At least one Swing Groover model doesn't stink for beginners

[radiopreacher]

So... I'm not saying any of the three main, basic Club Champ Swing Groover models are training aids for people already making consistent contact with the ball (nevermind the Electronic I'm not acquainted with).

But I have to make known that there are very different models, one of which is a terrible design and easily broke, one I consider "meh.." because it's plastic but designed better, and one of which I'm really, really liking (for certain intents and purposes) -- welded metal and way better design -- serviceable, and will outlast the ball which I'm capable of making in my garage.

The following is to show there are 3 basic $20 Club Champ brand "Swing Groover" models or editions with big differences, and I just paid $20 for the exact same one (made in the same factory) that another brand sells for three times the price.

Do any of them give you thousand dollar feedback? No.. but you can see it spinning in imperfectly perpendicular plane to indicate a blatant hook or slice, skewed one way or the other accordingly. And you just know if you just miss badly...

I have no fear of "cementing in a bad groove" and have come to see it can only help (for now). Esp. my bad back bending down for every ball otherwise.

The first one being phased out everywhere was metal, but was a poor design -- the cross arm was held on, badly, by a single hand screw and tended to break -- Door #1:

 

Then there is a plastic one which is designed with better engineering, how it handles stress, but it is plastic, and certainly not as serviceable (to me) as door #3 will show

Door #2 plastic:

 

Lastly here's the one I consider worth having.

door #3:

 

I'm not sure if it's being phased in, after the plastic model, or phased out, for the plastic model. I just got it in-store at Wally World for $20 US. It can be unscrewed, modified, serviced, repaired... it has the curved pipe that is stabilized in three ways that all share the stress... there's no way you'll accidentally break this thing anytime soon. I expect to wear out the ball, in which case I'll drill a hole thru a 2-piece ball on my drill press, force paracord thru with a makeshift giant "needle", secure it on the other side, and crimp a loop around the washer (or 25 cents worth of new hardware).

I am doing exercises like just hitting the ball with nothing but my left (non dominant) arm, and/or trying to put more of a swing into the ball (in which case I'm still in the chili dipping and topping the ball phase).

So it's perfect for me. I have back issues and don't have to bend down every time to set a new ball.

And it's not an absurdly setup-intensive thing like that rig that sends the ball up monofilament line and back.

Stick it in the ground to use, and yank it back out so it doesn't rust away outside.

Easy to shim a bit or furrow a little earth out of the way to make fine height adjustments.

Really happy with it until I outgrow it totally.

 

Even now, it's no replacement for the range or even hollow or foam "wiffle balls" that I am amazed at how much feedback they give, but for a little while with little effort in between other things, the Groover a great added activity that enables me to repeat certain exercises way more than I could setting up a ball every time.

And this version is high quality enough people are selling the exact same one from the exact same factory for up to $71 with a couple of pieces of extra junk in the box like a bag and a couple weights.

$20!

 

 

 

 

[crapula]

I have no words.

[oikos1]

> @crapula said:

> I have no words.

 

Lol

[Zitlow]

It's a good concept but no way the plastic would hold up.

[radiopreacher]

> @Zitlow said:

> It's a good concept but no way the plastic would hold up.

 

My point exactly, that's why the third one is the one I was happy to open the box and see.

Of course it will be the object of ridicule for several reasons, one of which is that people don't adapt nearly infinite different intents and purposes for different people into their view.

Like:

Bottom line: it has a specific purpose. I've already had it working nicely for that purpose.

Training exercises. Not saving money from the driving range, LOL.

It has no practical functionality for someone fine-tuning a swing on it.

But there's nothing anyone can say that can erase my positive experience with it and the specific use it serves.

I can do exercises I'm already unarguably benefiting from (the proof is in the pudding), which would be impractical to perform setting up a ball every time.

