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Duffer.com - Reviewed by the Head
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Let's get quickly to the bottom line. In my opinion, the Vision Track is one of the more useful training aids ever created. If it won't cure the weekend hacker's slice (or help the low-handicapper tune their swing path), then I don't know what would or could.
Price creates its main problem. Most golfers find $129 a steep hurdle to cross when picking up a new product that is "just" a training aid. For some reason, spending $1,500 every few years for a new set of clubs makes sense, though. Go figure (more about the price later in this review).
Retraining the "Eye"
Basically, the Vision Track is constructed from three pieces of impact-hardened plastic. The first two pieces, set perpendicularly, guide proper set-up and target orientation. The third piece, at an 11 degree angle to the left target line, models the swing path.
The golfer takes an appropriate position for a given club (balanced between the "foot arm" and perpendicular to the "target arm") and sets the club behind the ball on the swing path line (the "angle arm"). The goal is to take the club back from there and bring it to the target spot at the same setting.
Nothing much to it, is there?
A Word From Its Inventor
Blair Douglass conceived the aid from (it's fair to say) frustration. A superb player himself and, later, an instructor, Blair found it nearly impossible to help duffers permanently modify their swing path.
As he put it,
"If students come with a high-handicap, they will cut across the ball 90 percent of the time. Many golfers, and especially beginners, think it's logical to hold the face open at impact, which is fault one. Then, the thinking mind considers the swing path and says, 'I must swing it straight.' But what this does is cultivate a move down the target line two feet or so before impact. The only way to make contact doing that is to cut across the ball."
To Blair's way of thinking, a physical device was needed to reorient a player's visual approach to the shot.
The Vision Track supports this by physically displaying the swing path (literally, by use of the angle arm) while encouraging the eye and body to stay behind the ball through impact. This relieves the analytical portion of our mind from focusing prematurely on the ball and the target. Since the down swing happens too rapidly for easy control, developing a proper swing path for the back swing, coupled to a different target spot for the down swing, works a significant game improvement for most golfers.
Adjustments To Suit Different Golfers
Douglass has astutely judged and built needed adjustments to the device to suit the physique and skill levels of nearly all golfers.
While the ball is always placed on the same spot, golfers take their normal stance between the foot arm. Suggested stances (distance from the ball) are outlined for all standard clubs, based on the average size of most golfers (five-feet six to six-feet two). Since these are only a guide, those who are noticeably shorter or taller can simply adjust their position. Blair recommends taping alternate positional indicators directly to the arm over the standard ones, if needed.
The target arm should then be set to a point about five yards left of the desired target, in accord with most modern teaching.
Finally, once the ball is placed on the angle arm, a golfer should ground the club on either the "1", "2" or "3" numbered target setting (the first is about two inches behind the ball). Then, taking the club back along the angle arm and, finally, returning it to the numbered target point, the golfer strikes the ball itself.
Most golfers will almost immediately begin creating a draw.
Don't Swing Planes Differ?
Bruce Devlin, winner of 48 tour events around the world and currently a well-known TV golf commentator, has an authentic commitment to this training aid and uses it himself. I spoke with Bruce, who didn't hesitate to express his personal affection and respect for Blair (having known him for many years). But he made it clear that he uses the Vision Track today for himself and, to my surprise, advocates its use by tour professionals as well as by duffers.
When I proposed that better players tend to draw the ball and don't have a slice problem, Devlin commented,
"I disagree. While they don't slice the ball as often, you will frequently see the pros fall into the same fault during a tournament, often with disastrous results. They may not have the problem as often, but it is an even more critical problem for them when it occurs. I feel like I have to force myself to keep on the path, because the natural golf movement for any golfer is a twisting motion, and that won't give us the swing we want."
Hogan, in his Five Lessons, emphasized that while the swing plane and path were absolutely critical, they differ according to the physical and temperamental characteristics of players. Tom Watson, for instance, has a swing that is much more upright than one would expect from his physique.
Although the Vision Track's literature and video imply that the thumbscrew that forms an 11-degree angle for the angle arm should be left alone, Devlin says they are very easy to adjust.
"Simply leave the thumbscrew out and move the angle arm back wherever you would like. I usually leave it in a 7 to 8 degree angle for myself. This enables any golfer to make sure the Vision Track matches their normal path."
Douglass agrees, though he believes very few golfers need to make such a change.
"Corrections made during practice usually revert back somewhat during play. Computer analysis tells us that the right angle is probably seven degrees. Yet, most golfers will find their correct angle once they have internalized the eye-target path which the Vision Track teaches. In practice, the eleven degree angle almost always works well."
For athletic golfers fighting a strong hook, Douglass brings the angle arm fully parallel (so the target arm and the angle arm coincide). In their case, they need to visualize an upright path, so they can correct for coming too far inside. This illustrates how the Vision Track can be modified for a great variety of uses.
What About Scooping The Ball?
Many high-handicappers already have a serious problem with "scooping" the ball. By forcing them to start so far right of the ball as a target and then come back to hit that target, it would seem that the Vision Track might amplify that error.
Douglass was quite frank on this score:
"No doubt, those golfers who need to use eye position 2 or 3 will be detached more and more from the ball itself. You will hit behind the ball at first. But, the most important thing for a beginner is
repeatable finding the correct face angle and club angle. As an instructor, I will gladly put up with their hitting behind the ball, if need be.
Actually, most beginners scoop the ball because they are too focused on it. They think they must find a way to "lift" it. I want them to feel that they can strike the ground, as it were. Once they're on the correct path, finding the correct face angle is nearly automatic because of the nature of the path itself."
