If you want to improve your golf, you need to practice. While playing a round helps you to work on your decision making as well as learning to hit shots under pressure and figure out how to score, the golf course isn’t the best place to hone your technique. After all, golf is hard enough without standing on the first tee with a head full of swing thoughts. Instead, save that for the range or even at home, when you can focus on a specific feel or area of your game, with the support of a dedicated training aid.
The best golf training aids are numerous, designed to help you with your swing and your putting. Some are fairly complex, while others are deceptively simple, but when used consistently can really pay dividends. And if you think that training aids are just for struggling golfers or high-handicappers, then think again. At every professional event the range is full of tour pros grooving their swings with the help of a particular aid. Many of these are focused on the fundamentals, showing that even the best in the world need constant reminders of set-up, grip and alignment - typically these take the form of alignment sticks, but also think Tommy Fleetwood with his swing plane aid, Scottie Scheffler with his grip trainer, or Rory Mcllory, who unveiled a short practice club in Dubai this week that’s he’s using to help him better embed the mechanics of his new takeaway.
Below we’ve selected our favorite training aids, all of which have been tested thoroughly by the Golf Monthly team. Whatever part of your game you need to work on there should be a product here that will help you in your pursuit of greater consistency and lower scores. Similarly, if you’ve made a resolution to practice ‘smarter’ then check out our guides on the best golf launch monitors, best golf simulator and our picks for the best golf net.
The Quick List
A brilliant putting training aid that gives instant feedback on face angle at impact. A stand-out device that should be part of anyone's training aid rotation or home putting studio.
As used by world number one Scottie Scheffler, this molded rubber grip will guide your hands into place on the club for ultimate control and consistency.
A simple yet very effective, multi-purpose training aid that will ultimately help golfers sync their arms and body correctly in order to create a more effective golf swing and cleaner contact with the ball.
The Champkey swing trainer does an excellent job of grooving a smooth rhythm with gradual acceleration. It should also improve your timing, sequencing and swing plane as well as acting as an effective warm-up device.
This training aid does an effective job at helping you move your arms, body and club in the correct order and manner to deliver more speed and better timing. For a lot of golfers this will lead to more consistent strikes and longer carries.
The Eyeline Golf Speed Trap 2.0 is one of the most effective and versatile training aids on the market, providing immediate impact on swing path, strike and ball flight. You can also work on a variety of shots too.
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This is an exceptionally clever piece of engineering that provides golfers with the ability to practice all manner of breaking putts in their own homes at an affordable price.
With clear instruction as to where to have the grip sit in your hands, holding the club correctly has never been easier with the True Grip glove from Me And My Golf.
If you can commit to the training schedule, there is genuine clubhead speed and distance to be gained here. With this kit you don't have to bulk up like Bryson DeChambeau if you want to start hitting the ball further.
Work on a part of your game that you've likely ignored, the breaking putt, which makes up around 90 per cent of your work on the greens. The days of repeatedly finishing on the low side could be at an end.
Best Golf Training Aids
Our top pick
Improving your putting is a surefire way to lower your scores and greater consistency on the greens starts with the ability to deliver a square face at impact. The Devil Ball from PuttOut provides instant feedback on this, which makes it such an effective tool we included them in our Editors Choice Awards and gave them the top spot in this guide.
These fall into the ‘deceptively simple’ category mentioned in the intro. The ball, of which you get two, features a flat-edged design that exaggerates the putter’s face angle as you strike it. If the face was open or closed at impact, the ball will roll to the left or right and with a great deal of wobble. Only by presenting a square face will you get a smooth roll and a ball that hits your intended start line.
The ball can be placed in three different ways to offer a range of difficulty - it’s an element we liked as it allows you plenty of room for improvement. We really did gain a strong understanding of our face angle, and given the direct feedback, started to see some real improvement in our putting.
