How to Use the Performance Golf Straight Stick

So, you’ve just unboxed your Performance Golf Straight Stick and you’re ready to get to work on that slice or hook. You've got one of the most effective training aids available for fixing your clubface at impact, but the key is knowing exactly how to use it. This guide is your complete roadmap, walking you through the setup, the core drills, and how to transfer that new feel to the driving range so you can start hitting straighter, more solid golf shots.

Understanding Your New Secret Weapon: The Straight Stick

Before we swing, it's important to understand what the Straight Stick actually does. It isn't powered by complicated electronics or lasers, it’s built around a simple, brilliant concept: auditory feedback. The entire design is engineered to give you instant, unmistakable information about one single thing: your clubface angle at the moment of impact.

Inside the clubhead, a precisely calibrated compression magnet is held in place under tension. When you swing the club correctly and deliver a square face to the ball, the forces remain balanced and the magnet stays put. The result? Silence.

However, if your clubface is open (the classic slicer’s fault) or closed (the cause of a nasty hook) at impact, the change in force is just enough to overcome the magnet's grip. It releases with a loud, clear "CLICK." That click is a signal. It’s not a judgment, it’s a piece of data telling you, "Hey, your clubface wasn't square right there." This direct feedback is incredibly powerful because it bypasses the need to guess. You don’t have to wonder why the ball went sideways - the click tells you exactly what happened the instant it happened. Over time, you’re not just fixing a swing flaw, you’re training your hands, arms, and body to *feel* what a square clubface is supposed to feel like.

Your First Swings: Setting Up for Success

Getting started correctly will make all the difference. Don't just grab it and start whaling away. Take a few minutes to get the setup right, and you'll get far better results.

Step 1: Adjusting the Compression Magnet

The first thing you need to do is calibrate the Straight Stick for your specific shot shape. Look at the end of the clubhead, and you’ll see the adjustable cap for the compression magnet. It’s incredibly simple to set:

• If you Slice the ball: A slice is caused by an open clubface at impact. To fix this, you need to train the feeling of closing the face. Twist the dial to the “S” (Slice) setting. This makes the magnet more sensitive to an open face, so it will click if you repeat your slice motion but stay quiet when you start to square it up or close it.
• If you Hook the ball: A hook comes from a clubface that’s too closed at impact. You need to learn how to keep the face from turning over too aggressively. Set the dial to “H” (Hook). This setting does the opposite - it makes the magnet sensitive to a closed face, giving you that click feedback when you shut it too soon.
• If you’re a fairly straight hitter: You can use the middle, or neutral, setting. This will give you feedback if you stray too far in either direction, helping you hone your consistency.

Coach's Tip: Start on the easiest setting. If you’re a slicer, don't crank the tension to max on day one. Give yourself a chance to succeed. Start with a light tension, achieve silence, and then gradually increase the difficulty as your feel improves.

Step 2: Taking Your Grip and Stance

One of the best features of the Straight Stick is the molded grip. It guides your hands into a neutral, "textbook" position, which is the foundation for a square clubface. Let the grip teach you. Place your hands on it so they fit comfortably into the mold. This is the steering wheel of your golf shots, and getting it right is fundamental to playing well.

When you're first using the Straight Stick, take your normal athletic setup. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, lean over from your hips while keeping your back relatively straight, and let your arms hang naturally. Just like with a regular golf swing, an athletic posture puts you in a position to rotate properly and use your body as the engine, not just your arms.

Drills to Dial It In: From Half Swings to Full Power

Now for the fun part. The goal of these drills is to train the "no-click" feeling, starting small and building up. Don't rush this process. Mastering the simple movements first will make the full swing much easier.

Drill 1: The 'No-Click' Putt (The Foundation)

This sounds elementary, but it's the best way to isolate pure clubface control. Tiny motions expose tiny flaws.

1. Go to a putting green or just use the carpet in your living room.
2. Take your normal putting setup with the Straight Stick.
3. Make short, 6-inch back-and-through putting strokes.

Your only goal is silence. If you hear a click, it means your hands are twisting and manipulating the clubface even in this tiny motion. Focus on using your shoulders to rock the club back and forth like a pendulum. Your hands should be completely passive. Do this until you can make ten quiet strokes in a row. This builds the baseline feel for a stable clubface.

