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Our Philosophy

Like so many aspiring golfers, my goal in life was to play on the PGA Tour. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, I shifted my attention to the golf business and teaching. I dedicated myself to instruction and worked my way through the PGA of America program earning the status of Class “A” Professional. The years I spent teaching allowed me to observe first-hand the common problems that most amateurs experience with their golf swing. I noticed that the beginners as well as the accomplished players were being held back by the same basic problems.

“The beginners as well as the accomplished players were being held back by the same basic problems.”

While I was teaching a close friend qualified for the PGA Tour and asked me to caddie for him. After years of teaching, I saw this as an opportunity to expand my knowledge and teaching ability by observing the best players in the world close-up, and accepted his invitation. While caddying on the PGA Tour, I paid close attention to every detail of how the players practiced and played. It was these observations that crystallized my understanding of the golf swing and what was needed to teach the athletic motion of a rhythmic, balanced swing.

“I found that my students made the greatest and most immediate improvement by helping them to swing in rhythm while maintaining balance.”

I continued to teach during the PGA Tour off-season, incorporating the key elements of the top Tour Professionals golf swings into my teaching. I found that my students made the greatest and most immediate improvement by helping them to swing in rhythm while maintaining balance. My original teaching style was formulated around learning to control the golf club and face while swinging and attempting to hit a ball. Most amateurs, and many pros, are very concerned with positions of the golf club during the swing. They get lost in trying to achieve various positions they are convinced are necessary as they attempt to hit at the ball rather than swing through the ball. I took the focus away from “position” and their “hitting” action, and put it squarely on their motion. By doing so, their results (and positions) greatly improved.

“I wanted to develop a device that would provide golfers with dynamic feedback, and help them feel their body swinging in a tour pro motion”

It was this shift in philosophy that led me to develop a tool that could help a golfer feel and learn the golf swing motion. I wanted a device that would provide golfers with dynamic feedback, and help them feel their body swinging in a tour pro motion. After years of research, experimentation, and collaboration I was confident that I had the perfect tool and The Orange Whip Trainer was launched.

The Orange Whip Trainer is a golf swing aid and a golf fitness product for a new generation. I believe it to be the best swing aid ever created and I’m confident that anyone that uses my product on a regular basis will agree.

Jim Hackenberg

Jim Hackenberg, CEO & Developer of Orange Whip Golf

CAUTION:
When using the Orange Whip indoors, make sure there is sufficient space to swing freely in all directions. A garage or spaces with vaulted ceilings are ideal. Be sure to eliminate all obstacles and restrictions prior to swinging. Pay special attention to doors and entrance areas. Do not swing the whip near these areas and take the necessary precautions to avoid contact with unsuspecting persons entering a space near the path of the Whip.

Personal Experience

Having been introduced to the Orange Whip in early May 2009, I instantly found it the most fascinating training aid I have ever laid my hands on. I do not generally use training aids in my teaching, other than a video camera, but the Whip does so many great things for my pupil’s golf that I now cannot do a days teaching without it.

As a PGA professional with over 35 years teaching experience, I have continually searched, in vain, for a way of conveying ‘feel’ to my pupils. All of my teaching life I have described in so many ways, and demonstrated – full shoulder rotation, grip pressure, pausing at the top, posture retention, pendulum swinging, swinging V hitting, ‘on plane’ swinging, centered head retention, width etc, etc, in an attempt to give my pupils the correct ‘feel’ for the correct moves appropriate to them. None of my words or pictures have ever fully achieved what the Whip can, and it’s as if after 35 years I have found the missing piece of the jigsaw. It truly is the missing link!

It is the transition of ‘feel’ into my pupil’s golfing subconscious that is so amazing to witness. Subsequently I have had some amazing results with my pupils. Pupils can’t believe that they can hit the ball so sweetly (and often further) with such an effortless swing, but that is a daily occurrence.

From a personal perspective I find that there are other added benefits from using the whip on a daily basis. In my case, my back which ached due to 40 years of playing and teaching, stopped aching after 6 days use of the Whip and I generally feel great benefit from the golf stretches it creates and my increased core strength.

All of these benefits can not only be felt by club golfers, as several European Tour players have proved this year. Miko Illonen, Peter Lawrie, Gary Orr and Stephen Gallagher have all purchased one along with Matteo Manassero’s coach Alberto Binaghi.

