How Robert Rock’s brilliant new swing training aid could transform your golf game
Robert Rock’s swing is the envy of pros and amateurs alike.
From the beginnings as a teaching pro at a local driving range he remodelled his swing to take his game to the European Tour where he made over 450 starts.
There would be two wins – one where he famously took down Tiger Woods in Abu Dhabi in 2012 – and, having retired in 2022, he still managed to come through qualifying for the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 last year.
Rock has also made his name as one of the most knowledgeable modern-day coaches, teaching the likes of Matt Wallace, Georgia Hall and Lee Westwood, and he has now collaborated with Liam Bond to bring out the TRS Slider, a training aid to help groove your swing.
What made you put it together in the first place?
I made it to try and help with what I was trying to do with my game, to allow my right arm to move quite a lot around my body but without it flapping around like a flying right elbow type thing. I didn’t want that but I also didn’t want it pinned to my body. I made it so that my right arm could move without it lifting up or flying away from my body. So that was the whole point of it, just purely for the backswing, that’s all I wanted it for but I think people have actually managed to use it for different reasons.
How simple is it to use?
It’s very easy, it’s two loops. The black loop goes round your chest and is adjustable on the side and that should be as tight as possible. The pink loop is for your right arm (for a right-hander) and you slide your arm in and pull it in pretty tight – and you should have them running level all the way across when you let your arms hang.
What do you want the right arm to do in the backswing?
I wanted something to keep my arm close to my body and help me fold it correctly going back and then that helps you build the correct top of the backswing position and makes the downswing easier. I wanted to get my right arm as far back and as deep as I could without being unattached.
Then, as a sort of by-product, it helps with the downswing and the followthrough because it keeps your right arm from flying away from you. That wasn’t something that I particularly needed help with or why I did it, but it does keep everything more attached in the followthrough.
It was kind of an extension of a Ben Hogan drill where he used to strap his arms to his body with a belt but I wanted mine to move around my body rather than just being kind of welded in one point, like you would do if you had a headcover or your glove under your arm.
As I said people are using it in a few different ways. So if you wanted your right arm to stay pinned forwards, it actually does that as well if you want it to. If you don’t try and move your right arm deeper and further around your body, it doesn’t have to go. So I think it works for both methods really indirectly.
Who are you aiming this at?
Nobody as I just made it for me. And then I asked Liam Bond, who played on the Tour and has had a lot of success with his TRS training aids, to make it look a little bit tidier. When I got it back I tried it with some of the pros who I was working with at the time.
How the right arm works, and stopping it firing, is quite a popular subject in my lessons. I generally don’t like training aids and I will just say to people that they need to go and practise something, but this stuck with me.
I was trying to focus on a couple of things at once and I couldn’t manage to get my right arm to do the right thing without putting 100 per cent focus on it. This way I can actually focus on something else while I’m practising as well.
It will work for a lot of different players, the golfer whose right arm gets away from them in the takeaway as well as the better players who have, let’s say a little bit of a flicky, loose release through the ball. For them it can help to get a feel of the right arm staying attached and the body doing a little bit more of the work through impact. And it gives you a followthrough to actually mimic once you take it off.
What can it do for your ball striking?
One thing I did notice is when I was hitting balls with it, I hit some really, really good quality, consistent iron shots. I found a little groove while I was hitting it and it kept me nice and tight. Then when I took it off, I could feel the looseness in my right arm and I didn’t hit the shots quite as consistently.
So it does act for me to hit better shots. I didn’t make it for that, I just made it to train my right arm to do something in the backswing easier. But it’s just turned into something that it does actually work quite nicely for most people’s backswings and to hit good iron shots with.
What about chipping and pitching?
I haven’t used it much for that but it would certainly work like a towel drill to keep your arms connected and just hitting little body control pitches and chips.
Mark Townsend’s TRS Slider review
I’ve hit more balls on the practice ground in the past couple of months than I have done in years. Its main attraction is the simplicity of it and the fact that it will never break down. It comes in three sizes and is foolproof to use.
My big weakness is a laziness in the transition – I rely far too much on timing and saving everything with my hands. This leads to inconsistent strikes and some horrific irons shots. There are many faults in my swing but my big one is the transition and how little I put into the strike of the ball.
This is why I’ve now hit so many balls in recent weeks. The TRS Slider makes my torso work a lot harder in the downswing and the results are so satisfying. There is definitely more distance and a better strike as it’s not just the arms that are contributing to the strike. And it’s brilliant for pitching with the sound and feel of a proper strike suddenly being part of the equation.
Given the variety of benefits the TRS Slider I would suggest this is a fantastic training aid to keep in your golf bag at all times.
READ MORE: Does golf improve mental health? New scientific study reveals startling and surprising conclusions