Swing Glove Review

Grade: B+
Teacher’s Comments: It works as advertised, but didn’t solve my Chicken Wing.

I was in GolfSmith on Friday and saw the SwingGlove hanging from the wall in the training aids section.

It reminded me that I had bought the Swing Glove last year—have been using it—and that I had neglected to review it.

To begin, the glove has been repackaged since I bought it. In its original form, it was in a plain golf glove-like slipcase. Now, it’s got a picture of Phil Mickelson’s golf coach, Rick Smith. In fact, the whole thing has been repackaged to emphasize Smith’s endorsement. The picture you see above, though, is of the old packaging.

The Swing Glove is a standard soft leather glove with a metal hinge built into it. The hinge prevents your wrist from cupping while still allowing it to rotate through the proper positions.

I bought the Swing Glove as a part of my continuing effort to put an end to my bugbear: the flying chickenwing. When I’m hitting the ball poorly, the problem is that my left elbow is flying outward during the downswing. Several pros have told me that one of the culprits in this embarassment is a breakdown of the wrist position.

So does it work? I think it does, to some extent. It certainly provides feedback in keeping the wrist on plane. When you take the club back, the brace and hinge force you to keep things in alignment. It also helps on the downswing—although not as much. Becuase the hinge and glove have some “give” you can cup your writst in spite of the brac.e

But if you do, you’re going to feel it as the brace smashes against your wrist and the back of your hand. If you insist on coming out of alingment, you’re going to get a bruise.

So it works as advertised. It’ll keep your wrist on plane, especially on the backswing.

But did it solve my chickenwing? No. I’m still doing it. To solve that one,  I think I’m going to need a session with Rick Smith himself. Rick? Are you listening? I’m just a few hours away from your home course at Treetops. I can be there any time you call.

SWING GLOVE Swing Glove