Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been playing golf seriously for twelve years. During this time I've tinkered with my swing more times than I should have, but this experimentation (as well as 50+ lessons) has given me some insight into the golf swing. My lowest index was 3.2 a few years back and currently it's 9.6. As for my Amazon rating, the reason for four stars instead of five is because of the poor documentation that does not cover what I'm about to go over here. The product itself is worthy of 5 stars and the impact it can have on your game is probably worth at least twenty lessons. $60/lesson * 20 = $1,200 of value. So . . . what does the documentation not tell you? First, your grip. Many golfers who take lessons are taught to strengthen their grip by rotating the left hand clockwise as it holds the club. The feeling of this grip is that the left hand is more on top of the club and the right hand is more underneath the club. This position works for me, feeling more powerful at the release. However, if you swing with a strong grip, and the Swingyde cups your left forearm at the top of the backswing (or earlier) as intended, your clubface will be open at impact and your ball will shoot out to the right. If you keep swinging with this guide set up at the neutral position, your body will begin to make corrections to compensate and you and your swing will suffer mightily. The correction is to rotate the Swingyde on your club to match the strength of your grip. For me, it's about 1:30-2pm. Second, your release. Some theories state there are two types of release. In one type, you rotate your forearms to square your club face at impact because your left arm stays inline with the club shaft through almost all of the swing. Note: this is the type of release Phil Mickelson and Rory Mcilroy use, if you want to look up an example. If you release your club like this, then the swingyde will indeed cup the side of your left forearm during the takeaway, and will also cup it again after impact. Just like the documentation says it should. However, the other type of release (and the one I use) dictates that the club shaft should align with the right forearm as soon as possible during the down swing. The clubface is squared at impact by the right elbow clamped tightly to your side as your right forearm and wrist make an underhand throwing motion that should continue past the release. If you employ this type of release, the Swingyde WILL cup your left wrist during your backswing, but will NOT necessarily cup your left forearm after impact. In fact, if you focus (like I did) on making it cup your left forearm after release, then you will probably introduce forearm rotation into your release, mixing both release types and setting a savage hooking spin onto your ball and mountains of frustration in your heart. The proper finish for this kind of release is a hyperextended right wrist and the swingyde just flubbing against the left forearm after impact. It's possible to rotate the forearms after an underhand throw release, but you must focus on not allowing that rotation to creep into the actual release. One last minor note; the swingyde by itself will not give you a more shallow swing plane. As long as the club shaft aligns with your left forearm, the guide's arm will cup your forearm. Videoing your swing will help you with that. Overall, this is entirely a worthwhile purchase and once I realized I needed to account for the adjustments above, the swingyde is having extremely favorable impacts on my swing.