My own experience, which Devlin confirmed, is that most of us will probably return the club somewhat over the target point en route to the ball, even though we are aiming directly at it. I certainly didn't experience any "scooping" problem when using the device.
More Subtle Aspects
Because the takeaway is so important to establishing a correct path, Douglass has placed a sliding indicator on the angle arm where the club comes back. This can be adjusted by tapping it with the club (so it matches the correct club position) forward and backward. The indicator is a very simple plastic tee-like rod.
When you bring the club back and graze the rod (which bends responsively), you know your takeaway was correct.
You can establish another feedback point by placing an ordinary tee to the right of the ball and behind it about one inch in both cases. Some golfers with quick hands do find their way back to a square hit even when they are coming over the top. But, if they do this with the tee in place, they will strike the tee before making ball contact.
Similarly, placing a tee to the left of the ball and a couple of inches ahead will indicate whether the follow-through also reveals an over-the-top swing (that is, don't hit the tee)!
By moving these tees ever-closer (Blair likes to see them placed eventually within 1/8 inch of the ball for really good golfers), you can hone your ability to stay on the path.
How Much Practice Is Enough?
It depends on the golfer.
Devlin usually hits 15-20 balls near the start of his practice time with the Vision Track and then, with rhythm and path established, goes on to work with other aspects of his game.
Douglass recommends more intense use, especially by golfers with a serious slice:
"I have seen golfers spend a month or two working almost exclusively with the Vision Track. By the end of that period, they have conquered their slice problem permanently."
The Vision Track (which needs no assembly) folds to the length of an average driver and will fit readily within your golf bag. Taking it to the range is not a major operation. With the emphasis on visual swing path, you can also use it to practice at home without a ball, though Douglass feels most golfers will need the confirmation of ball flight, at least at first.
Manufacturing and Pricing
The product's price has already come down almost 15 percent since being released about six months ago. When I challenged Blair that a sixty to eighty dollar price point would be more attractive to the recreational golfer, he readily agreed.
"I would love to sell the product at that price point. Unfortunately, the materials required to make this unbreakable are very expensive."
While the company originally hoped to use injection molds, they realized that this would require purchase or expensive plastic sheets. They also researched overseas production, but it wouldn't have yielded lower prices once shipping was factored into the equation. The use of polycarbonates to eliminate breakage are critical for quality but have a negative impact on price.
Not surprisingly, Douglass believes the product will makes its first major inroads with teaching professionals and golf schools. For them, the price is insignificant and the durability a major positive.
However, he says that golfers who have tried the Vision Track for themselves don't consider the price a barrier. You can order it from them on their Web site by credit card (fax is fine) and pay all at once or in three installments. More to the point, the product comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you find this too pricey, share the cost with one or two of your golfing buddies.
How much is it worth to you to correct your faulty swing path?
Right. I thought so. Highly recommended.
SIDEBAR: A Fully Realized Learning Tool?
JennyLynn Werner, an educational and performance training expert with a PhD from Arizona State, took one look at the Vision Track during her first lesson with Blair Douglass and could tell he had done something amazing. She asked him, "where did you find a cognitive or sports psychologist who knows about recall and motor skills to help you build such a fantastic tool?"
Despite some serious effort, I was completely unable to get Jenny to utter a single word about the Vision Track that wasn't praise (and she does use the Track herself).
Werner believes that the Vision Track addresses most of the core problems with mastering golf:
Golf is a sport where you can't see yourself swing.
While it is very valuable to have a professional watching you, you are still going by his or her conception of what you did and the strength or weakness in their way of communicating it to you.
Even if you watch a video of your swing, you are looking at a delayed image with near-zero immediate feedback. Keep in mind that ball flight disappears quickly in a video image and is not compatible with the original view of the golfer who took the swing.
While practice is crucial to building any learning skill, whether one is learning piano, fly-fishing or golf, many golfers come to fresh instruction with a serious problem: years of faulty habits that have grooved a poor swing into muscle memory.
Generally, the only way to build a new performance routine is to undo the old one. This can take a long time. Werner believes the Vision Track offers two critical components that can drastically shorten this process:
The Vision Track provides a wide range of immediate feedback. This takes place not only visually, through the swing path, but aurally (a proper takeaway through the plastic rod creates an audible click). The setting of tees enhances the feedback process still further. To change psychomotor skills, instant and consistent feedback is required.
The Vision Track offers golfers an entirely new task. This is crucial. The correct goal in golf is not, first and foremost, to strike the ball (and, in any case, the down swing is too rapid to affect that in any substantive fashion) but to make a sound swing. When the golf ball stands "in the way" of that swing, a fine shot results. By changing the goal (to strike the target spot, not the ball), the "interference" between old skills and new is drastically reduced.
Interestingly, one of the aspects of the training aid that Werner likes best as a cognitive specialist is that the separation of the two tasks enables golfers to improve without confusing them.
In other words, some learning tools create a phase of confusion while old skills, however imperfect, cease to function correctly, yet new skills have not yet been assimilated mentally and physically.
Because the task proposed by the Vision Track (striking the target spot) is different than the classic golf task (striking the ball), golfers who practice inconsistently with the aid will not suffer a loss of strokes in their normal game (that's a relief). Fortunately, the converse does not hold true in real learning, though one might think it would. The mastery of the new task is gradually assimilated backward into the task of ball-striking.
In this age of video and, soon, computer-generated and assisted training aids, the Vision Track might seem a bit of a throwback. Yet, Dr. Werner, whose day job entails performance consulting to the Intel Corporation, views the Vision Track as a "multi-media" device in the best sense; one that involves all the senses at once.
When I asked her whether she could think of any ways that the Vision Track could be improved from a learning perspective, she had a one-word answer: "No."
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