Tour Striker Planemate
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Design
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Functionality
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Price
Summary
Pros
- Easy to use
- Portable
- Great supporting instructional videos
Cons
- May be expensive for some starting out
Tour Striker’s latest tool is making a lot of noise on the circuit and rightfully so.
You’re probably here reading this having shown general interested in a new product that’s sweeping social media. If you’re a golf fanatic and on Instagram you’ve likely seen some videos of the PlaneMate in action and like us, wondering what all the fuss is about.
What exactly is the Planemate?
The clue is actually in the name, Tourstikers latest gizmo is a new take on aiding both beginners, amateurs and even pro’s to help their takeaway, swing plane and following through and is even famously being used by tour players such as Rory Mcilroy and Collin Morikawa who is arguably one of the best iron players on tour right now.
Design
One of the reasons we’re big fans of the PlaneMate is its simplicity in design, you can always see the thought process behind the minds of the designers at Tourstriker as they look to reverse engineer a problem with a solution that works for everyone.
In short, the best way to describe the PlaneMate is a Weightlifting belt mixed with Resistance bands.
The device comes with 3 bands and each band is a different length to train you in different ways with the shortest band being the most common and most used.
Each band has a clip on one end which can be used to attach itself to the wearer via a support bar on the belt and on the other end is a clip carabiner style clip which is used to attach itself to the club you’re using. That’s it, very simple.
The good thing about the Planemate’s design is that it can be used for both right-handed and left-handed golfers and is also designed to work through all lengths of your clubs from wedges all of the way through to your driver.
How it works
The PlaneMate is essentially modelled around give the user both visual and feedback cues throughout the whole swing and then using that feedback to repeat the actions thus encouraging a better and more consistent swing.
The first thing to do is to choose which band you’ll be starting out with and Tourstriker recommend going with a short band accompanied by a wedge to start practising and getting a feel for the product.
You then need to attach the belt to your midsection having the bar on right-hand side (left if you’re left-handed). This will enable the band to work with your bodies rotation.
After you’ve set up the right band it’s time to attach it to the club. The short band should be set just underneath the grip allowing for a slight extension when the clubface is set behind the ball but not too much so that the band feels super tight. Just enough to get you that feedback as this is key for the first part of the drill.
The clip should then be set perpendicular to the clubface, if you’re clubface is 12 o clock at address then the clip should be set at three. This part is very important for when you’re practising “shallowing”.
Now that you’re all set you’re good to go.
The 3 main parts when starting is to feel the band stretch slightly and feel connected on the takeaway followed by the band loosening on the way down to encourage shallowing the club and then finally putting that all together with a clean rotation and finish.
The key is to repeat these steps feeling for the right types of feedback and visual clues with the band and eradicating common mistakes like coming out wide or inside on the takeaway or coming down over the top on the downswing.
The goal of the Planemate is to teach the user a very consistent swing plane and hopefully engrain that into the player’s muscle memory.
The product itself is just half of it
Along with the PlaneMate itself you also get access to all of Tourstriker’s training video free of charge which is called the “PlaneMate Protocol” as is an absolute necessity in order for you to get the most of our product.
The Protocol consists of 2 levels with the main one being the 7-day protocol. Each day gets you progressing even further to get you on your way to developing a tour-level swing.
The main technique Tour Striker will be teaching is a technique called “Resist, Relax, Rotate” which is the tried and tested method to get your swinging consistently and swallowing your club in the best way possible by getting listening to the correct feedback points and timing.
By day 7 you should see vast improvements in your swing and then you can move to the advanced protocol where you can start using longer bands and tweaking more at granular levels.
Verdict
Having gone through the 7-protocol we can safely say this is indeed one of the best training aids we’ve used. Whilst it may look simple on the surface (not a bad thing at all) it’s design and functionality really manages to solve a common problem in everyone’s golf game.
Whether you need to work on your day away, your follow-through or you’re a beginner and you need your whole entire swing fixed this product really does manage to do it.
For most people lessons can be really expensive and time-consuming and the PlaneMate allows you to really work on your swing in the comfort of your own home and the fact that Tour Striker give you the training series at no additional cost is an absolute winner in our eyes.
The one thing we’d say when using the PlaneMate is to really ensure you’ve got it secured on really tight. We found it slipping off and rotating around the body quite often when practising our follow-throughs.
Price-wise we’d say its quite steep at £172.99 for what is essentially a belt and three bands but if you do factor in the lessons you get to keep and use for free with no subscription then it makes this product totally worth it and when you see those shots fall of your scorecard you’ll be telling yourself its the best money you’ve ever spent.
Buy now
The Tour Striker PlaneMate is the first product of its kind that provides the feeling of a professional takeaway and transition.
By adopting the sense of resisting the tension band early in the backswing you’ll train your body to take the club back properly. Then, by relaxing your arms and wrists when the tension starts to build, the club will shallow onto a powerful plane inspiring a body rotation for an inside out strike.
With the PlaneMate, simply Resist, Relax, and Rotate your way to the most satisfying ball striking of your life.