- Read our full PuttOUT Devil Balls Review
Most affordable
Watch Scottie Scheffler closely, whether it’s during tournament play or on the range, and you’ll see just how careful and deliberately he places his hands on the club. Clearly it’s a fundamental that arguably the world’s best golfer and his coach Randy Smith believe is not to be overlooked, and to help him he uses the G-Rip Grip Trainer.
It’s a wonderfully simple and affordable device, in essence it's just a moulded grip that ensures you place your hands on the club in the same way each time. If Scheffler feels it’s necessary to do this as part of his routine, there's a good chance it's something we all should take on board.
It couldn’t be easier to use. Just fit it to a club and use it for a few swings during every session at the range. You can also just swing the club at home, building in the muscle memory so when you're out on the course you’re more likely to grip the club with consistency. It’s particularly well-suited to new golfers who are still ingraining the fundamentals into their game or for seasoned players who have a tendency to get too weak or too strong with their grip.
Our resident gear tester Joe Ferguson made a replica of his seven-iron and fitted one of these grips on it, to see if it could make a difference. After a period of time, Joe said;
"I personally believe that the training grip has had a monumental impact on my ability to place my hands on the club consistently and in turn my ability to control the clubface....With so many things that can and do go wrong within the golf swing, eliminating a variable such as the grip is both easy to do and will reap huge rewards in terms of consistency."
- Read our full article on Scottie Scheffler's use of this grip
Used by Rory McIlroy
The Sure Golf Connector got a lot of attention fairly recently because Rory McIlroy was spotted using it in practice. It is essentially a small molded spongy ball with three short alignment rods protruding from it and is designed to help swing mechanics, engage the body and help identify swing faults and make improvements.
The ball is contoured to facilitate the player's forearms, and the alignment rod is designed to give a reference point for arm rotation during the swing. As such the device sits by the forearms at address and the aim is to swing whilst it remains in contact throughout.
If the arm structure breaks down at all, for example with a ‘flying’ right elbow whereby the right arm separates and gets too far behind the player, the ball will simply drop to the floor giving immediate feedback.
The rods that protrude from the ball are also there for alignment, giving a very strong visual reference point of how much their forearms are rotating both on the backswing and through the ball preventing excessive opening or closing of the face.
- Read our full Sure Golf The Connector Training Aid Review
Best for slicers
Great tempo is an enviable quality in a golf swing. To a degree we all have a ‘natural’ tempo that’s hard to change but learning to swing with better rhythm will help your game, whether you have the quicker tempo of say a Tom Watson or the slower, silky action of a Ernie Els. And while the ChampKey Golf Swing Trainer is unlikely to turn you into an five-time Open champion, or the possessor of a swing so smooth they’ll call you the Big Easy 2, we believe it’s an effective tool for those struggling with their sequencing and timing.
We loved just how simple the ChampKey trainer is to use. Suitable both indoors and out, it features a rubber grip, a flexible shaft and a silica gel head. After a little bit of adjustment time, we were feeling the benefits, gaining feedback of just when to release the club. If you struggle with getting too quick in the transition or from throwing the club from the top, especially in pressure situations, then this should be a highly beneficial tool. It also has the added benefit of increasing the strength of your golfing muscles if used regularly.
- Read our full Champkey Swing Trainer Review
Best for sequencing
This training aid consists of a 10°, 460cc driver head attached to a highly flexible yet robust shaft and it is designed to help a variety of elements in your game. Hitting straight shots with this club requires precise tempo, rhythm, and timing by moving the body, arms and club in the correct order to deliver a better strike.
I must admit, when first testing the club, it does take some time to get used to, but you learn to quickly adapt to how it releases and I began to make squarer contact after just a few swings. As such this is a training aid that will help players with destructive moves throughout the swing. For example those that have a sharp pull at the top of the swing or a flick of the hands during impact can be helped here.
The flexible shaft makes the head feel much heavier than a regular driver, therefore helping increase awareness of the clubhead throughout the swing, making it easier to feel the positions I needed to get into to make solid contact with the ball. Over time, I can say with confidence that this training aid will lead to a little more speed and consistency of strike for most golfers.
