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Swing Like A Boss

December 1, 2014 | By Chris Chirico | Leave a Comment

the swing boss
The Swing Boss training aid

It’s no secret that golf training aids are not really our thing here at GolfStinks.  Most of the products we see are more or less laughed off.  Let’s be honest, there are some absolutely ridiculous things out there that are passed off as “training aids.”  Things that attach to your body to make you look like some type of a cyborg.  Products that are so big that they are almost impossible to use indoors, even though that’s their intended use.  Or some products that you can see almost no benefit whatsoever.  We’ve seen it all at this point.

Some of the products we do appreciate though are along the lines of the simple stuff.  Products that aren’t confusing.  Things that are easy to use and don’t include an instruction book the size of your new car’s owners manual.  Contraptions that don’t require me to sign up for a yoga class in order to use.  Simple, easy to use and somewhat helpful is what we’re looking for.  One such product is The Swing Boss.  The Swing Boss fits all of the above criteria.  It’s essentially a miniature driving range mat, a couple of foam golf balls and some Velcro.  You can’t get much simpler than that, right?

In effect, The Swing Boss’ main purpose is to help you hit the sweet spot on your club and let you know when you’ve done so.  Everything else touted, to me anyway, is up for interpretation.  But it’s main purpose is executed very well.  By simply sticking one side of the Velcro to your club face and swinging at the foam ball with the other side of the Velcro already attached, the ball sticks to the face telling you exactly where your club struck the ball.  Hit it too close to the heel or toe of the club, it’ll tell you.  Hit it dead center, that’s where it sticks.  Mis-hit it, the ball doesn’t stick and instead slices off to harmlessly ricochet off your kitchen counter – no harm done.

All around, The Swing Boss is a useful tool for the sweet spot finder as noted above.  However, it’s also an ideal tool for working on your swing, particularly indoors during the off-season – like now.  It’s an alternative to spending the money at the driving range or indoor range, and being able to use it indoors during the cold winter months is just an added bonus.

You can purchase The Swing Boss HERE. But as always, GolfStinks doesn’t keep all the good stuff to ourselves…It’s the holidays after all!  So once again we have a product for one lucky winner to receive.  Just head on over to our Facebook page around 3pm EST today and like this post.  We’ll choose a random winner to receive their own Swing Boss – a $50 value.  Hey, who says it isn’t better to give than to receive?

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: driving range, golf training aids, indoor driving range, Swing Boss

Can Perfect Pitch Help Pitch Your Way To Perfection?

November 25, 2013 | By Chris Chirico | 3 Comments

perfect-pitch-golf-perfect-pitch-golf-mat-66Without a doubt, the weakest parts of my game are my chips around the green and my shots out of the green-side bunkers.  No matter how much I concentrate, how many times I try or how much I practice, I stink around the green.  Every once in a while I get it right.  But usually, I either hit it weak so it doesn’t reach the green, launch it through the green to the fringe/rough on the other side or, if I do manage to keep it on the green, it’s nowhere near where it should be.

Not being a professional golfer, I simply don’t have a lot of time to work on my game.  I get to the range once in a while.  Over the winter, I’ll make it to the indoor facility once or twice.  But that’s about all of the practice I get.  Every other opportunity is spent on the course.  But we may have come across something that can actually help – the Perfect Pitch Golf Mat.

The Perfect Pitch Mat is a portable golf mat designed to help with your chips, pitches, sand and flop shots.  By using a series of curved and straight lines as well as ball placement markers, the mat helps teach you the correct way to set your feet as far as stance and distance to stand from the ball.  But it’s not just a mat on which you stand and aimlessly chip your ball around.  A helpful instruction guide explains where your feet should be in relation to the configuration of lines.  Additionally, the guide also helps to explain the characteristics of each swing with info such as weight distribution, where your hands should be in relation to the ball and the extent of your backswing.  It’s a nice little guide that can be especially helpful to high-handicappers such as myself.

But, it’s not just the guide and what the mat itself teaches you.  Part of the draw of this mat is it’s portability and convenience.  You can literally use it just about anywhere.  Out in the yard, in the living room, in the garage…I’m even thinking about bringing it to my new office at work!

However, as nice as the mat is, it’s not without it’s drawbacks.  For starters, the price.  Like most golf equipment, the price seems to be a bit inflated.  $64.95 seems to me to be a bit steep for, essentially, a golf mat.  However, that is also purely opinion.  If the mat helps the way it’s supposed to, then $65 may be well worth it.  But drawback #2 may be insurmountable for many golfers.  Well, all left-handed golfers really.  There currently is no left-handed version of this mat available.  Hopefully that’s something they’ll consider in the near future.

