How Our Golf Swing Aid Came To Be
Hi, I'm Carl Papa and I invented the Pocket Pin High Pro. Even though I had spent years improving my golf game, I was still having trouble developing a consistent golf swing. I just didn't have the power, distance & accuracy I thought I should.
After countless hours of playing, reading, watching and thinking golf, I was at wits-end with figuring out what was wrong with my swing.
That struggle ended in 2008 after a conversation with an accomplished golfer. The Pocket Pin High Pro was the result of that fateful day.
After watching some of my swings, this fellow golfer, my good friend Tom Sagle, informed me I was swinging with "dead legs."
I was trying to generate all of the power from my golf swing through my arms. I was failing to tap into some of the largest (and most powerful) muscles my body has. My legs.
Because I was chopping down swinging fast and hard as I could, my golf balls were going in every direction except straight. I wasn't treating my golf swing as a full-body movement.
Tom then told me about intentionally shifting my weight to my leading foot during my downswing. "Focus on starting that weight shift in your toes and then roll it to your heel."
If you really want to develop power, you need to transfer your weight properly. - David Leadbetter
I took that key bit of golf advice to heart and started engaging my legs during my swing, by shifting my weight to that front foot of my golf stance.
Right away, I saw (and felt) an increase in my swing's power and accuracy. I was also taking divots more consistently. However, the process was still new to me and my mind was getting cluttered with all my swing thoughts. I knew it would take time to get better at shifting my weight, but I also wanted more help so I could get better, faster.
After weeks of searching high and low for a high-quality golf swing training aid that would help me improve my downswing, I had come up dry. There just wasn't anything that I knew would be reliable, easy to use, and I thought would help improve my golf game.
That's when I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Within a few weeks of Dremeling coupled with a lot of trial and error, my first effort of creating a better golf swing aid was born. I named it the Pin High Pro.
My original Pin High Pro was a large mat that required LED lights, batteries, and quite a bit of space (it would "BEEP" and light up when you properly shifted your weight). Once I saw it help improve my golf swing, I filed a patent for it in 2011.
After a year of using the Pin High Pro to first improve my golf game and then keep the edge on my golf swing, I knew I could make it better.
It was back to the drawing board (and workbench) for me.
Tapping into the new world of 3D printing, I began creating prototypes of what was to become the Pocket Pin High Pro. I focused on the tenements of:
- Helps anyone improve their golf game
- Simple to learn to use
- Easy to take with you
- Built to last
After months of tweaking, testing, and getting feedback, I now had a golf swing device that didn't use any power, was easy to use, and actually made people better golfers. The Pocket Pin High Pro was born!
Prototype Pocket Pin High Pro Training Aid
While it wasn't a thing of beauty (not yet at least), I knew it had potential. I used it to keep the edge on my golf swing and also used it to help fellow golfers around me improve their own swings. After a number of requests of "Hey, can I buy one of those?" I knew I had to get things clicking with producing Pocket Pin High Pros for the world.
Through some industry contacts, I refined the look of the Pocket Pin High Pro to be sleek yet strong. I then took that design to a plastic-injection mold-maker here in East Tennessee to craft a way to effectively produce my weight shift swing aid so I could make it available to sell.
That brings us to where we're at today. The Pocket Pin High Pro is in thousands of golf bags across the world (yep, we've shipped them across the planet to far-flung places like Austraila and Japan). It truly makes me smile every day when I think about all the golfers I've helped to fall back in love with the sport of golf. I also get pretty excited when I think about all the golfers that I'll help in the future!
Oh, and in case you didn't know, I've used my golf swing aids to help actually set a Guinness World Record and raise money for the American Cancer Society.