David Woods
There are training aids for everything in golf. Got a slice? There’s a product that claims it can fix it. Want more swing speed? Well, there’s something for that, too.
This is a blessing and a curse for golfers. With so many training aids on the market, it can be difficult to discern the quality products from the gimmicky junk. The best way to know is try them for yourself. However, this endeavor can get expensive — not to mention the clutter it’ll cause in your garage.
There is another good way to parse out the quality training aids, though. All you need to do is watch the range at Tour events and see what the pros are using. When you do, you’ll find that certain swing trainers are more common than others.
One such training aid is the ProSENDR, which helps promote proper hand and wrist structure in the golf swing. The product is the brainchild of GOLF Top 100 Teachers Sean Foley and David Woods, and it’s getting quite popular among the pros.
Last summer, Rory McIlroy was spotted using the ProSENDR during a stretch in which he notched 10 top 10s in a row, including a win at the Genesis Scottish Open. This came after a minor slump in which he finished in the top 10 just three times in his first eight starts of the season.
“It got him in a position that he was working towards that got his wrist conditions a little more extended with the right wrist, flatter with the lead wrist,” Woods said at the time. “But yeah, he really liked it.”
But McIlroy isn’t the only pro using the ProSENDR these days. Several rank-and-file Tour members have been spotted using the ProSENDR in recent months — and their successes can’t be argued with.
Erik van Rooyen started working with Foley after last summer’s U.S. Open, and the ProSENDR was integral in that training. At the World Wide Technologies Championship, that training paid off as van Rooyen notched his second career Tour victory. The following week, Camilo Villegas won for the first time in nine years with a two-shot victory at the Bermuda Championship. He’d also begun using the ProSENDR during the fall.
“At the beginning of the year things were not going great, it was time to do a little swing change,” Villegas said. “I’ve never been too excited about big swing changes, but I trusted.”
Grayson Murray also uses the ProSENDR when working on the range. In the second tournament of the season, Murray claimed his second Tour victory with a playoff win at The Sony Open. He led the field in SG: Tee to Green for the week at 2.24. Murray’s opponent in that playoff was Ben An, another Foley disciple who integrates the ProSENDR into his training regimen. He ranked third in SG: Tee to Green that week in Hawaii.
Speaking of strokes-gained stats, Justin Thomas, the early leader in SG: Tee to Green for the 2024 season, was spotted last week at Pebble Beach using the ProSENDR on the range. After the slump of 2023, Thomas appears to be headed in the right direction again as he’s finished inside the top 6 in five consecutive starts.
“Obviously I feel like I have good control of my ball right now,” Thomas said. “And I’m hitting it well.”
It seems that everyone using the ProSENDR is hitting it well right now. The recent results speak for themselves.