golf club, but instead of an iron or metal wood head on the end, there an orange weight. It's counterbalanced on the other end of the club with a white-colored weight. It has a grip on it to make the user feel like they're gripping the Orange Whip as they would a club.
The first time you swing the Orange Whip, it's a weird feeling, especially if you swing over 100mph. The shaft on the 47.5-inch product is whippy. However, that's by design. The shaft and the weighting work together to try to replicate the motion of the golf swing, particularly with the driver.
PURCHASE: Buy the Orange Whip trainer!
The feedback is awesome. A user will know pretty quickly if they can control the Orange Whip. If they can't with the swings they're employing, then their tempo and rhythm are out of whack.
It also gives great feedback on the kind of lag a player might have leading to impact. Lag isn't something you create in the swing in isolation, but rather, it's a product of a full arm extension throughout the motion and driving the arms forward, ahead of the club head, through impact.
The Orange Whip is also great for players who don't have time to hit the practice range before the round. The weighting helps with stretching and flexibility before hitting that first shot. Instead of starting out with a stiff, uncoordinated swing, using the Orange Whip for a few minutes ahead of your tee time will have you loose and ready to make a good first cut.
There are actually four versions of the Orange Whip, including the Midsize version for shorter or less skilled players, the Wedge version which is shorter and offers less flex a better simulation of the proper wedge swing and the Junior version, which is lighter, shorter and has a smaller grip for juniors.
All three adult versions of the Orange Whip sell for $109, with the junior version coming in $10 less.
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