Four Must-Try Golf Training Aids from PGA Show Demo Day

Looking for the newest wedges? It's here. How about a training aid to improve your putting? That's here, too. How about watching Lexi Thompson and Kyle Berkshire smash drivers at one of the world's biggest ranges? You can see that too.

PGA Show Demo Day on Jan. 21, although a bit rainy, was packed with attendees browsing, testing and learning about the latest products across the golf industry. That included plenty of PGA of America Golf Professionals like Sam Vosler, the PGA Sports Academy Manager for Golf at Sanford Sports in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Vosler, who's a back-to-back Golf Digest Best Young Teachers winner, and his coaches perused around Demo Day to give us an inside look at what was on display. Here were their favorite items:

Technology was all over Orange County National in different varieties, and CaddyTalk was one brand that stood out to Vosler and company right away.

First was the Cube rangefinder device, which solves the issue of knowing the right distance when its cart path only. The Cube's technology allows you to shoot where your ball is at in the fairway, then shoot where the flag is at giving you a precise yardage versus the usual guestimating.

"It really solves the inconvenience of taking multiple clubs or having the wrong club and walking back to the cart," says Vosler.

CaddyTalk's other rangefinder device on display, called Windy, was also infused with really neat technology. Windy is an instrument that you raise up to detect wind, similar to the slope feature on many rangefinders now, and it will spit out what the yardage is, taking account for the wind.

"It makes it a lot more simple to get one number versus trying to figure out how strong the wind is and doing your calculations," says Vosler.

This was one of the more fun items out at Demo Day. Vosler said the BucketGolf system is half yard game and half learning tool, making it an excellent option for beginners, families or youth golfers.

The entire system includes wiffle balls, a plastic club with a rubber clubhead, bucket flags, a scoring system, and tee markers, so golfers can create their own 5-6 hole golf course. The point system is simple, with each made shot counting as -1 on the card (similar to a birdie).

"The ball can curve, too, so it feels like a real golf ball," says Vosler. "It's a fun game but also shows golfers how the clubface works, how curve works and a lot of other learnings. "As a coach, I think it's a great pick-up for just about anyone.

Vosler and company loved how Pur Truth packed a ton of tools into one training aid with the Prepare model.

All in one easy to carry pack, the Prepare's main future is its "truth gates" that test golfers' accuracy with their puttters and allow them to hone a good stroke. There's multiple options for gates, too, depending on how wide or narrow the golfer wants to go. The Prepare also has a notch device directly over the ball that can be adjusted to see how your putter moves.

"Any time you can get a training aid that has a bunch of different tools in it is a win," said Vosler. "The Prepare helps you square up to the target, work on your path, your alignment, where the ball sits in your stance . . . pretty much everything you need to get better at putting. There's multiple things you can work on with one device."

Forceplates are a common addition to simulator training setups these days, but Bal.On takes the technology mobile with their Smart Kit platform.

Built around pressure, which Vosler says is a huge thing in coaching now, the Smart Kit has a device that straps to your heel and has nine sensors on the bottom to pick up data points that are sent to an app. Golfers can then see those points, heat maps, where they're moving and it's essentially forceplate data on wheels.

"It teaches golfers an efficient and proper motion from toe to heel, and shows them where the pressure is in their feet. That can be a big power source for golfers," said Vosler. "It's portable, too, and I like how you could use it in other situations like physical therapy, rehab and lifting weights. Understanding where your weight is can help big time in a lot of ways, not just your golf swing."