My $5 Goodwill Find Is An Offseason Training Treasure

With the wrapping still on it and a $4.99 price tag attached to it, I had to stop and do a double take. Either this was broken and it was going to fall apart when I picked it up or the good folks at Goodwill had no idea what they had put on the shelf. What looked like a child’s iron was none- other than an original, super-heavyweight, “Momentus Swing Trainer” from back in the 1990’s. While it really isn’t anything more than a heavy iron head on a weighted shaft, this $5 find is a killer off season training tool.

Starting out, the club has a very simple look and honestly looks like a child’s iron to the untrained eye. My bet is that this was in a bag that was traded in at my local store and they put it on the shelf without looking anything up. The street price on the “new model” which is the same as the older model is $79.99, so for 84% off, I felt dumb for considering not to get it at first. That moment of doubt faded quickly as this was the perfect solution for swinging indoors when then weather got nasty outside. The only thing missing was the three step DVD, which thanks to YouTube, was no issue at all. From starting out with the basics, the almost 7 minute video highlights how to use the Momentus to work your swing all off season, and even warm up with the club prior to a round. I’m not sure I’m quite ready to add this to my pre-round routine yet, but it’s an interesting idea to say the least.

The Momentus is actually pretty easy to use once you understand the principles behind it. The heavy weight club trains your muscles to engage at the right times of the swing to keep the path and speed correct. You start the swing by pushing the club forward (to a post impact position) about 18” and then begin the backswing process. This “throws” the club back in the correct path and causes your muscles to fire in sequence to hold that path on the way to the top of the backswing. A quick pause at the top of the swing will let your lower body begin the downswing and allow the club to pull your arms back through the downswing, again on the correct path. There’s nothing to crazy about the science involved here, but a weighted club certainly drives the point home.

The last piece of the Momentus is the formed grip. For someone that has spent years on the “strong” side of the fence, going back to neutral over the years has been really difficult. This crazy thing that is lashed to the end of the trainer is something that many would see as a pain, but I see it as a nice reminder of where I could be headed. As my hands take a more natural or standard grip on the trainer, I feel it being less awkward when I try and hold a regular club without my stronger grip. Overall, I’m really thinking that this could be the answer to my needs over the winter months.

Now, not every Goodwill is going to have one of these bad boys on the shelf so if this is something that interests you, here are a few options for you.

• Remove the grip from an older club, fill the shaft with sand and regrip it. This will add the stabilizing weight to the club but be far cheaper than the $70 list price. You can even land the training grip for $8.99 .
• Take an older iron and add a Donut Weight to it for under $10. This will give you the same “feel” as well, but the donut weights can shift. You may find yourself wanting to tape it on there or maybe trying an industrial zip tie to hold it in place. Again you can grab the training grip for $8.99 to complete this setup as well.
• There’s also the grab the old 1 pound ankle weights that someone bought for Yoga class years ago and lash that to the shaft.
• If you are still thinking that the original is worth the investment, you can grab a Momentus on Amazon for about $80 with the training grip or $70 with a standard grip.

Remember to keep the club short (wedge length is best) and watch the video on YouTube to see the proper sequencing for swinging the weighted club. Doing things wrong at the weights of these clubs can seriously mess with your body. It would be the equivalent of heading to the gym and maxing out your bench press on your first lift of the day without warming up. It’s just not a good thing to do. Still, weighted clubs have been used to warm up for a long time, in fact, the Momentus dates back to when I started playing. Back then we used it to fend off the dinosaurs, but as age has set in, it has given me a whole new perspective on how good a weighted club can be. If you haven’t tried one yet, grab a Donut Weight and give it a try. You might find that the benefits are equal to all those speed sticks and multi-$100 training aids that are out on the market today.