- Read our full GFORCE Driver Swing Trainer Review
Best for swing path
As is the case with all Eyline Golf products, the Speed Trap 2.0 feels sturdy and is easy to setup. I like the fact it comes with a handy travel case housing the plastic base, four foam rods and four plastic ties to hold the rods down.
Designed to help with elements like swing path, ball-striking, and can even help you groove out fade and draw swings, one of the things I loved the most about the Speed Trap training aid was the fact that you have set ball positions marked out for different shots, such as chipping, pitching, and full swings.
In testing i thoroughly enjoyed the feedback the aid gave me. I gained a really good understanding of how I needed the club to move to produce a smooth draw and when I moved to the course after my practice, the results were what I had hoped.
At $119, I understand this training aid is somewhat of an investment but if you’re serious about making changes to your swing and want to improve your ball striking, then this is without doubt one of the best training aids on the market.
- Read our full Eyeline Golf Speed Trap 2.0 Training Aid Review
Best putting mat
This is a fantastic putting mat from PuttOut, a trusted brand who make some of the best putting mats we've seen over the years. Traditionally the brand focused on designs aimed to help you improve your alignment, start line and distance control but its AirBreak is something of a departure.
While it still allows you to hone your technique, your alignment and your pace, its USP is a design that serves up an almost endless option of breaking putts across its 8ft surface.. It does this via eight inbuilt air pockets that can be inflated to raise or lower the base as you wish. We found it straightforward to use, even allowing us to work on our double-breakers.
The battery-powered automatic ball return is a wonderful feature, conveniently delivering the ball back to your feet as a reward after you've drained a putt. The only concerns we have with this mat is the durability, especially given the more complicated design but in my 6+ months of use it has held up rather nicely!
- Read our full PuttOUT AirBreak Putting Mat Review
Best for hookers
We’ve already discussed aids that allow you to focus on the fundamentals, and here’s another that aims to promote a neutral and repeatable grip.
The True Grip glove from the Me and my Golf team features three blue silicone areas that give you visual feedback to just how well you’re gripping the club. The channel across the base of the fingers helps the club to sit there - often a poor grip starts by the club being gripped too much in the palm. From this position it’s near impossible to hinge the club effectively. Then there are two more areas that sit atop the glove as well as an arrow tip that should point at your right shoulder (for right handers). Too weak or too strong and you won’t see these visuals.
We like training aids that give immediate feedback, and this glove does just that. Conforming to the Rules of Golf, you can also use it during play, allowing you to better ingrain a solid grip. The glove can come up slightly small but it does stretch well so I would recommend ordering to your usual sizing.
- Read our full Me And My Golf True Grip Glove review
Best for improving speed
Golfers of all abilities crave some extra yards. Typically they’ll look to invest in one the best drivers or a set of the best irons to find more distance. But training can also help you hit further, with tools like this SuperSpeed set on hand to assist your gains.
The brand claims that its Golf Training set can give you an added 30 yards with the driver. While we didn’t test it for quite long enough to see quite such results, after two weeks of use we can report that our swing speed had increased, with the bonus of added flexibility in our swing.
Each set comes with three weighted golf shafts, allowing you to begin with the lighter model before working up to the heavier shafts. You’ll need to follow the guidelines and make sure that you swing from both sides, but in essence it’s a simple tool that’s really easy to use.
It’s worth remembering that any gains in speed should ideally be reached alongside improvements in your swing mechanics. After all, if you’re suffering with an over the top move that causes a big slice, more speed is only going to further exaggerate the issue.
- Read our full SuperSpeed Golf Training Set Review
Best for breaking putts
Another putting mat, but this time it’s a model that allows you to work on breaking putts while at home.
The aptly named Breaking Ball putting mat comes with three weighted golf balls, each one designed to replicate degrees of break, from slight, to medium to heavy. They are colour coded so you can’t make a mistake and can be positioned to emulate left-to-righters or right-to-lefters.
