Golf Gadget Review! – PivotPro Training Aid

MyGolfSpy.com Gadget Review – PivotPro

“Keep your weight over the inside of your right foot, not the outside.”

(By: GolfSpy Dave) This was one of the first things that my instructor told me when I started a series of lessons last year. Being relatively new to the game of golf, my “natural” swing was riddled with faults, the largest being a tendency to come over the top with the swing. My instructor explained to me that one of the reasons that I was coming over the top was that I was getting too far to the outside of my right foot and that inhibited me from getting my weight back during the down swing. As a result, over the top was the only path available for the club to take. My instructor had me roll up a towel and place it under the outside edge of my right foot and take some half swings. My goal was to concentrate on the feeling of keeping my weight inside during the backswing. It was sort of effective and as a good student, I brought that extra towel with me to the range and practiced the drill. (For a while anyway…)

What is this PivotPro tool all about?
One day while flipping through the ads in the back of one of the golf magazines I noticed the add for the PivotPro and was curious to find out if it could actually help me with my weight transfer issues and ultimately my tendency to swing over the top.

Send an email; get a call from the president.
Within minutes of sending an email about reviewing PivotPro for MyGolfSpy.com readers, Sam Shah, the president and inventor of PivotPro gave me a call. We talked about my swing faults and he made some suggestions about how to use the PivotPro to address them when the unit arrived yet. Sam even gave me a call a week or so later to make sure that the unit arrived and to find out if I had any questions.

The PivotPro Unit – Packaging, Construction, and Durability (20 Points)
The PivotPro came in a box about the size of a shoebox. Included with the PivotPro boot was an instructional DVD and a training rod in three sections that screwed together to make a three foot rod overall. This rod is used in different ways with the different drills. Depending upon what you are working on, it can be out of the boot as an alignment aide, or in the boot for timing drills.

The boot itself is constructed of a durable plastic base that slopes down from the outside to the inside of the right foot. A left foot version is available for you sinister swingers. A rigid heel strap and two snowboard-type bindings secure your foot to the unit. The PivotPro is designed to be worn over your golf shoe. I found that it fit securely over two different models of golf shoes, and a couple pairs of normal athletic shoes too. The base of the boot has a series of spikes to secure the unit to turf, either real or artificial. The straps remained tight during range sessions and are very easy to engage and disengage. Overall the boot is very well constructed and should stand up to a season or more usage.

WARNING: The PivotPro has a warning label on it warning you not to wear the boot on smooth surfaces like hardwood floors or tile. This is not to be ignored. I could feel how the boot could slip out from under you when I stood carefully on it on our hardwood floors. Not an issue on the rougher concrete at the range, but be careful.

The durability of the training rod is the only flaw that I see with the unit. By having it come in three sections, the packaging requirement is greatly reduced. In addition, some of the drills require you to separate the rod and use the different sections for different alignments, & etc. However, adding the two attachment joints to the rod creates two areas of weakness that would not be present in a solid version.

Lets look at this hypothetical situation. Say it is your first day at the range with the PivotPro and you get a bit out of sync and strike the rod with a mighty blow from your pitching wedge swing gone rogue. You may have just separated the rod into three sections again, without the required unscrewing. After returning home that day, I was able to remount the screws to the sections using superglue, but the rod remains a bit askew from the impact.

In PivotPro defense, I am not sure if a solid rod would have survived the impact either. It would be nice if there was a way for the rod to release from the boot with this kind of impact while still remaining firmly attached during normal usage. This may not be possible, but I have to deduct some points from this category because of the rod.
Packaging, Construction, and Durability (15/20 Points)

Support Materials (Online and DVD) (20 Points)
Videos: http://www.pivotpro….ivot_video.html
Drills: http://www.pivotpro….hing_aid_0.html

The support that comes with the PivotPro is excellent. If you go to the website, there are multiple videos and drills that can help you figure out how to use the unit. Most of the videos on the site feature Jim McLean, as does the DVD that comes with the unit. After watching sections of the DVD and some of the videos online, I felt confident taking the PivotPro to the range for practice.

I also get the impression from our phone conversations that Sam Shah would be happy to respond to emails from PivotPro customers and offer suggestions. I am not quoting Sam or anything; it’s just a feeling that I get from him.

Support Materials (Online and DVD) = (20/20 Points)

Effectiveness of the PivotPro (40 Points)
My testing of the PivotPro occurred while hitting from mats over six different range sessions at the local driving range. Initially, walking with the boot on was a bit awkward and perhaps a touch embarrassing. Once I started using it though, it was easy to forget that it was even on. Obviously using the PivotPro did not immediately fix all of my swing faults during that first range session, but I could definitely feel more of where my weight should be during the swing. I cycled hitting 10 balls with the PivotPro on and then 10 with it off for about forty balls. Even from the first session, it was possible to carry over the feel of wearing the PivotPro to the swings without it on. This is something that I could never really feel when I was using the rolled up towel.

The only drawback of the first session was my impact incident with the training rod.

As I have continued to use the PivotPro, it does seem that if my swing gets a bit wild, then I strap on the boot and after a couple of balls it comes back under control. Obviously I am not strapping on the boot on the course, but I do feel that my stance is a bit altered because of using the PivotPro and that my weight shift issues have improved.

As a dedicated slicer of the ball, I went to the DVD and watched the drills for fighting the slice using the PivotPro. Realistically, it was a drill that would be effective if the PivotPro was not part of the picture, but I was able to perform the drill better with the boot on. Again when I cycled with the boot on and off, I could retain the feeling in my swing that I had with the boot on. Not perfectly, but it does seem like prolonged practice with the PivotPro will be beneficial.

That being said, I am going to bring the PivotPro to my next lesson. One of my fears with using any training aid for a prolonged period of time is that I will begin to groove in a bad swing habit. I am not sure what that could be with the PivotPro, but I want the trained eye of my pro to watch my swing and make sure that I am not doing anything new and weird in my swing.

Overall the boot seems very beneficial, even without the rod. As a result my first impression of the effectiveness is quite good, perhaps even improving with the review of my instructor. I have also not explored the use of the tool for chipping and bunker work. There may be added benefits once I tap into these areas.

The bottom line is that my swing gets better when I wear the PivotPro, and at least for a while it stays better even when I take it off.

Effectiveness of the PivotPro = (36/40 Points)

Longevity and Value of the PivotPro (20 Points)
I view longevity of any golf item as being a reflection of how durable it is and also how long do you foresee using it. Obviously from this review I had some issue with the training rod going to pieces on me after my errant swing. Although the fault here is mine, a designer of a tool to help bad swings must anticipate some bad swings. Perhaps I can find an alternative rod at the hardware store, but I am not impressed with the construction of the included.

The boot is another story altogether. This is very soundly constructed and seems like it will last. As an added plus, it really seems like the PivotPro is a training aid that I will go back and use again in the future.

As for value, the MSRP of the PivotPro is $129.99 with it being available on the PivotPro website currently for $79.99. This seems to be about the correct price for the unit and the associated DVD, although the rod still decreases value for me.

Another way to look at value is explore the cost of a lesson at your local course and compare that cost to the PivotPro.

Longevity and Value of the PivotPro = (17/20 Points)

Total Score = (88/100)

Summary
The PivotPro is advertised as an effective tool to address weight shift and loading issues during the golf swing. After initial trials, it definitely seems to address these issues that are all too common for the average golfer. Check out the PivotPro website, watch the videos, and decide if you can benefit from PivotPro. So far so good for me