Best of all the Whip is easy to use, feels good and it works!

Lee Johnson Headshot

Lee Johnson

PGA Professional (Fellow)
Drift Golf Club
Surrey, England

Benefits Of Using The Orange Whip®

One of the best and often overlooked features of the Orange Whip Trainer is the ability to use it indoors without compromising its unparalleled performance. It only requires a minimal amount of space and 5-10 minutes of training time per day. No golf swing trainer is more time efficient and effective. You can work with an Orange Whip year round and never again have to depend on weather conditions or daylight when you want to improve your golf swing and fitness. It’s the ideal tool for those living in challenging winter environments and busy individuals with little time to practice.

The Foundation Drills are the core group of training exercises designed to maximize the effect of the Orange Whip. These can be performed in a single daily workout. To increase benefits to fitness and flexibility, 2 or more sets per day are recommended. In general, only 5 to 10 min every day is required to notice amazing results. This minimal time requirement makes it easy for almost anyone to incorporate these drills into their schedule.

With an Orange Whip, anyone can make the most out of the winter months and improve without hitting golf balls. If a golfer trains their swing without using a ball, the mind and body will allow the swing to develop naturally. The Orange Whip can eliminate the ‘hit’ instinct from your mind and consistency can be developed.
In addition, once a person athletically learns how to swing the Orange Whip, I encourage the user to try and feel where the Orange ball would release off the end of the shaft. This is a great mental exercise for those who want to improve the accuracy of their golf shots.

When used regularly, the golfer will quickly see noticeable improvements in their golf swing such as, increased flexibility and strength, enhanced coordination, and perfectly balanced tempo.

RHYTHM, TEMPO, BALANCE

As the arms and body work together, a natural rhythm, tempo, and balance takes over the golf swing. This is how your tempo develops. Some swings may be fast or slow, yet always in balance with an efficient motion.

STAY ON PLANE

The patented, counterbalanced flexible shaft swing system provides the necessary feedback to train your swing to stay on plane, balanced, and powerful.

COORDINATION

The Orange Whip synchronizes the arms and body while swinging it repetitively. If this motion is out of sync, the user will lose their balance and their swing will feel awkward.

WARM UP

Swing the Whip before you play or practice to loosen up your golf muscles and increase your flexibility. It's the top warm up aid on the professional tours.

STRENGTH

The weight on each end of the flexible shaft provides a low-impact swing workout while swinging.

The Whip Appeal

The one factor that makes it difficult for the golfer to accept the idea of the golf swing as a sling is that most slings are made of leather, rubber, or some other pliable material. The sling in golf consists of the arms and the extension of the arms namely the club shaft, but it is difficult for the golfer to accept the stiff metal shaft as a rope or sling. In fact, much is written about the effect of different kinds of shafts, the idea being that the stiffness of the shaft may in some way hold the secret to distance.

The real truth however, is that for the golfer to generate maximum centrifugal force in his golf swing, he must think of the club shaft as something soft and malleable, like a rope. One of the best ways to establish the feel of a good golf swing is to swing a small weight, tied to the end of a rope, in the same way that you would swing a golf club.

Instantly you will discover how necessary it is for your muscles to wait for that weight to swing back and how your shoulders must turn in a way that gives time for that mass to get up to an optimal position for slinging and how your legs must lead the downswing while your arms wait for the mass to accelerate and how all of your movements must focus on that point on the ground that you are attempting to swing through and how beautifully your head stays steady. You don’t have to actually rig up this kind of apparatus to experience these feelings. You own an imagination — use it. Simply imagine that the club shaft is a rope and the club head is a weight hanging at the end of it. You are now going to sling that weight in such a way that it travels at maximum velocity at a select angle of decline along a path that leads momentarily straight to a distant target with a part of that weight facing that target.

If you could possibly translate that imagery into movement, I guarantee that your golf game will improve immediately beyond your wildest dreams. It’s not something that will happen overnight, but once it is grooved it will never go away again. Until you have reached that state however you will not play the game up to your full potential. Until you totally familiarize yourself with feelings you will always be preoccupied with the uncertainty swing that can go haywire under the least kind of stress.

Haston Thorton

Philadelphia, PA

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