In Focus Training Aids: Philip Reid looks at the range of products on the market that may well help reduce your handicap

You know, it's no wonder golfers - normal club players as much as the elite amateurs and professionals - have demons milling around their heads. In this day and age, it seems, there are more training aids devised to help you to get better, to knock a few shots per round off your score and to reduce your handicap, than at any other time in the history of the game.

Some are complex, and some are relatively simple. For instance, the so-called "Almost Golf" practice ball is cheap and a stroke of ingenuity. Word has it when one of the salesmen promoting its use called to a certain club professional in north Co Dublin, he used an extreme method to demonstrate its effectiveness. The salesman apparently borrowed one of the professional's drivers, went outside, teed up the "ball" and drove it into a plate glass window. The window didn't break, and the point was made.

Still, for anyone seeking to improve their game through golf training aids, there is a myriad of products from which to chose. Bray-based Partner Golf Ireland are to the fore in marketing various training aids in this country, attending shows in Orlando, London and elsewhere in an effort to keep on top of the game. Originally set up two and a half years ago, one of its founders, John Broome, assessed that "there was something of a stigma attached to golfers using training aids" at that time.

Times, though, have changed; and with many top coaches and players endorsing products, that stigma is no longer there. If an aid can legally help you to improve your game, then - if you have the time and effort to put in - it is a worthwhile thing to do.

Yet, the message Broome consistently hammers home is that these aids are "not a replacement for your local professional". Indeed, that approach is backed up by the fact some of the leading coaches are endorsing products; and they wouldn't be doing so if it were going to take their clients away from them.

One example is that of Butch Harmon, who coached Tiger Woods for the best part of a decade and who has included Adam Scott and Darren Clarke in his stable of tour players.

Harmon has wholeheartedly backed a very unique - but, again, simple in design - product known as the ProAim Virtual Alignment Trainer.

"For almost 40 years now, I've worked as an instructor and a coach to amateur and professional golfers around the world and, as you might imagine, every single one of them is out there looking for an edge, a way to knock strokes off their score and play the best golf of their life," said Harmon. "Well, I found it (the ProAim)."

Such an endorsement is impressive, but the choice of different training aids will require a visit to a psychologist if you were to attempt to even get your head around all of them. So, what do companies look for when deciding on what training aids to market?

"Firstly," said John Brennan, of Partner Golf, "we're looking for convenience of use, something that you'd ideally be able to use at home. Secondly, if it is endorsed by a top name, a player or a coach, who don't put their names too easily to any product, that is also important. And, thirdly, we look at the price which is always a factor in determining if something will sell or not."

Here we take a look at a number of the "hottest" training aid products that are currently available.

Almost Golf (practice balls) RRP: a7.50 (pack of four)

As if to prove ingenuity doesn't always have to involve expense, the so-called Almost Golf practice ball is something that will appeal to most golfers - old and young alike.

At some stage, most of us have practised in an area where we shouldn't be. And how often have you watched heart-in-mouth as a golf ball travelled towards a window or a car or some innocent walking across your path? Well, the Almost Golf practice ball should make such moments much less regular occurrences.

The ball weighs just 13.5 grams (about one-quarter the weight of a regular golf ball) and carries about one-third of its distance. Apart from the safety aspect, the other appeal of it is that the ball achieves a realistic launch off the club face so that it is possible to hit true fades, draws and backspin shots. It'll enable you to swiftly analyse any swing flaws.

ProAim Virtual Alignment Trainer RRP: €75

At first glance, it would appear you're being asked to wear a pair of snazzy sunglasses. In actual fact, the ProAim are wraparound glasses that projects a grid on to the intended putting target and is designed to instantly reveal mistakes in a player's stroke. This very useful gadget ensures a player's head, clubface, feet and shoulders are in perfect alignment and is designed to grove "the perfect club takeaway, ball strike and follow through". As the marketing bumph indicates, ProAim ensures the body is perfectly aligned; the club face is square at address; your eyes stay over the ball, and encourages a true pendulum stroke. Among the golfers to use the product is Darren Clarke.

The device is intended to provide instant feedback on a player's hidden swing flaws. After just minutes of seeing and practising with the proper head position, clubface alignment and swing path, the player should store "an optical imprint" of that stroke into their muscle memory.

"ProAim is the best alignment training aid I've ever seen," said top coach Butch Harmon, who endorses the product, adding: "That's why I use it with the top touring professionals I coach . . . I guarantee it is going to help you putt better. When you make more putts, you're going to lower your score.

Electronic Swing Groover II RRP: €165

An update version of the original Swing Groover (which is still a big seller, retailing for €85), the Electronic Swing Groover II is an extraordinary little machine that enables you to groove your swing in the comforts of your own home (if you have a sufficiently high ceiling for a full swing), your garage and/or outdoors. It is remarkably user-friendly, which in many ways is its greatest appeal. The machine features a golf ball that is attached to it and, just like the real thing, the ball can receive full iron or wood shots. The machine then tracks and analyses shot distance and direction and an animated display shows the ball flight.

For left- or right-handed players, the swing groover is probably best suited to a player who really wants to know the intricacies of his swing and the precision of just how far he can hit each club.

It's designed to help you develop good habits and, as with all of the best training aids, it keeps things simple and is extremely durable. This machine doesn't mean you don't have to go for lessons. If anything, the opposite is the case. However, what it does do is complement lessons given by your local professional; it's a device that works.

Glideball RRP: €300

As training aids go, Glideball is a sign of how things have progressed. It is a unique portable driving range, which encourages a better swing through regular practice. Improving your rhythm and tempo you can also work on your technique without moving your set-up - encouraging positive muscle memory.

Glideball is suitable for players of any ability and of any age, and takes just two minutes to set up.

Hitting a real golf ball every time, the ball travels up two parallel wires and returns to the astro turf hitting area instantly. The pole system can be placed up to 20 metres from the case allowing you to practice with any golf club. The height of the pole can also be adjusted to obtain the correct trajectory for each club.

The whole system packs away into its case weighing just 10kgs, enabling easy transportation to your garden or backyard, golf club or local park.

Easy Putt RRP: €100

The Easy Putt putting system - as endorsed by Padraig Harrington (right) - is designed by an Irish inventor, Jim Hourihane from Tipperary.

Its purpose is to help golfers achieve a consistent, repeatable putting stroke through muscle memory. Easy Putt uses a high-tech, low friction material only found in premium car parts to help the shaft attachment glide freely along the guide rail.

"I'm very impressed with Easy Putt that, unlike other devices, as you use it you become less dependent on it. It shows you a good putting stroke . . . this device allows you to putt subconsciously," said Harrington.

The aid is suitable for left- or right-handed players and is collapsible and easily transportable for indoor or outdoor use.

PC Tour Personal Golf Simulator RRP: €295

On first appearances, you might think this is some sort of virtual reality game. It's not, it is more serious than that. It combines the Swing Groover with what is called QMotions Active Gaming Technology and basically what it does is enables you to hit a ball - again, you'll need an area with sufficiently high ceiling to enact a full swing - but your swing image is transferred to a television screen which enables you to hit the ball and watch it fly in real time on your home computer. You can play all the clubs in your bag: driver, fairway woods, irons and putter.

There are adjustable tee heights to facilitate the different clubs.

It's an actual simulator that uses the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 software (included in the price) and is capable of analysing swings and also reports important swing statistics. If you hit the ball true, the flight (on screen) will take the exact path that you hit it.

It's a very realistic tool, and good fun too with up to four players able to compete in casual rounds or in tournament mode. The technology also allows you to play alone or against computer generated professionals. Eighteen of the world's top courses are available to be played.