GOLF GADGET REVIEW! – TheCantMiss Training Aid

Introduction

(Written By: GolfSpy_Matt) How many putting training aids have you seen marketed or even purchased in your golfing career? Now…how many of those promised to give you the “Perfect Putting Stroke”?  I’m sure almost all of them did.  Problem I have with all these training aids or putting methods that some teach out there is the fact that the majority of them try to get everyone putting with the same stroke.  But in all honesty there is no one perfect putting stroke…in reality there are thousands of perfect putting strokes.

Its all about aim, a repetitive stroke and most important confidence.  You talk to any pro that is putting well or think back to when you were putting well and the one thing you probably recall about that time is how confident you were when you stepped over a putt.  And yes confidence comes from sinking some putts…but it also comes with something you feel comfortable with.  And taking your natural putting stroke and trying to completely alter it…is a guarantee to kill your confidence.

Putting makes up roughly 40% of your score, so there’s no better way to lower your handicap and relieve your playing partners of their cash than improving your putting. The Can’t Miss (TCM) is a training aid designed to help you develop a repeatable putting stroke that……wait for it…..can’t miss.

BIG QUESTION: Does it work? Read on spies…

Ease of Use/Set Up

While there is nothing complicated about using The Can’t Miss, set up does take a little time. It might be easier to click over to TCM homepage and watch their videos, or check out my video review, but I’ll do my best to describe the set up.

TCM is attached to the putter shaft, roughly 10” above the head, with thumb screws. It is important to get TCM perpendicular to the putter face. Once it is attached, a starter motor gets plugged into TCM and started. After the gyroscopes get up to full speed (I judge this by sound), you detach the starter motor and putt. This whole process takes about a minute or two: not overly time consuming, but not grab-and-go either. One other thing to note is that TCM will need to be “recharged” throughout your practice session. How often it will need to be recharged depends on how many putts you hit and how hard you hit them, but eventually the shock of hitting putts will slow the gyroscope and you will need to reattach the starter motor.

Score: 8/10

Effectiveness

Let’s start at the end: The Can’t Miss is the best putting training aid I’ve ever used. I found using it to be very helpful and worthy of a perfect Effectiveness score.

When I first took TCM out of the box and attached it to a putter, I was underwhelmed and wondered what I was supposed to feel. I handed it to my wife who promptly said, “You don’t feel that?” Puzzled, I fired off an email to David Capaldo, TCM’s inventor, with a slew of questions. The response should have been, “Have you looked at the website, stupid?” but David is much too nice for that and patiently answered all my questions. He said that Marcus Fraser, European PGA Tour Professional, had the same reaction when he first used TCM.

The reason is two-fold:

1. The thumb screws were set on the right hand side and
2. My putting stroke already matches up with what TCM wants me to do. What I did not know is that TCM actually has two modes: Elite mode and “Standard” mode. With the thumbscrews on the right – Elite mode – TCM gives limited feedback and encourages a moderately arced stroke. With the thumbscrews on the left – “Standard” mode – TCM gives more pronounced feedback and encourages a more dramatic arc. He also told me that it is very important to grip the putter gently so that TCM can guide the stroke.

Armed with all this new information, I tried again. I started in “Standard” mode so that I could get a feel for the feedback TCM gives. Now, I felt TCM driving me through the exaggerated arc that David described. I can easily understand how this would help someone to cure the yips or to rebuild their putting stroke; the feedback is quite firm. Then I switched back to Elite mode and used a very light grip to feel TCM guiding me onto a perfect path with a square putter face. The sensation of using TCM is quite unique, and it really teaches you to quiet your hands and let the big muscles drive the putting stroke.

Now that I understood how to use TCM, I brought it to the putting green. I started out with lots of short putts. On these short putts, TCM teaches you not to steer the ball with your hands. From there I moved to long putts, and this is where TCM really shined for me. I’m a very good putter inside six feet, but lag putting is a weakness. When I used TCM, I got rid of any thoughts about my stroke or steering the ball and focused solely on speed. Unsurprisingly, the results were fantastic. Finally, TCM is a great tool to use on breaking putts. Most golfers end up pushing or pulling breaking putts instead of hitting them on their intended line; with TCM you will be made aware of your tendency so you can correct it. Also, when you start hitting your target line, you will learn whether or not you’re reading the putts correctly.

