Equipment

Review: Gabe Golf Swing Trainer

Published

10 years ago

Oct 2, 2016

Pros: No setup required. The Gabe Golf Swing Trainer is simple, and you can hit golf balls with it. It can make drastic improvements to your swing tempo and transition.

Cons: At $150 for one club, it’s an expensive training aid. Only available in a 7-iron and sand wedge.

Who it’s for: Golfers with transition issues in their downswing, and any golfer looking to load more on their right side in the backswing.

The Review

The Gabe Golf Swing Trainer has truth serum built in at two points:

The marble in the shaft.
The flight of the golf ball.

For most of golfers, maintenance in bite size portions is always a good thing, and the Gabe Golf Swing Trainer provides the perfect tool for a golfer to properly ingrain important swing fundamentals.

If you keep up with the weekly Tour photos on GolfWRX, then you know how popular the the training aid has become with the best players in the world. The first time I saw the club while trolling on Instagram, I thought it was quite weird looking… and naturally I wanted to give it a try. I’m just that kind of guy, since I don’t play all that much, I’m looking for something I can swing in my living room while I watch Seinfeld re-runs. And with a club that’s in the bag of so many Tour players, I figured there had to be some serious benefits to the product.

As I’ve since found out, the club itself has a metal marble in the shaft that when properly loaded falls from the head to the grip, loading like a bullet in a gun. When the player initiates a proper downswing, the marble takes the ride to a nice click when the club is released.

The beautiful thing about Gabe Golf Swing Trainer is the instant feedback. The legendary Medicus Swing Trainer had this in certain ways, and while I wasn’t a huge fan of it, the feedback was jarring and undeniably positive. If you perform a swing correctly with the Gabe Golf Swing Trainer, the results are cut and dry, too.

Here’s how it works.

It should be of no surprise that a popular swing trainer on the PGA Tour is developed by a two-time PGA Tour champion, Gabriel “Gabe” Hjertstedt, especially when you know a bit about the man himself. Hjertstedt first came onto my radar when he won the BC Open in 1997, and followed that up a couple years later with a win in Tucson. As it turned out, we were working with the same swing instructor, and met face-to-face for the first time after his win in Tucson.

Hjertstedt stresses simplicity in golf instruction, so it’s no wonder he came up with the idea for such a simple product. In his words, here’s how it happened.

“It just started as a shower idea,” Hjertstedt said. “I was getting frustrated teaching some of my clients who couldn’t make a proper backswing. They were always over-swinging. I needed to find a way to slow them down a little, give them enough time to load up and make a proper swing. Now afterward, having used it on myself and students for almost two years, I am now starting to understand the benefits even more. It’s changing the way people are playing golf. People that used to cut the ball are now drawing the ball. The feedback is amazing.”

And obviously, the Tour feedback has been amazing as well.

“Charley Hoffman was the first guy that really that got it, he went on to win a couple of weeks after. Danny Lee the same shortly after.”

After using the product for a few weeks, I believe in its simplicity and that you can’t cheat with it. The feedback is as cut and dry as hitting an old blade; you either wait for the marble or you don’t. You either hit it properly and the ball goes where you are looking, or you don’t.

My swing fault is a handsy, inside takeaway followed by an across-the-line position at the top. If my timing is good I hit it where I’m aiming, but if not, the club gets stuck and the ball could go anywhere. After making 20 swings with the Gabe Golf Swing Trainer, I was able to get the club on-plane, and from a correct position at the top of the swing, I could identify what needed to be done on the way down to hit good shots. Video and Trackman can’t provide this kind of feedback because FEEL is what better players are ultimately searching for.

3eb1512e3b5105b6be0699292ef04ba3

As far as the product itself, the training aid was crafted with attention to detail. It comes with a KBS Tour shaft, a hand-forged head from a company in Texas and can be built to your specs. Most training aids are not customized to spec, and I believe this is a vital part in the product’s effectiveness. The black forged head certainly has that “cool factor,” and with a playable sole, the turf interaction is actually quite similar to any top iron head on the market. If I were to compare it with an OEM club, it would probably be the Ping S55 as far as address and turf interaction.

So if you’re struggling with transition, tempo, plane or loading in the backswing, and like to hit real golf balls with your swing aids, there’s just no reason to not give this club a shot… unless the $150 is too steep or unjustifiable, which I can understand.

I would 100 percent recommend the Gabe Golf Swing Trainer to better golfers (10-handicap or less) and would encourage the higher-handicappers to use it as a compliment to proper instruction from a local professional.

