The Loop

A swing trainer that straightened Charles Barkley's swing

January 22, 2014

ORLANDO -- When Charles Barkley finished hitting iron approaches after using the Memory Swing -- with a golf swing on plane -- he was in disbelief.

Barkley's swing, with pauses and stutters coming throughout into impact, is tough to watch. But Rocky Bowlby, CEO of the Memory Swing, had him swinging the club normally after two days at Gainey Ranch G.C. in Scottsdale.

"He turned to me and said, 'Is this some sort of trick?' " Bowlby recalled Wednesday at the PGA Merchandise Show. "But it was all his muscle memory. Over many years, he had created a feeling to swing the club a certain way. Our device reprograms your muscles through the neurons in your subconscious."

The Memory Stick comes with an adjustable pole that sticks into the ground, so you can set it up on any flat land, and a bungee cord-type attachment that allows you to clip an iron into.

This is a swing trainer in the truest sense. By swinging the club as it's attached to the device, it forces the club to get into a good position in the backswing, then forces it through impact and into the backswing.

I tried the device. And after seven repetitions with the device, I picked up a regular club and made a perfect swing. As someone whose golf swing is extremely inside-to-out thanks to years playing baseball--still not as ugly as Barkley's swing, but not pretty--it was amazing to feel the club set itself in my backswing on its own.

Bowlby demonstrated the device to several others, who were equally impressed.

"You have to create a feeling for your muscles," Bowlby, a regional world-drive qualifier and Guiness World Record holder for hitting a drive backward (350 yards).

The entire device collapses easily into the ground and is light enough where you could lug in a golf bag. He said they're marketing it to golf instructors and average hacks like myself on an equal level. It's $245 and currently available at MemorySwing.com.