Ground Force Trainer: 'I can guarantee 10 yards'

By John Strege

When the years begin to slip away, so do the yards, alas. But what would you say if you were guaranteed at least 10 yards by devoting two minutes a day for 30 days to a simple drill on a training aid?

Dr. Jenni Martin, a chiropractor and LPGA professional and Titleist Performance Institute-certified as an instructor and medical professional, is guaranteeing 10 additional yards by using her Ground Force Trainer for the prescribed time period. "It's that effective," she said.

The GFT features square-rotational disks on which the back foot sits. The object is to keep them aligned while taking a backswing. "When you stand on an unstable surface you have to dig in on the inside of the right foot to keep the board from not rotating," Martin said.

The unstable surface helps create the sensation of developing power from "ground force with their trail side leg and gluteal muscles," Martin said in a news release. "The Ground Force Training disks create this instability and causes a specific muscular reaction that mimics, exactly, the sensation and strength necessary to motor learn the proper load in the back swing."

It has the additional benefit, she said, of developing muscles. "One, is the kinesthetic sense, feeling where the top of backswing should be, especially for some who have lost thoracic rotation, and, two, it develops the glutes.

"It's really primarily for people losing their power," she said. "What I have seen is if they do 10, 15 of them a day, holding it to a count of five, taking maybe two minutes, it will motor train them and it corrects a lot of swing faults. If they do it every day for 30 days I can guarantee 10 yards."

That is a money-back guarantee, too, she said. The cost is $119, which includes the rotational disk, a power pole, DVD, lead-leg support foam pad, instruction manual and mesh carry bag.

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