50 Words or Less
The B1 Blue Strike training aid has three tools to fix your impact position. There are better options available.
Introduction
It’s cliche to say that there are no new ideas, but the B1 Blue Strike lends credence to the idea. This new addition to the training aid market is an amalgam of three concepts we’ve seen before. Is there something to be gained by putting these devices together or is this Hank Haney-endorsed device an unnecessary rerun?
Set Up & Ease of Use
New users of the B1 Blue Strike will probably need to hop over to the company’s website to watch Hank Haney explain how to use the Blue Strike. The main video is about 12 minutes long and does an adequate job of explaining how to use the Blue Strike.
There are three elements to the B1: the Impact Bow, the Impact Slider, and the Anti-Flip Compression Sole. The first two require a little set up: the Impact Bow needs to be pulled from the butt of the club and attached to the clip under the grip. The Impact Slider needs to be repositioned after each swing. The sole requires no set up.
Overall, the B1 Blue Strike is easy to use and requires only a small investment of time on the front end.
Effectiveness
In the interest of being clear and comprehensive, I’m going to discuss the effectiveness of each element of the B1 Blue Strike independently.
Impact Bow
The Impact Bow is a feedback device similar to the Tour Striker Educator.
My main concern with the Impact Bow is that the feedback is not very strong. The Educator is made of hard plastic, so you can feel it smack into your arm. The Impact Bow is just a cord, and I struggled to feel is through a sweatshirt or jacket. While I like the underlying concept, I think the Impact Bow is only effective for practice swings.
Impact Slider
The idea of a slider on the shaft is something that we have seen in many training aids, such as the Speed Stik.
The biggest problem with the slider on the B1 Blue Strike is that it just doesn’t work very well. When I loaded it firmly enough that it wouldn’t slide down the shaft at address, it got stuck. When I tried loading it with less force, it wouldn’t stay up.
I actually like starting with the slider near the head to teach the concept of pausing at the top, but that’s not what the Blue Strike advertises. For its advertised use, the Impact Slider simply doesn’t work.
Anti-Flip Compression Sole
The concept behind the sole (shown above) will be familiar to anyone who has used the Tour Striker: grind away the lower part of the face to force the golfer to lean the shaft forward at impact. If you don’t lean the shaft forward, you’ll hit an embarrassing grounder.
This facet of the Blue Strike works well enough. Just as advertised, when you flip the club into impact, the ball rolls along the ground. If you get into a hands-forward impact position, you get a nice result. It’s worth noting that the Blue Strike is much less demanding than the Tour Striker.
Longevity
The best facet of the B1 Blue Strike – the Anti-Flip Compression Sole – is not very challenging, and the other two elements don’t work as well as advertised.
I think that the B1 could have reasonable longevity as an indoor training club where you use the Impact Bow to train your face angle and the Impact Slider to smooth out your transition, but its life on the range will be short.
Value
The B1 Blue Strike training aid retails through their website for $99, and I’m torn as to whether this is a good value or not.
On one hand, it costs the same as the Tour Striker but has additional elements. While those extras may not be perfect, they have their uses.
On the other hand, two of the three elements don’t work as advertised, and the challenge of the B1 is not the same as the Tour Striker. Additionally, you can buy the Tour Striker Educator – which gives you better feedback and a lot of versatility – for $40.
Ultimately, if you understand what you’re getting, I think the B1 is a decent value. It’s certainly not a must buy, but if you want to add some feedback to indoor practice swings, it’s useful.
Conclusion
I’ve come away from my time with the B1 Blue Strike with mixed feelings. While it’s definitely not one of the best training aids I’ve used, I think it has potential for certain golfers, and the price makes it a reasonable value.
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B1 Blue Strike
Matt Saternus
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Matt — Happy New Year. Many thanks for tracking down this club/aid and posting your review. I have found both the Speed Stik and Tour Striker to be helpful and effective (I warm up with the SS on most days), and was tempted when I saw this advertised online. In light of your review, I’m not going to take the plunge. I’m planning instead to try the Super Speed device that you’ve written about a couple of times. Best regards, Peter
I bought the B1 BlueStrike and after a month’s use I agree 100% with this review. It could be so much more than it is, but just so poorly engineered. The makers must have known it doesn’t perform as advertised. Disappointing….
I ordered and tried the Blue Strike for about a week-both in my back yard and on the range. I also agree with the other posts. Good ideas poorly and cheaply executed. The features are there-the benefits are not. The “feedback” from the retractable cord is almost non-existent. It is so flexible that it moves as you swing and doesn’t fully return to where you had it positioned, so I found myself moving my wrist trying to maintain contact with the cord. Hardly its intended purpose. The “Impact Slider” is ineffective since it’s so inconsistent. It either doesn’t move at all when slider is pushed onto the O-Ring, or it falls down the shaft when you start the backswing. Maybe I never found the correct amount of touch to get it perfect so that it was functional, but I tried many times and was frustrated and just gave up. The ground off sole is what it is, so no comment on that.