Example:

That exercise that a coach told me to do by drawing a line on the ground and thinking more about my left arm (even using only my left arm to hit the ball for a while, then adding back my right) -- and doing it a kajillion times...?

He tells you to swing at a painted line instead of a ball because you're doing it over and over and over for a while. Impossible to set up a ball that many times. Especially for me. I can twist but I need to let my back heal a bit from bending over too much.

And so simply put it's more fun and even informative to hit even a ball compromised by a string than an imagined, invisible ball and a painted line.

And that's just one example.

I also enjoy trying to add more power that still puts me too all over the place and isn't worth teeing up, yet or wasting impact tape on.

Yes, most people probably just swing lighter and more controlled (like I'm mainly doing, with a real ball or wiffle ball in my yard) and ease up bit by bit, but I've plateaued a bit and already noticed breaking past it a bit more by adding these exercises.

This is added exercise, not replacing "proper" ones.

The less imagination someone has (or the more stubborn they are there's only one way to do something) the less ideas they'll be capable of conceiving or perceiving, and the more they'll ridicule what's outside of the status quo. But they'll hop on markedly different bandwagons during each fad or passing paradigm shift because they feel safe in numbers.

I iknew what it could and couldn't do the minute I looked at it, as long as it didn't break, and the third one above will hold up guaranteed. Easy for me, personally, to make a replacement ball assembly if it breaks.

I tried a gimmick but instead of finding it worthless, it already predictably pays off during the times I just want to briefly try a hundred swings of some training exercise, or experiment which requires either a returning ball or an imaginary one because no one healing from a back injury without paid help can set a ball up that many times.

And I knew it would work for that before I bought it because I was thinking independently, not just listening to the seller talk me into buying something. That's why I've been able to successfully design archery equipment.

Intents and purposes -- it's like violins:

-- It does, in fact, make no sense to buy a $100 violin and spend a bunch of money upgrading it by taking it to music shops or luthiers and having it modified. It will never be as nice as a violin you just spent that same money on.

-- BUT there's usually an exception to every rule. If you're learning to do your own luthier work, suddenly you learn the $100 violin up the road came from the exact same line (when they were bare, unfinished, incomplete) as a $700 Yamaha! Most people don't know that. And so if you put pennies on the dollar doing your own work, it is most definitely worth modifying a $100 violin piece by piece instead of just saying "I can never have a worthwhile violin because I cannot afford $700).

It was never as pretty, but due to TLC and a better-set sound post, my $100 supposed "violin shaped object" unanimously was agreed upon as having equal playability and a better sound than the rented Yamaha. I was even called a liar about the origin of the voilin, LOL.

And so while it's great advice to someone not to attempt upgrading violins if they're just plunking it down on a pro's counter with cash (just buy the good one or find a different hobby) -- it's completely and totally inaccurate and unfortunate advice to tell someone who might enjoy learning how to modify their own violin (who can virtually never afford an expensive one) that the $100 violin will never be functional. Not only is is a verifiable fact many come off the same exact conveyor belt after initial assembly (bare) and go off to either crude completion ($100) or fine completion ($700), but I did it myself and debunked the rumor, showing there are different intents and purposes for which one piece of advice can never fit.

Same with the silly-looking "Swing Groover".

I use it for something it works fantastically for. Specific exercises and experiments, not fine tuning my working swing.

I never expect to play as well as a PGA pro with decades of instruction under his belt who agrees with me about it (but of course would likely not dare say it publicly because he has to play the PR and image game).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

2000 words for something that need one - NO!

[radiopreacher]

> @Hawkeye77 said:

> 2000 words for something that need one - NO!

 

Just as eloquent, descriptive, logical, and persuading as the other two people who stepped forward to bash something I simply wanted to describe was the worthwhile one of 3 models.

Not one of you explained why it's worthless for any exercise whatsoever, for any person, under any conditions.

First thing I did was lay out a disclaimer about what I did not expect from it.

Works great for what I'm using it for. I guess it's an illusion.