Tourstriker Planemate

[i*windows]

The verticle stretch is what actually pleases me most about the PM. I have a tendancy to get a bit too flat and this really helps me get my hands higher at the top of the backswing, which has helped a lot with my fairway woods. If you swap bands with something stronger you get a damn good work out.

[lchang]

Ok, it arrived for me this morning. And I'm heading to Palm Springs 11 days from now for 4 rounds in 3 days. Plus I've got 2.5 days out of town this week for business. So I'm gonna trust this feedback and start trying it out tonight... unless someone out there wants to save me from a big mistake?! 

??

??

 



[kevinho]

Mine came in this morning as well. I would say if your swing is pretty solid then you're probably ok. For me, I'm looking for improvement in a little more shallowing but the body rotation resulting in less flipping is what I need most. So I'd be ok to do the work ASAP if I had that schedule.

[stingerfade]

Just got it and did some short band stuff. Didn’t think it was doing much with foam balls in the living room (wasn’t getting tangled or slacking the band on the backswing) but took the band off and it’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had with a club in my hands. Club just feels like there’s no gravity to it and wants to stand straight up on the backswing where with the band you really have to keep it there or it will lay off a ton in a bad way. Thought there’s no way I can hit a ball with this feel and was surprised the club just goes where it’s supposed to by itself on the downswing. Felt so bizarre but was just middling every single wedge shot from half to full swings with the feeling of zero effort. after an hour that’s nuts!!

[lchang]

I wonder what would happen if I trained with it in my hotel room with just a shaft? You'd only need like 2 feet of grip / shaft. The weighting would obviously be all messed up....?

[swh0507]

I would just go to a golf store/ play it again sports etc. and buy the cheapest wedge I could find and leave in the hotel room (If these types of places are available where you are) Maybe even a Walmart kids club or something?

[lchang]

I will be in a foreign city without time to go shopping.... I wonder what TSA will make of a two-foot piece of cut-off golf shaft?!

[stingerfade]

I think that would not work at all. You need the head weight to counterbalance the bands for it to make any sense.

[lchang]

Makes sense. I wasn't really seriously considering it... Er, ok, I was less-than-half-seriously considering it!

[jbole267]

Alright, here we go, after a little time with the planemate now.

I have been watching the protocols for the last couple weeks and seeing how to do them, got my planemate last week. Was working in the house yesterday through them with ease as for the most part, it's not very foreign to my current motion.

I'll break this down into each protocol and then into my experience with it on full swings today at range.

Protocol 1: Building swing structure - Super easy if you have any idea or resemblance of how they want you to swing.

Protocol 2: One arm shots - Also fairly simple, little coordination practice, however, pretty easy.

Protocol 3: Rotation and relocation - This one I think you should really practice before use, it's integral to feel the rotating motion and to remove desire to use arms.

Protocol 4: Finishing form - again a simple one to follow. As you move to full swings eventually, you may see where the common issues they describe pop out, essentially for me, had a few where the band didn't cross but caught harder.

Protocol 5: Resist, resist, relax and rotate - This was what I was most eager to try. For me, when struggling I can sometimes get steep and develop a pull, often would be an over the top move. The feeling you get when relaxing is pretty darn cool and you can really understand a position that I probably don't get completely to all the time.

Protocol 6: Ground force reactions - Once again, I use the ground fairly effectively already, so this was simple, didn't change much in terms of the planemate.

Protocol 7: Review - Essentially throwing it altogether. With the band on and after quite a few reps this felt pretty ordinary, definitely easy to use.

 

Now I want to share my experience and what I liked, and what threw me for a loop today. I will continue to use here for a while and see if it becomes easier and maybe cut back on reps.

On Range: Warmed up actually hitting the ball very well for winter and getting out very infrequently. Worked wedges, mid, and long irons. Everything seemed pretty solid.

What I liked when planemate was attached: It felt effortless. Once I had all of the protocol feelings down, I didn't have speed so shots obviously didn't fly like normal for me, however, they were coming out straight and the feeling I had was that it was definitely a different position from the "relax" then I would typically have in my swing.

Post planemate: I probably hit 50-60 balls with planemate attached and felt confident with the way the results were going. I unclipped and took some practice swings without. Immediately I could feel a different motion grooved, however, I don't think that it was completely positive. I think this could maybe be because I had too many reps between practice swings and actual shots with the planemate attached. What I mean by this is that my club felt like a feather after. With the tension and attached feeling throughout training, without being attached I found it very difficult to swing a club after. I could feel the positions to be very similar, however, the weight made it darn near impossible for me to get a good feel for what I was doing.

I will chalk this up as a first session that was both successful and failure. On one hand, in use, the tourstriker planemate was awesome and really felt good. On the other, without being attached the weight difference (primarily lack of tension feeling I presume) changed me from hitting it solid pre-use to feeling like a beginner post-planemate.

 

Anyways, if you have any specific questions I will be happy to answer and will continue to use, probably with less reps at a time. I am curious as to if others have had similar experiences.

[pgetzen]

That’s a solid review. I have had my planemate for a couple of days, but did the first handful of protocols for a couple of weeks before I got it. I agree with what you wrote, especially about hitting balls without the planemate right after using it. I have found that I need a little time to pass after using the planemate to get rid of the “ghost” effect.

 

What I have found extremely helpful about the planemate:

Getting upright in the backswing. My swing tends to be a little flat and this is getting it a little more on planeGetting width in the backswing, for both pitch shots and full swings. I have a terrible tendency, especially when getting tired, to let the arms collapse a little at the top of my swingThis is the probably the best so far, the shallowing of the club, while moving into my lead heel (setting up using the ground). I can pull from the top at times, so feeling the shallowing is pretty coolPlanning on using this regularly and look forward to hearing everybody’s progress on this.