Drill 2: Waist-High Swings for Impact Awareness

Now we're going to layer this feel into a small golf swing. This is where you connect your body's rotation to clubface control.

1. Take your normal golf stance.
2. Make a swing that goes back only to where the club is parallel to the ground (waist-high).
3. Swing through to the same position on the other side, also waist-high.

The focus here is on rotating your torso. As it turns a little back and a little through, the club should come along for the ride. If you try to swing with just your arms, you'll almost certainly hear a click. A body-powered swing is a swing that keeps the clubface stable. A handsy swing is one that "flips" the face open or closed. Again, your goal is silence. Feel how your body rotation delivers a quiet clubhead through the impact zone.

Drill 3: Full Rehearsal Swings for a Silent Shot

Once you’ve mastered the waist-high drill without a click, it’s time to move to a full swing without a ball. This integrates the feeling into a complete motion.

1. Take your normal setup.
2. Make a full, smooth practice swing at about 70% of your max speed.

Pay attention to your rhythm and sequence. The goal is still silence. If you are a slicer and you're hearing the "click," you're likely opening the face on the backswing or failing to release it through impact. If you're a hooker and it's clicking, you’re likely letting your hands flip over too soon instead of letting the rotation of your body bring the club throughsquarely.

Think about the simple idea that the golf swing is a rounded action. You’re turning your torso and letting the club move around you. A smooth rotation is what eliminates the need for last-second hand manipulations and, therefore, eliminates the click.

Time to Hit a Ball: Applying What You've Learned

When you can consistently make full, quiet practice swings, you are ready to hit golf balls. Go to the range, but don’t leave the drill mentality behind.

Start by hitting balls at no more than 70% speed. Your objective isn't power or distance, it’s translating the quiet feel to an actual shot. After every swing, assess the feedback:

• No Click + Straight Ball: That's it! You've found the feeling. Bottle it up. Take a moment to ingrain what that felt like.
• Click + Your Old Miss: The tool is working. It's telling you that your old pattern snuck back in. Don't get frustrated. Go back to basics. Make a few quiet rehearsal swings (Drill 3), recapture the feeling, and then try hitting a ball again.
• No Click + Bad Shot: This can happen! It might mean your clubface was square, but your swing path was off (e.g., coming over the top). This is still a win. You’ve isolated one variable - the clubface - and can now focus on syncing your path.

This process - swing, listen, assess, adjust - is how you break old habits. Connect the sound (or lack thereof) to what the ball did. That connection is what makes practice purposeful and effective.

Common Sticking Points (and How to Get Past Them)

Even with a great tool, you might hit a snag. Here are a few common issues and how to think about them:

• Getting Frustrated with the Click: Remember, the click is your friend. It's not a failure, it’s a non-negotiable data point showing you what needs to be fixed. Every click is a small lesson. Embrace it as part of the learning process.
• Swinging Too Hard, Too Soon: This is the number one mistake. Speed hides feel. Trying to hit it hard before you’ve grooved the silent motion is a recipe for frustration. Rhythm and sequence first, speed later.
• Trying to "Force" it to be Quiet with Your Hands: The goal isn't to consciously manipulate your hands to avoid the click. The real goal is to learn to swing with your body so that the hands just naturally deliver a square face. It's about letting the big muscles do the work so the small ones don't have to overcompensate.
• Forgetting to Hit Your Regular Clubs: The Straight Stick is a swing trainer, not a magic wand. A great practice session routine is to hit 5-10 balls with the Straight Stick, focused on silence, and then hit 5-10 balls with your regular 7-iron, trying to replicate the exact same feeling. This transfers the skill from the training aid to your actual clubs.

Final Thoughts

Using the Performance Golf Straight Stick correctly is all about this simple loop: make a smooth, body-driven swing, listen for the feedback, and connect that sound to your ball flight. By starting small with foundational drills and gradually building up to full shots, you train your body to understand what a square clubface feels like, replacing old, destructive habits with new, powerful ones.

Perfecting a a physical feeling is a big part of the game, but sometimes you just have a question about strategy or why a certain shot happens the way it does. We wanted toprovide a way for golfers to get instant, expert advice on any golf topic, so we built Caddie AI. Use it to finally understand the difference between a chip and a pitch, or ask it for a smart playing strategy on the toughest hole at your course. It's designed to help you pair your new physical skills with the on-course knowledge that a traditional caddie provides.