To learn more about the Gabe Golf Swing Trainer visit www.GabeGolf.com

Related Topics:training aids

Up Next

Driver vs. Driver: Can a GolfWRX Editor design a better driver than what’s on the market?

Don't Miss

PGA Value Guide offering extra incentive to trade in your clubs

John Wunder

21 Comments

Philip

Jan 11, 2018 at 6:25 pm

I have a sand filled 7i I picked up on sale a while ago … I’ll have to try it out again and see if I can use it to help myself

Reply Report comment
Smitty

Oct 13, 2016 at 10:41 am

Just placed an order for the 7 iron. Over-swinging is a huge issue I have in my back swing and I think this is exactly what I’ve been looking for, similar to the student Gabe mentioned.

Reply Report comment
Desmond

Oct 8, 2016 at 5:17 pm

Mine arrived yesterday — best swing aid ever for smoothing out the transition. Even though the shaft was much heavier than I use in my gamers, my best swings with this club were as long as my gamers – the gamers were a heckuva lot more consistent. Impressed.

Reply Report comment
- Desmond
  
  Oct 28, 2016 at 9:07 am
  
  Have used the Gabe Golf Trainer for 3 weeks. For me, it helped start the downswing with my lower body while I waited at the top. It als helps you take the club back more vertical so you shallow it out in the transition, and smooths out tempo. Enjoy.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Desmond
    
    Nov 7, 2016 at 3:31 pm
    
    Whomever made that black finish did a great job – a month and no sign of wear.
    
    Reply Report comment
BigBoy

Oct 5, 2016 at 9:46 am

The coitus interuptus club.

Reply Report comment
Jeffrey Purtell

Oct 4, 2016 at 2:55 am

Gimmick number 394876543897546548376543987654387543654398756486598765897654654987765987654789654765498659865489657479865659865798657659865798657. keep em coming.

Reply Report comment
- Norm StCyr
  
  Dec 2, 2016 at 8:59 am
  
  Great feedback Jeff! Your insight will probably help many golfers trying to improve their swing.
  
  Reply Report comment
Eric M.

Oct 3, 2016 at 12:50 pm

How hard is it to put a ball bearing (or marble) in the shaft and re-grip an old club? That’s what I did after seeing the Impact-Snap aid. I also added a coat hanger with a foam practice ball on the end of the grip and positioned it to hit my forearm for forward shaft lean at impact. Total cost $10.

Reply Report comment
B

Oct 3, 2016 at 12:35 pm

The head is just a Maltby DBM rebranded

Reply Report comment
- Desmond
  
  Oct 4, 2016 at 2:22 am
  
  Makes sense since they ship from GolfWorks
  
  Reply Report comment
Sceptical smizzle

Oct 3, 2016 at 10:43 am

So it’s a marble inside a golf shaft?
Not convinced I want a pause like Maryama, he seems to get out of sequence quite often.

Reply Report comment
- Desmond
  
  Oct 4, 2016 at 2:21 am
  
  I think the long pause is one technique; they also have the short pause where you swing, when you hear the bearing beginning to move down the shaft.
  
  Reply Report comment
Desmond

Oct 3, 2016 at 9:10 am

On the website, it does not say anything about the shaft or specs – KBS Tour What? – Tour 90 R Flex? No warranty – the site needs more information.

Reply Report comment
- Desmond
  
  Oct 3, 2016 at 9:11 am
  
  No warranty info, that is…
  
  Reply Report comment
Mark

Oct 3, 2016 at 1:57 am

What is a “hand-forged head”? I think it is impossible for hand strength alone to be able to pound a billet in a die. Did you mean hand finished?

Reply Report comment
cgasucks

Oct 2, 2016 at 6:05 pm

A frickin’ swing fan will do the same job as this overpriced training aid and cheaper too.

Reply Report comment
- Jeffrey Purtell
  
  Oct 4, 2016 at 3:27 am
  
  How far do these swing fans hit the ball? Do they come in different lofts?
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Bwall
    
    Oct 4, 2016 at 5:47 pm
    
    I hit my swing fan about 180
    
    Reply Report comment
SS

Oct 2, 2016 at 3:16 pm

No thanks. I don’t want to pause at the top, I prefer to be fluid in my return transition

Reply Report comment
Mike

Oct 2, 2016 at 1:12 pm

I worked at a web.com event this year on the driving range, i saw about 2-3 pros using this aid. Their swing sequence was amazing.

Reply Report comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Equipment

Tour Edge unveils all-new Exotics mini driver

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Tour Edge Golf has today introduced the all-new Exotics mini driver, engineered to deliver a powerful combination of speed, control, and versatility in the long game.

