Egg: Ham, as your business partner and your friend, I think you should know that I think you go over the top.

Ham: Well, maybe sometimes. But, for the most part, I keep it under control.

Egg: No, you don't. You go over the top all the time.

Ham: Hey, I'll admit to a few lame puns and the occasional lowbrow joke. I'm not too proud to resort to disgusting body noises when required. But over the top? I don't think so. No one will ever confuse me with Jim Carrey. Or Andy Kaufman. Or Jim Carrey playing Andy Kaufman. Not me, Bub.

Egg: I'm not talking about your sense of humor. I'm talking about sensing where the club is during your golf swing. More often than not, you've got that over-the-top move, where the club starts outside the target line on the downswing, cuts across the ball at impact and continues inside the line to the finish.

Ham: I do?

Egg: Yep. But it's OK. I do, too. So do at least 80% of the people who are reading this, even if they don't know it.

Ham: We're like the Microsoft of the golf world. We're the majority. And we rule!

Egg: Not exactly. Us over-the-toppers don't strike the ball nearly as solidly as we could. Our shots don't fly on target consistently. As a result, we post higher scores than we should. We don't rule. We struggle.

Ham: Tell me about it.

Egg: I'd rather do something about it. I'd rather spend some quality time with the VisionTrack.

Ham: At long last it all becomes clear: we've got a training aid to review ...

So, what's the big deal with this training aid?

Egg: In a nutshell, VisionTrack shows you the proper swing path through impact, rather than add to the confusion by attempting to put it into words. Read the golf magazines and the instruction books and, guaranteed, you will become well acquainted with the concept of the inside-out swing.

Ham: It sounds good. But what does it really mean? And, even if you could define it, how do you actually implement it? How do you make the shift from the far more intuitive outside-in path to the more powerful and accurate inside-out approach?

Egg: Blair Douglass, a teaching pro based in Phoenix, now has an answer to these frequently asked questions. He calls it VisionTrack. It consists of three boards made of high-impact plastic that you place on the driving range turf, either the real or the Astro variety, and secure in place with a screw.

Ham: The largest of the three boards aligns parallel to the target line. A second board, called the foot arm, runs perpendicular to this target board. The third, called the angle arm, is attached on the other end of the target board, but swivels out to form an 11-degree angle with the target board.

Egg: The target arm gives you a visual cue to make sure you're lined up square to the target. The foot arm gives you a cue to make sure the ball is positioned correctly between your feet and that you're standing at about the right distance from the ball with various clubs in hand. The angle arm ­ the key component to VisionTrack -- defines the proper path of the clubhead as it approaches the ball.

Ham: Just look at the picture. It explains the VisionTrack concept far better than our words. In particular, note the three numbered labels placed four inches apart along the angle arm behind the spot where you place the ball. Through trial and error, Douglass discovered that by instructing his students to focus on swinging the club over these numbers ­ rather than fixating on hitting the ball ­ their swings improved, sometimes quickly and dramatically.

Egg: Douglass' belief is that when you can see where you're supposed to go, the body automatically makes the myriad adjustments necessary to follow the proper path. And once your body begins to feel the distinction between right and wrong, you're on your way to a more efficient golf swing.

How does it work?

Egg: The VisionTrack's promise of improved ball-striking is a tantalizing one. I've never been much for grinding through endless buckets of range balls, mostly for fear of further ingraining my pre-existing bad habits. But after about a dozen sessions with VisionTrack, I no longer harbor such concerns. This elegantly simple contraption makes the proper swing path so clear, there's never a doubt when I'm on track and when I'm not. The feedback is immediate and well defined, giving me the direction I need to improve with each swing. For the first time in my golfing life, I feel like I'm making real progress toward a fundamentally sound game.

Ham: Should I get you a hankie, or are you going to be all right?

Egg: I'm fine, thank you.