[lchang]

I'm wondering about the "usefulness" of the ghost effect (the first several minutes after taking the planemate off). It's a temporary thing, right? After it wears off, is the ghost effect just kind of interesting? Or is feeling it (and taking practice swings while it's still in effect) an important part of the process?

(I remember when we were kids, we used to stand in a doorway, hands down by our sides, and then press outwards from inside the doorframe as hard as we could for like a minute or two. Step away from the doorframe, and it was ghost arms--your arms would just rise up "magically".)

[jbole267]

My opinion on this would be similar to when you do any sort of resistance training and fatigue, your body always will feel a certain position. Like lifting weights for example. I would say that this feeling is temporary but not integral to what you're trying to accomplish as you are actually working to build muscle memory by using it, something that will not be this same feeling. Similar to ass the way you grip a golf club, you always grab the grip the same way, you are working to make your swing like this.

This "ghost" feeling is more a by product of doing an assisted motion over and over and then removing the assist.

[JDIL]

USPS stated it would be delivered tomorrow, makes sense, as today is MLK day. Self-employed so I decided to stay home since the planemate wasn't coming in anyway.

Just checked to ensure it was on track for delivery tomorrow, but it says it was delivered today. WTH? USPS doesn't work on Holidays right? Must have been UPS through USPS or something? IT's 5:20pm, and I'm deciding whether to drive 20 min each way to get it, or just wait for tomorrow

[games]

For those intrigued by the ghost effect of the Planemate, do a search on "Paul Bertholy" and "The Bertholy Method." The late Paul Bertholy was a pioneer in the golf kinematic sequence, isometric/isotonic exercises, and slow motion training ("freezers"). He was espousing concepts like this before Martin Chuck and George Gankas were born!

And, use of the Planemate will ingrain that "ghost" feeling of shallowing into your regular swing! I still remember the feeling of the "ghost" late hit the Bertholy method gave me 25 years ago. It's a very different way to train! (One of Bertholy's former assistants is a lurker on these forums.)

[pgetzen]

I remember that “arm thing” too. I think the ghost effect is probably only an interesting result of using the planemate. You won’t have it on the course, so you can’t rely on it there. Others who have thoughts on this, please chime in. I have purposefully taken a break from the planemate to get rid of the ghost effect when hitting shots mostly. Would be interested to hear if others think that using the ghost effect is part of the training.

[Krt22]

The ghost effect only lasts about 4-5 swings with me

[Jonlewis031]

LChang: you have 11 days? You got this! Get to wok and enjoy the process! Just make sure you give yourself a day or or two to focus back on short game before you go low on your trip!

glk: Adam Young is amazing. Block practice is a very mediocre form of learning. Beating ball after ball with PM doesn’t sound fun either. I will say that the increased forms of feedback is great for learning. When you wrap yourself up like a pretzel because you were flipping, you will start experimenting with better ways to achieve a better outcome. This increases learning drastically. Maybe not improvement immediately, but definitely more learning is occurring when using PM than block practice.

[hurley999s]

Ditto. It’s a cool, unusual feeling that’s short lived. Your body quickly adjusts.

[stingerfade]

Interesting mine lasts well after I take off the band, like 30 mins

[Stanks]

You’re muscles can react differently to resistance if they’re not used to that stimulation.

Im a compulsive, never ending, inside takeaway and stall flipper. I’ve made it work for me but, here is to hoping this helps new feels and new body mechanics are ingrained. I don’t expect miracles but I think we all hope for progress. Seems like there is a ton to be had out there and this little product is helping .

[moko jumby]

mine just came in too and wow see you all at the korn ferry qualifiers in august

[tdeutmeyer]

Has anyone done the dry erase marker test for lie angle on the before swing and the Planemate swing? Just curious on the results.

I can hear it now, "Honey, you are never going to guess what happened, I bought this Planemate swing aid and it has changed my

swing so drastically, that now my lie angles are way off. I will have to get fitted for new clubs to match this new better swing." lol

[lchang]

Did just Day 1 protocol at home yesterday. Surprised to experience “ghost swing” afterwards even with that little swing.

[Golfbeat]

I see a lot of progress using the red band for a full follow through with the left shoulder completely clearing. I am hitting the ball already quite a bit further and straighter as well.

I also stand on a pool noodle trying to keep my balance as much as possible under the center of my feet. The combination of these two aids works miracles.

[games]

Hopefully, you don't have THAT wife who would reply "Do you really need new clubs? I looked at your clubfitter's website, and it's only $50 to get your lies adjusted."

[lchang]

Anyone try cutting off extra length from the belt? Accommodating the 52" waist means that for me, tightening it gets the strap almost overlapping the rail (i'm at 34" waist). I also notice that this model is a bit different than the original in the unboxing video--the belt on mine is one piece, not two.

[Jonlewis031]

Everyone on here acting like ghost swing is a bad thing. To me this translates to ‘muscles doing new things’ which I am personally a fan of. Tour Striker has referenced it as a sign of ‘transference’ which is likely debatable. You’re doing new moves. With resistance. Welcome to the party.

To the guy who took 50-60 swings and then was frustrated with ball contact afterwards, maybe you just over fatigued yourself, as that many swings with band resistance could actually translate to something like 3x the swing count?? I’d recommend doing the advanced protocol warmup mode where you’re taking 5 swings with band on, 5 off to keep the intensity down.

[Max21]

Mine just delivered today. Looking forward to dialing in and letting yall know!

[pgetzen]

Quick question...I have been using the short game band and the long green band for full swings. What is the red band for? Just more resistance for the full swing? If so, when have people been transitioning from the long green band to the red band?