Unofficial Review - Orange Whip Training Aid

[BIG STU]

17 hours ago, McaseyM said:

Lots of Orange Whips on eBay for under $100. I have a Gold Flex and can to the 1 handed drills when i choke down to the actual shaft, albeit 8-10 swing at most. Interested in trying the Whip though. the Gold Flex does force me to make sure to transfer my weight forward during the swing otherwise i'm all off balance. 

You know you are correct on the weight transfer thing--- I learned that with what little I have worked with my GF---

[BIG STU]

7 hours ago, Kenny B said:

Old dog...  new tricks...  I don't think so.

Although a few weeks ago I was up against a tree and had no swing except left handed.  Turned a 6i upside down and advanced the ball a lot further than I thought I would.  I think the LH swings with the GF helped there.

LOL the way I learned to hit a ball left handed was when I ran the driving range at my old man's course. We had a lot of college folks ( non golfers) that came out to belt balls. We had some of those hard plastic drivers for rental clubs. I used to turn a right handed driver on the toe and fling away to impress the little college hotties ( hey I ain't gonna lie) Got pretty decent at it. Of course I loved doing trick shots. My old man saw me one day hitting a right handed driver left handed and quipped " you need to put that club in your bag and play like that you hit it straighter than your regular one" The left handed thing became real handy for me as wild as I was with a driver in those days. I still practice it some with a 56* wedge turned on the toe. Also I feel that it helps with hand eye coordination. One of the guys on tour I forget who is right handed but practices some with a left handed club.

[tony@CIC]

11 hours ago, Kenny B said:

 I think the LH swings with the GF helped there.

Hope you mean Gold Flex 

[cksurfdude]

On 3/20/2020 at 7:09 PM, tony@CIC said:

I'd be interested in your thoughts on the differences between the OW and the GF.

Tony, all - IMHO, and in a nutshell, the main differences I see are...

Gold Flex --
#1. better for building strength (including grip and forearm) and stretching the swing muscles
2. also functions as a swing training aid

Orange Whip --
#1. better as swing training aid .. most especially for rhythm and tempo
2. also functions to stretch and strengthen
3. easier to one-hand for us less-than-TheRock type dudes

The counterbalance at the butt end of the OW is really the "magic sauce" - the underlying idea is if you're swinging on-plane and in-rhythm the whole club feels "lighter".

I'll try to get a few pics to add to show them side-by-side (today was miserable and wet and partly snowy even!).

[tony@CIC]

On 3/23/2020 at 6:51 PM, cksurfdude said:

Tony, all - IMHO, and in a nutshell, the main differences I see are...

Gold Flex --
#1. better for building strength (including grip and forearm) and stretching the swing muscles
2. also functions as a swing training aid

Orange Whip --
#1. better as swing training aid .. most especially for rhythm and tempo
2. also functions to stretch and strengthen
3. easier to one-hand for us less-than-TheRock type dudes

The counterbalance at the butt end of the OW is really the "magic sauce" - the underlying idea is if you're swinging on-plane and in-rhythm the whole club feels "lighter".

I'll try to get a few pics to add to show them side-by-side (today was miserable and wet and partly snowy even!).

Guess what showed up today. 

[cksurfdude]

3 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

Guess what showed up today

NICE!!!

[cksurfdude]

Two quick pics of OW and GF...

The GF is ~3/4" longer. Haven't looked at the specs on each website, but they seem to be about the same total weight. 

My GF is a few years old, so don't know if they're still using the same grip but I like the wrap on the OW better. 

Bend / Flex...

(Had my lovely assistant helping here )

With the butt ends of the grips lined up, and about 14" from the edge of the counter, you can see that the OW beers more / is "flexier". Also, no pic but holding them side by side and pushing down the bend/flex point of the OW is much closer to the head; on the GF it's more middle.

 

*** Also and Important:

* Check the counterbalance ball at the butt end EVERY TIME you pick it up .. or use thread lock .. there's a notice somewhere on the OW website with serial number ranges where that ball may come unthreaded....!

[tony@CIC]

7 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

 

* Check the counterbalance ball at the butt end EVERY TIME you pick it up .. or use thread lock .. there's a notice somewhere on the OW website with serial number ranges where that ball may come unthreaded....!

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to practice with the OW first and then progress to the GF. Note: I can already see (I did have to practice today ) that it's going to help with footwork and balance. 

[cksurfdude]

5 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to practice with the OW first and then progress to the GF. Note: I can already see (I did have to practice today ) that it's going to help with footwork and balance. 

Hope your experience mirrors mine = the more I use it, the more I like it!