Ham: Good. Let me know if you feel yourself welling up again, though. Egg used the words elegantly simple to describe the VisionTrack, and he's right on. At least, it's elegantly simple as long as you take a few minutes to watch the accompanying video. And bring along the little instruction pamphlet with you the first time you go to the range. After you've set it up once, it's like riding a bicycle ­ simple and intuitive. And I've found that the small screw that holds the VisionTrack in place doesn't damage the range mat, which is good news for my ongoing relationship with the local pro. After the setup, the VisionTrack goes to work and instantly helps you start getting very useful feedback on your alignment, your backswing and the angle of your downswing. Good stuff. Very good stuff.

Egg: The only danger with VisionTrack is becoming too dependent on it. As long as the visual cues are there, I have an excellent chance of hitting a solid golf shot. I even get the thrill of hitting higher arcing shots with each club in the bag. When you focus on a spot behind the ball, the tendency is to strike that spot with the club, causing the angle arm to bounce, which tosses the ball up into the air slightly so that it collides higher up on the clubface than if you were to hit the ball off the ground.

Ham: In this respect, it's a bit like a toy I had when I was a kid. I'd stomp on a little foot pump to pop a plastic baseball gently into the air ­ and right into my wheelhouse. Fortunately, once you start getting a better feel for the VisionTrack, you hit the plastic less often and make cleaner, more powerful contact with the golf ball.

Egg: This thing makes practice fun. But take away the focal points and force me to duplicate this new swing on the golf course and I tend to lose my way. The old bad habits still lurk under the surface, just waiting for a moment of weakness to make a comeback. While the improvement on the range with VisionTrack was almost immediate, true and lasting progress on the course is going to take time. But, with this aid, I'm confident that it will come.

Ham: The VisionTrack is definitely an ally in the over the top battle. However, I've been taking some lessons recently to address this same issue, and I consider the help provided by the pro an essential complement to what the Vision Track has to teach.

How does it look?

Egg: Douglass went through a couple of years of prototypes and refinements and it shows. The unit is cleverly designed to fold up and fit easily into a golf bag. VisionTrack elicits some curious looks from others on the range, but any self-consciousness I felt about using this contraption has long since evaporated. The fact is, most people on the range are so fixated on their own practice session that they hardly notice what anyone else is doing or what they're doing it with.

Ham: Very true. I got a couple of polite questions about what this gizmo was, but then I was left to flail away without further intrusion. As it sits in your golf bag, the VisionTrack looks a little bit like a small set of skis. On the ground, it looks a bit like a king size slide rule.

Egg: A longer-term test will tell the tale, but so far the angle arm -- which absorbs the full force of impact on each swing ­ has some scratches, but is hardly worse for wear. According to Douglass, the material is virtually unbreakable, which explains his willingness to back the product with a five-year limited warranty.

Ham: Virtually unbreakable, huh? I've got a seven-year-old son who'll put THAT to the test. That said, I've been giving the VisionTrack a lot of work, and it's holding up very well to the stress.

How does it feel?

Egg: The best feeling of all is the change in my swing that's taking place without my consciously thinking about. Slowly but surely, the good muscle memory is nudging out the bad. VisionTrack has also heightened my awareness of static feel by serving as a consistent point of reference. For example, I've discovered that ­ when I get out of whack -- I tend to line up to the right of the target. Further, I've been positioning the ball too far back in my stance, especially with the driver.

Ham: Yup, if you're willing to listen to the lessons this device will help your body learn, it'll speak volumes to you.

Is it worth the dough?

Egg: VisionGolf, the company Douglass' formed to manufacture and sell VisionTrack, offers the product through its Web site for $129.95. Included in that price is an introductory video as well as extra hardware should the standard issue items wear down during extended use. Factor in a 30-day money back guarantee and the legitimate promise of a better golf game and it's absolutely worth it.

Ham: I agree wholeheartedly. To see for yourself, contact Vision Golf Products by phone at 877-VIS-TRAC or via their site at www.visiongolf.com.

Overall Ratings

Ham: Ace.

Egg: Ace.