The Exotics Mini combines a titanium face with a stainless-steel body in design to balance ball speed with stability and control, creating a versatile option at the top end of the bag.

At the core of the design is Tour Edge’s proprietary Combo Brazing technology, a high-precision thermal bonding process that seamlessly fuses a titanium cup face to a stainless-steel body into a single, continuous structure. By eliminating energy loss found in traditional multi-piece constructions, Combo Brazing is designed to deliver faster face response, more efficient energy transfer, and a uniquely powerful yet controlled feel.

The multi-material construction also allows mass to be positioned lower and deeper in the head in a bid to increase stability, while the thin titanium face is engineered to maintain ball speed across a wider impact area.

“While the initial goal was to enhance control and versatility in the long game, Combo Brazing ultimately drove measurable gains in ball speed and distance within the mini driver category. In robot testing, we’ve documented higher ball speeds, higher launch, reduced spin, and increased carry and total distance compared to leading models.” – Vice President of R&D Matt Neeley

In addition to distance performance, the Exotics mini emphasizes forgiveness through a heavier stainless-steel body that shifts mass toward the perimeter. This configuration increases MOI relative to traditional all-titanium mini drivers, helping preserve ball speed and directional stability on off-center strikes. Paired with Pyramid Face Technology from the Exotics metalwood line, the design is intended to support consistent speed across the face.

To further enhance MOI, a lightweight carbon fiber crown frees additional mass that is strategically repositioned low and deep in the head in design to improve stability and promote optimal launch with controlled spin.

“We designed the Mini to be about five millimeters shallower than other mini drivers on the market. That change improves playability off the deck. From a clean fairway lie, it can function as a strong 3-wood alternative while still providing control off the tee.” – Tour Edge CEO David Glod

An adjustable hosel system allows for loft and lie tuning to dial in trajectory and shot shape, while a fixed 13-gram rear weight helps stabilize the head through impact to improve dispersion consistency. The Exotics Mini Driver is available in 11.5 and 13.5-degree lofts in right-handed models.

Pricing & Availability

The Exotics Mini Driver is available for pre-order beginning today for $399.99 USD at touredge.com, and will be available for purchase at retail outlets worldwide on May 22, 2026.

Equipment

Srixon ZXi combo or TaylorMade P7CB/770 combo? – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

In our forums, our members have been pitting a Srixon ZXi combo against a TaylorMade P7CB/770 combo. WRXer ‘edutch22’ is on the hunt for a new set of irons and kicks off the thread saying:

“Looking at picking up a new set of irons and think I’ve narrowed it down to Srixon ZXi combo or Taylormade P7CB/770 combo. I am currently a 5 cap and allbeit I feel irons are my weakness. My miss is a little to the toe side. I am decently steep at 4-5 down. Always thought I am high spin but recently on trackman my 7 was spinning at 5800 roughly.

My question or looking for thoughts on which one would benefit me more from a forgiveness standpoint? Or is there another iron is should be looking at entirely? I only get to play about once or twice a week, if I am not playing a 2-3 day event. Thanks in advance.”

And our members have been sharing their thoughts and suggestions in response.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

manima1: “You just can’t go wrong with Srixon ZXi7.”
MattM97: “You have to hit them to know, the V-Sole on the Srixon can be make or break for many.”
dmeeksDC: “P7CB is more forgiving for me than ZXi7 because my main miss is low middle and the P7CB still flies and spins great on that miss. These are both really nice irons but I like the P7CB more than the Zxi7 and the P770 (or P790) more than the Zxi5. The Srixons are larger so if that gives you confidence that is the way to go. I don’t feel like I get any benefit from the V-sole and the P7CBs live up to their high Maltby forgiveness rating so the TaylorMades have been great for me.”

Entire Thread: “Srixon ZXi combo or TaylorMade P7CB/770 combo? – GolfWRXers discuss”

Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: 2024 Wilson Staff CB/Blade combo

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @pianoman0123 has a 2024 Wilson Staff CB/Blade combo up for grabs.

From the listing: “2024 Wilson Staff CB/Blade Combo. 4-8 irons are CB’s and the 9,PW are Blades. 5-PW have Project X 6.0 Shafts and the 4 Iron has a Steelfiber CW110 Stiff Shaft. Standard Length, Lie and Lofts. These are in very good condition the shafts just don’t work for me. Like new Lamkin Grips on the 5-PW and a stock Golf Pride on the 4 Iron. $525 OBO.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules