DRIVING straighter and further consistently is every golfer's dream and NSW inventor Mike Middleton reckons he has created the device to make that dream come true.
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Born out of the ill-fated BendaMenda, a cricketing aid that helped bowlers keep their arms straight, the StraightShooter is about to hit the market and Mr Middleton says it's already created a buzz in the big United States golfing market.
After taking up golf in his mid 40s after a life-time in cricket, Mr Middleton, from Orange in NSW's central west, described himself as an average player and applied his background in functional anatomy, biomechanics and psychology to develop and improve his own swing.
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He quickly realised the professionals' straight lead arm at point of ball contact is the key and set about developing a training device that will build and maintain muscle memory leading to a better drive.
The StraightShooter consists of a neoprene sleeve worn on the players lead arm.
"It has two pre-tension springs that sit either side of your elbow point at the back of your arm. We've tensioned it according to the size," Mr Middleton said explaining that his first order of 800 consists of four different sizes.
"We've got patents in US, Japan, five countries in Europe and Australia, we want it to be Australian-made."
The StraightShooter's components are being made on the Central Coast and the Gold Coast with Mr Middleton hoping to have it assembled and packaged in Orange.
It was back in 2014 Mr Middleton started to get serious about developing and marketing the StraightShooter after his dream of selling the BendaMenda was crushed when cricket's governing body changed the rules on a bowler's arm action.
Although receiving good feedback and interest from overseas, the big question was 'does it work', so he set about testing it with the help of the Victorian Institute of Sport, Trackman Golf and a number of human movement specialists.
But arguably the best marketing is endorsement and locally, golfing friend Dave Currall was a positive test case.
"Dave uses it for drills, he'll do 20 minutes of drills with it. He dropped down to 17 [from 30] in three months and he's down to 13 at the moment."
While he's confident the initial order of 800 will sell online in the US, Mr Middleton is hoping to run demo days around the west.
Kate Bowyer
Kate Bowyer is a senior reporter at the Central Western Daily.
Kate Bowyer is a senior reporter at the Central Western Daily.
