Evidently playing countless hours of Wii Golf over the wintertime doesn’t cure a wicked hook or slice, or help you add power to your drives. Who knew? The SwingBox ($500) can benefit all of those things by giving your the ability to practice mechanics for hours on end practically anywhere you have room to swing a club.
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With the SwingBox, you’re using real golf balls and setting up your tee shot just as you would on the course. Except instead of sending the ball sailing through the air (or in your case, straight into a bunker), a rope wall catches balls and allows it to trickle down for an easy reset. You can even set up your smartphone to capture your swing … although you may be horrified by the replay.
The SwingBox isn’t cumbersome and bulky like an arcade basketball unit — it’s 47″ wide, 51″ tall, and 6″ diameter — and weighs under 60 lbs. Those specs allow you to easily place it into a garage, workspace, backyard, or home office. There’s a side net that will catch most of your shanks, but blasting a curveball around one of them can certainly happen if you’re an uncoordinated clod.
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And if that happens, try to put it in perspective: Patching a wall or replacing a window pane is a minor investment when you consider that lifelong shame you’d feel by shanking the majority of shots on the back nine in front of your boss or friends, or even worse, a woman you’re trying to impress. You’ll never live it down, which is why we suggest that if your game is that sour — whether or not you use the SwingBox — you should consider giving up golf for something that better suits you, like knitting.