All around though, I think the Perfect Pitch Golf Mat is a convenient, helpful tool for those of us who struggle with our short games.  And guess what –  as usual, we at golfstinks.com are not going to keep everything to ourselves.  Anyone interested in taking one home can simply head over to our Facebook page and give this post a like for your chance to win your very own Perfect Pitch Golf Mat.  With any luck, one lucky winner and I can improve our short games in time for next year!

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: golf training aids, Perfect Pitch Golf, short game

The Worst Part Of My Golf Game

November 12, 2012 | By Chris Chirico | 6 Comments

Stinky Golfer Chris in the trap...yes that's the ball still in there... (photo by Greg D'Andrea)
Stinky Golfer Chris in the trap…yes that’s the ball still in there… (photo by Greg D’Andrea)

I’m not a beach person.  Not in my golf life or in my actual everyday life.  In actual life, I have two colors to my skin…red and white.  I just can’t get a good tan.  I guess it’s the bit of Irish in me.  Somehow it overpowers the Italian when it comes to skin tone.  So going to the beach is normally not a great experience for me.  And, it’s pretty much the same in my golf game.

I am not a beach person out on the course either.  My all-around golf game is not very good.  But the trap?  Brutal.  By far the worst part of my game.  If you can suffer through this painful two minutes, here’s a bit of proof.

I used to look at being in the trap as improvement in my game.  My rationale was the placement of the traps.  They are there to protect the green.  So if I’m landing in them on approaches, then I’m getting closer to landing on the dance floor.  But those days are gone.  Now, they are the enemy of all that means anything to me.

Now we here at GolfStinks are not ones for golf training aids reviews.  As a matter of fact, this is what we normally do with them.  But could one of these things actually help me?  What about something like the Up & Down Golfer?  It seems simple and logical enough.  There is, of course, practice…but who has the time?

So just because we don’t take our games all that serious, and we don’t give much merit to most training aids, that doesn’t mean that others don’t.  So what’s the worst part of everyone else’s game?  And do you use, or have you used, any training aids?  Did they help?  Let us know, because if one of these things actually works like it promises, then maybe we’ll even do something serious…, or…maybe not.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Filed Under: Golf Life Tagged With: golf training aids, sand trap, Up and Down Golfer

Golfstinks’ Most Hilarious Blog Posts of ALL TIME

August 12, 2011 | By Golf Stinks | 1 Comment

Small Golfstinks Logo ReflectiveBelieve it or not, it will be two years this Sunday that the Golf Stinks Blog launched into a profusion of snarky editorials and hilarious observations about the golf industry, the PGA Tour and the mainstream sports media that cover this fine game.

So get your party hats on because in celebration of dos años de diversión loca, we’re re-posting our top 5 knee-slapers of all time – those LMFAO gems that golfers of all skill levels can enjoy!

So without further adieu…

Number 5

Me, Swing Advice and a Nervous Breakdown – Back in 2010, an extremely overwhelming issue of Golf Magazine convinces Stinky Golfer Greg that swing tips on the printed page make about as much sense as wearing waders in the desert. He wants to know what ever happened to good old fashioned lessons from your pro?

Number 4

Attention Public Golf Courses: Make Room for Judge Smails – After reading a study that reveals private courses are changing over to public courses more frequently due to the economy, Stinky Golfer Greg decides to acquaint his hoity-toity golfing brethren with muni course etiquette.

Number 3

Golf Gadgets; WTF? (Part 1) – In part 1 of this continuing series, Stinky Golfer Pete takes a jeering look at the ridiculousness of golf training aids.

Number 2

Ten Sure-Fire Signs You’re In for a Long Afternoon on the Golf Course – While just walking from the clubhouse to the first tee, Stinky Golfer Greg provides tell-tale observations that should make you think twice about teeing off that day!

Number 1

Golf and A Wife: A Tale of Three Women In One (Part 3) – What happens when one day, your non-golfing spouse asks to join you on the links? As Stinky Golfer Chris‘ worst golf nightmare nearly comes true, he remains calm, cool and collected while adverting what would have been certain disaster.

Well, wasn’t that a good way to help celebrate our 2nd birthday?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: golf, golf gadgets, Golf Magazine, golf training aids, golfstinks, humor, muni, private, public, top posts, wife

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