Most people would say that the golf swing starts with gripping the club. You’ve seen all of the golf instructional books that show you what a proper grip is supposed to look like right? But you still have trouble with properly gripping a club and executing shots? Well I was able to review a truly unique product called the Thumb Caddy that not only shows you what a proper grip looks like, but what it feels like. The simple goal is to reduce hooks and slices that add strokes to your score. Pretty straight forward I would say. Ah but does it work? Check it out.
From the Company
The Thumb Caddy Touts that the ‘Thumb Caddy is a simple grip aid that ensures the proper grip and proper club alignment – Every Time!’ It can be used by a wide range of golfers from a teaching pro to a recreational golfer, simply installs onto any club, and is extremely portable and easy to use. A quick summary of the Thumb Caddy is:
* Attaches to any club in seconds
* Perfect for practice and perfect for play
* Eliminate Hooks and Slices
What is it?
The Thumb Caddy is an inch long, U shaped plastic device wrapped in a coat of soft rubber that clips onto the thinnest part of the shaft and slides up onto the middle of the grip. The Thumb Caddy is then aligned with the club logo or the club face, depending on the type of club and can immediately be used. Looks like a pool cue right? Yeah I think so too. However, the thought behind it is that you will achieve the proper grip pressure thus creating a consistent grip. This will prevent the ‘re-gripping’ of the club during the swing which is a common mistake among high handicappers and beginners alike. By doing this, the golfer should see immediate feedback via longer, straighter shots which are more accurate. Way too good to be true right? Read on.
Testing
So I took the Thumb Caddy out to the range for some testing, albeit a little skeptical. For the most part, I have a pretty straight shot when my swing is going right for me so how could this help me? Well I’m not one to be able to work the ball around the golf course so I thought I’d try to see if this would help me draw the ball, fade the ball, etc. So I consulted an older copy of ‘Golf for Dummies’ that I still have to see what a proper grip for a draw and a fade would be. In turn I positioned the Thumb Caddy according to what was shown in the book and after a little bit of practice, I was able to work the ball more so than I ever had before. My natural shot is a little fade as it is so it was a real treat to see a little draw work it’s way into my shot execution. And this wasn’t with just iron and wedges, it was for hybrids, drivers, and fairway woods. The Thumb Caddy certainly doesn’t discriminate that’s for sure. I noticed the most improvement in terms of ball movement with my short irons and my driver. With a little bit of practice, I soon found myself developing some muscle memory for these shots and took the Thumb Caddy off to see if I could execute shots without the training aid. Scary enough, it still worked. As a right handed golfer, I was able to take my left thumb and move it to the left of center on the grip and hit a slight draw. Conversely, I could move my thumb to the right of center and increase my natural fade. All of this was from taking repeated swings with the Thumb Caddy and my body recognizing what the ‘proper grip’ for these particular shots were.
Overall
If you struggle with grip pressure, shaping your shots, grip alignment, or properly swinging the club then maybe you should look at this little number. You may be just as surprised as I was with the simplicity of this training aid. The game is hard enough, why should a training aid make it that much harder right? The Thumb Caddy is available in a 3-pack for $19.95, a 6-pack for $34.99, and a 13-pack for $69.95 and is now available in many big box stores and online. For more info on this handy little training aid, surf on over to http://www.thumbcaddy.net/home. Just remember to remove it before starting your next round of golf. Right Ms. Inkster?
T. Hanks
Good review Thanks…One question though, it looks like the Thumb Caddy is reusable, so is there any obvious reason that these are sold in multi-packs only?
That’s a good question that I don’t know the answer to, though. Best guess would be so you can have them on multiple clubs instead of constantly taking them on and off.
I’d like to try this out. Thanks for the info, T.
Makes sense…particularly since the largest pack is 13 of them (which didn’t register earlier). Though that does seem to encourage an Inkster moment. I’d never heard of these, but sounds like something worth picking up for practice sessions since I do struggle with consistent grip position.
good review thanks….i think that this may be a perfect training aid for myself. i’m bad to move my thumbs around and i think having something to ingrain proper thumb position could be very valuable.
Thanks for the review T. There are a lot of nifty little training aids out there that most of the time we’d look at and just brush off but it sounds like this worked pretty well. Good job!
“As a right handed golfer, I was able to take my left thumb and move it to the left of center on the grip and hit a slight draw. Conversely, I could move my thumb to the right of center and increase my natural fade.”
I thought it was the other way around. Wouldn’t moving your thumb to the right of center promote a draw?
Barb- for me I’ve found that when I position my thumbs like that, those are the results I tend to get.
Great training aid! I can’t wait to try it on the range!
Where can I buy, who manufactures these?