I’m surprised that Hank Haney, with all his credibility, promotes this flawed (to me) product so heavily. It seems that he’s doing that a lot now with other new aids that come and go. Maybe the Blue Strike was designed to help better players than I, but aren’t these meant to help the average player get better? Personally, it was disappointing and no help whatsoever, so it was returned for refund. Which, by the, you pay for the shipping (both ways). It’s basically garbage with convincing, misleading promotional videos. Just my opinion!
So after much debate I decided to order and give it a try. Matt Saternus is spot on. The impact bow is of little use. It simply does not give very good feedback and is way too flimsy to be of use. It is really a metal wire that does not stay in position during the swing. The slider does not perform as advertised as well and gets stuck often. After using and getting frustrated I decided to return. We will see if my refund appears on my card. I too am very surprised Haney would endorse a product like this when he knows full well it is an inferior product. Things must not be going well for Hank if he needs the money this badly.
Just bought the Blue Strike and I am pleased. I am 82 years of age and for many years felt that I do not strike the ball well. My best handicap was a 10 about 40 years ago. In just a few days I feel I am hitting the ball better that I have in more than 20 years and I hope I continue to see improvement. All I can say is, thank you.
Very helpful review. Since I already own the tour striker and speed stick im going to pass on this.
I think it’s typical of Hank Haney. I think he’d put his name on a square golf ball if ther was enough money in it for him .
This device is poorly engineered and you’d think an expert like Mr. Haney would have picked up on this .
Over the years I’ve seen him make money on things that he knows is not right. Like his sell out on Tiger book.
Not a fan!
Simply garbage. I can swing the club 90 miles an hour and the slider doesn’t move. I am returning it.
I just received the B1 Bluestrike last week, I watched Hank Haney’s videos on how best to use it. I went to the range and after warming up I started to use it, I immediately noticed the sliderer didn’t release, so I put a little saliva on it and then it released. After practicing the correct impact position I notice an immediate improvement on by ball flight and I stopped flipping which was my problem. My next golf round I hit some of my beat golf shots in years, on a short Par 3my wedge shot (117 yards)hit the pin the way down, another Par 3 my 8 iron (135 yards)landed 4 feet from the hole. I like the results I’m getting, I think it’s a great value and I recommend it. Thanks Hank.
I agree with all the comments, simply garbage, i wish i could return it.
I as hoping that this would be the one tool that would help me strike better. I agree with everything this reviewer found. The slider won’t stay up and is basically useless. The cord does not stay in a good position to be all that helpful, although I get the idea they are trying to drive home. Good concept, poor design, needs to be improved to be useful.
I agree with everyone, just received blue strike today and very disappointed. Working on returning it!
I am a 60 yr old, 14 handicapper living in the U.K. but ordered the BS from the USA. It cost another $38 delivery plus $25 duty fees, so be aware of this when you order. My issue for a couple of years is that I have developed a debilitating shank which almost made me give up golf. I’ve tried all sorts of tips and tricks to overcome it but ultimately the biggest issue was mental. I know I have developed a poor swing just to avoid a s***k. After just two practice sessions with the BS I am striking the ball much more confidently, and correctly, and the dreaded S***k has disappeared. I do agree that the bow needs to be a bit more rigid but it is rigid enough for me to feel it on my wrist to alert me to the correct set up at least. (Early days, I know!) The slider works when I get my swing right and the sole is very helpful indeed and has ensured a crisper contact almost every time. I hit quite a few bullet straight irons yesterday on my way to winning my local society comp. I am very happy with my purchase and look forward to once again playing to my handicap.
Ditto to all the defectiveness of the slider. I will try more . I tend to return it. Hope no problem with refund.
Bought the blue strike and after a couple weeks the o-ring on the shaft split in half and fell off. there is no way to replace that o-ring. 100 bucks down the drain. Thanks Hank for you misleading advice, you just lost a supporter.
I previously posted on the BS (appropriate initials for this club) but I wanted to share one more comment. Hank Haney was bad enough (loved the comment that he would try to sell square gol balls if enough money was involved) trying to promote this over-hyped piece of garbage, but when I saw that Michael Breed jumped in with both feet on this “golfer’s aid bandwagon” I was surprised and disappointed. Thought both of these pros make enough money to refuse to endorse such a cheap product and disregard their integrity. They have to know the only thing that works on this is a ground-off sole, unless the other features have been revamped and greatly improved recently.
Who will be the next PGA pro to step forward to pitch this snake-oil-on-a-shaft?
I’ve tried two Blue Strike training clubs. Love the concept of three helpful feedback points. However, the slider did not work on either club! I am surprised that Hank Haney would endorse this product. I will say that the company did provide great customer service and was very responsive.
I fully agree with most people who found this training aid to be “disappointing” as itdoes not what it intended to do.
Further more it is cheaply built as in my case the o’ring broke after about 100 swings and to replace this o’ring needs the capability of a full workshop, which I do not have in my appartment. Bad purchase in my case.
worse training aid I ever used
will try to return.
it doesn’t work, is cheaply manufacture and seemed to worsen my game the more I tried to practice with it.
I was excited by the benefit this training aid might have offered. Went to the range, no good. I couldn’t feel the nylon band on my bare skin, the slider thing did not work. I returned it today and had to pay $13.31 in postage! RipOff.
I had the same problem with the weight sticking, so I put a little synthetic grease on the 0-ring and now it works like a charm.