Certainly we believe it adds another dimension to putting at home, which should translate to more confidence the next time you;re standing over a tricky right-to-left putt out on the course. Vitally the weighted balls feel pretty close to regular golf balls.
- Read our full Breaking Ball Putting Mat review
How we test training aids
Our gear testing methodology is based on rigorous testing done over weeks rather than an hour or two. It’s this thorough approach to testing that allows us to gain plenty of insight into just how the product performs, both during practice and play.
Over this time we can consider the strengths and weaknesses of a particular club, ball, shoe or, in this case training aid, so we can provide you with an honest review that’s designed to help you find the best gear for your game.
Specifically for training aids, these products are tested by several members of the gear team including Deputy Editor Joel Tadman, and professionals Joe Ferguson and Sam De'Ath, all of which have tested golf gear for many years and can test products properly, efficiently, and then communicate the performance to you the reader with insight and honesty.
Vitally, at Golf Monthly a good review can never be bought by a brand; our unbiased opinions are formed by the time spent with the product and nothing else.
What to consider when buying a training aid
There are a myriad of golf training aids on the market, each making bold claims as to how they can benefit your game. To help you make an informed decision about the right aids for you, we’ve listed some key factors you should consider before you buy.
1. What do you want to work on?
This is the most important question to answer. If you’re new to the game and are unsure of what you need to work on, we’d suggest choosing an aid that focuses on the fundamentals first, such as grip or alignment. If you’re an experienced golfer you’ll likely have a better idea of your weaknesses, and can find an aid to match.
2. Usability
Some golfers want an aid they can carry in their golf bag and simply use on the practice range or during a warm up. Others may prefer to work on their game at home, setting up a practice putting mat for example. Have a think also about whether you respond best to a simple tool or whether you’d benefit from something more complicated and in depth.
3. Versatility
An extension of the above question to some degree, there are aids that are designed to be portable and those which are far harder to carry around. A training aid that you can pop in your golf bag, or suitcase, as well as use at home is a versatile tool indeed.
4. Durability
A good golf training aid should also be strong as well so be aware of what certain models are made from and whether brands offer warranties on their products in case they break from use.
5. Price
Golf can be an expensive sport right and given the choice of buying new clubs, balls, bags or clothes, a training aid might be the bottom of that list despite it helping maybe the most. However it is important to realise that there are aids at lots of different price points so if you do decide to invest in one, be aware of how much you are willing to spend.
6. Lessons?
While we’ve tested all these training aids and selected them because we feel they are effective, we’d still advise that taking a lesson or two is likely the best way to begin to iron out problems in your swing. A professional can spot the issue quickly, before giving you an action plan of how to best eradicate the particular problem, which might involve using one of the aids we’ve suggested. Self-diagnosis can lead you to go down a rabbit hole that can be tricky to get out of, so if you’re unsure of what the issue is, it’s best to get a professional opinion before you start buying any training aids.
That said, if you’re looking to gain more confidence by playing putting games or seeing the ball go in the hole, then a training aid like one of the putting mats above is a great idea, and one that doesn’t necessarily have to be used alongside a lesson from a teaching pro.
If you're after more golf training aids, why not check out some of the best putting aids on the market, best alignment sticks and best putting mats.
FAQs
Are golf training aids worth it?
The simple answer to this question is yes. We have found there are aids to help in every aspect of the game and most golfers can benefit from a quality model, and yet it is worth saying that training aids don't solve every problem. We have rarely found a training aid that doesn't work but no single aid is perfect for every golfer either.
What training aids do golf pros use?
When we cover Tour golf we tend to see lots of different players using different training aids to help them practice. This is because every single golfer on the planet is different and swings the club in unique ways. However, despite this was tend to see a lot of professionals carry alignment sticks and putting mirrors for their work on the driving range and putting greens.
Are alignment sticks useful?
Yes, a golf alignment stick is a handy tool that many players should keep in their bags. They can be used in a variety of drills to help players improve their aim, swing stroke and their connection on the golf ball.
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