[bf0127]

Been using the OW for the last several years to loosen up before every round.  Still one of the best aids to come out in the last several years.

[CRW]

I’ve had both the OW and GF. I prefer the balance and feel of the OW. I gave the GF to my dad as a stretch/warmup tool. 
 

People use the word tempo with the OW, but I think a better thought is timing. You don’t have to swing slow with the OW or at a certain tempo, but your timing has to be right or the shaft of the OW rebounds at the wrong time and you will definitely feel it. 
 

I don’t use mine enough...

[BLW15]

I've found the OW to be most beneficial while doing step-swings as I can feel where the club is as my weight is moving forward. It helps me to realize that my weight should be moving forward while the club is still going back.

[longdrivenate]

Great review. Thanks for doing it. I have an OW as well. I don't really use it as a training / practice aid, but I use it routinely to warm up before hitting balls. It is a great, quick way to find your tempo, get your body moving in sync, and get stretched out. The stretching factor you mentioned is really really nice. A couple minutes swinging that thing slowly and then working up to full swings with it really loosens up the wrists, hips, back, and everything. Then I'm good to go

[tony@CIC]

I got one a few weeks ago and can speak to the positive benefits. The YouTube videos from OW are great for not only loosening up and tempo but also help with footwork.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[UncleDanger]

I bought one a few years ago. Use it all the time. Great warm up and tempo aid. If you can get one used I’d recommend it. 

[Firebird]

I got a Tempo Trainer a while ago and over the past weeks when we have not been allowed to play golf I have really started to use it allot. I had swung it hundreds of times and then by flute a swing felt like my driver used to years ago, like the head is lagging behind and you can feel the shaft loading up. Then after 10-12 more swings it happened again but this time I was very much noting how I was swing. Now it happens almost every time and when I video my swing it has changed allot. Now the fun will be when I am finally able to play golf. First round will be interesting, will let you know.

[Firebird]

On 4/28/2020 at 9:01 AM, Firebird said:

I got a Tempo Trainer a while ago and over the past weeks when we have not been allowed to play golf I have really started to use it allot. I had swung it hundreds of times and then by flute a swing felt like my driver used to years ago, like the head is lagging behind and you can feel the shaft loading up. Then after 10-12 more swings it happened again but this time I was very much noting how I was swing. Now it happens almost every time and when I video my swing it has changed allot. Now the fun will be when I am finally able to play golf. First round will be interesting, will let you know.

At our holiday house there is a paddock next to the community hall that they have set up as a driving range so when I was there 2 weeks ago I took down a 7 and 4 iron and went up and had a hit. As it is in the middle of no where social distancing was not an issue as I was the only one there. Only issue is that the grass was 30-50mm long so finding the golf balls did require some searching. I started with 6 and lost 3, but found 2.

It took me 6-7 swings before I started to get the feeling I got with the Tempo Trainer - silly me I did not take it with me. Once I got that feeling I started hitting the ball almost dead straight and long. One of the balls I lost was simply because I hit it perfectly and ended up running out of range. I still do not have the consistency but as with everything knowing what to do and doing it consistently is all about practice. I am playing my first game on Saturday so will be interesting to see how I score and more importantly how many swings I can get right. Will let you know.

[Firebird]

Finally had a chance to play a full round yesterday and even though it was not great, there was some improvement particularly in mt short irons. Still work in progress, I believe the more consistently I can replicate my correct swing with the Tempo Trainer the better my body will learn which i guess is what this device is all about. The hard part was getting it right in the first place. Simply swinging the device will not fix a bad swing, you need to understand what you are seeing and know how to fix it.

In my case I new I was swinging in to out, this was caused by me starting my downswing by rolling my hands out and over. So by simply ensuring my hands started on the inside helped but the real problem was that I was not starting with my hips so that at impact my body was still closed.

Now it is just a matter of getting the sequence right and the Tempo Trainer allows me to see and feel when I do.

[cksurfdude]

14 hours ago, Firebird said:

Still work in progress, I believe the more consistently I can replicate my correct swing with the Tempo Trainer the better my body will learn which i guess is what this device is all about. The hard part was getting it right in the first place. Simply swinging the device will not fix a bad swing, you need to understand what you are seeing and know how to fix it.

Yeah, that's really the key!

For me, combining use of the OW with drills from lessons has been helping me start to get more comfortable with the "new swing" and, bit by bit (small glimmer of hope), bring it to the course.

Good luck to you as you keep working with it!

[Gsi10561]

hellrung do you still use the orange whip? I’d love to know if it’s stood the test of time.