All of this is fine, but it’s meaningless if it doesn’t translate to the course. Let me tell you that for me, it absolutely does. Warming up with TCM fills me with the confidence of knowing that I will make a good putting stroke if I use a light grip and focus on speed/holing the putt. Since using TCM, I have had much shorter second putts, and I’m making more long putts than I ever have before. Once more, TCM is the best putting trainer that I’ve ever used.

Score: 30/30

Longevity

The Can’t Miss earned a perfect score for Longevity from me because it is very effective. Yes, TCM requires a bit of set up which generally lowers the Longevity score, but I know that if I want to putt my best I need to warm up with TCM.

Score: 20/20

Value

The Can’t Miss can be purchased through their website for $289. Obviously, this places it at the top end of the training aid market. It should be noted that when you hold TCM, you feel like you’re holding something of value; it is a well-made, precision instrument. This is in stark contrast to other training aids, at whatever price point you choose, that are simply $2 worth of plastic in a fancy box. Furthermore, TCM is not something you can make yourself with bits from Home Depot.

At $289, TCM represents a number of lessons with a PGA pro or a fancy new putter. While I am generally inclined to favor lessons over training aids, I am less inclined when it comes to putting. Putting is so much about feel and confidence, and, speaking only for myself, there are not many PGA pros who could show me or verbalize the feel that I get from TCM. Similarly, a pro cannot give me the confidence I gain from a good practice session with TCM. In my opinion, TCM stacks up well in the “compare it to golf lessons” metric. As for whether or not TCM is better than a new putter, my answer is yes, it is better. A new putter is great and can boost your confidence…until you miss a bunch of putts. TCM is something you can always go back to when you want to ingrain the feel of a good stroke.

Two final things worth noting about TCM: 1) They do offer a 30-day money back guarantee. 2) The device comes with a one-year warranty. It is a very high-quality device, but if you manage to damage it they will repair or replace TCM at no cost to you.

Score: 18/20

The Peanut Gallery

Like few products before, The Can’t Miss generated a lot of interest from The Peanut Gallery. The minute I pulled out the little black box and started attaching it to a putter shaft, people gathered around to ask, “What is it?” After explaining the idea and letting people feel the power of the gyroscope in their hands, I would connect TCM and pass it around. Responses to TCM ran the gamut. Some people did not feel the feedback very much. Others felt it and liked it. One tester hit two putts, made a face, and declared, “I don’t like it.” The only players who did not like TCM (there were two) believed themselves to be “Straight-Back-Straight-Through” putters and felt that, “No one can putt like this,” referring to the arced motion that TCM encourages. The majority of players who tried TCM felt that there was definitely something to be gained from practicing with TCM.

TCM was a hit among our PGA Professionals. They both said that they could certainly see using TCM with students who had all manner of putting problems: taking the putter back shut, taking it back too far outside/inside, etc.

As you can expect, price was a sticking point for everyone in The Peanut Gallery, even those who really liked TCM. The most common response I heard to the price was, “I could buy a new Scotty Cameron for that much.” While the likelihood of purchase among The Peanut Gallery was very low, the majority really enjoyed working with it.

Score: 18/20

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I said earlier, The Can’t Miss is the best putting trainer that I’ve ever used. It helps me to ingrain the feel of a good putting stroke, it gives me confidence, and it removes any “stroke” thoughts from my head leaving me free to think about the ball going into the cup. TCM is not likely to work for ardent “straight-back-straight-through” players, and it does carry a hefty price tag. That said, TCM has made itself a regular part of my practice and pre-round routines because it is highly effective.

Score: 94/100

MYGOLFSPY SPECIAL OFFER
The very successful “Peanut Gallery” offer at 50% off will conclude at the end of February 2012.  But The Can’t Miss will continue to honor that coupon code at the new price of $189.  Not only is there still a 30 day money back guarantee, but for a limited time, free shipping worldwide is available!  At checkout, enter coupon code: “Peanut Gallery”
*** This offer will remain in place to thank MyGolfSpy readers for their wonderful support ***