Tour Striker Smart Ball Review

After reading through many Tour Striker Smart Ball reviews, they all claim that the smart ball is for mid to high handicappers, but I watch my PGA Tour player son, John VanDerLaan use the Smart Ball everyday. So I decided to get together with him on the range to find out why he uses it, what it helps him with, and where this training aid comes up short.

Here's what I found:

What Is the Tour Striker Smart Ball?

The Tour Striker Smart Ball is a compact, inflatable ball attached to an adjustable lanyard that sits between your forearms during the golf swing. Designed by Tour Striker—founded by PGA professional Martin Chuck—it modernizes classic connection drills like the glove-under-arm or ball-between-elbows techniques that coaches have used for decades.

Martin is also involved with Performance Golf, which brings us other training aids, like the Click Stick, and clubs designed to help amateur golfers improve their golf skills and shoot better scores, like the One Wedge and the SF1 anti slice driver.

How the Smart Ball Trains Your Swing

The Tour Striker Smart Ball is designed to help golfers maintain connection between their arms and body during the swing, which can lead to better ball striking. The ball encourages a triangle structure (forearms and chest) that leads to more consistent, centered contact and better compression.

Here’s what you should feel: light pressure between your forearms, elbows staying relatively close together, and the ball staying in place through most of your motion. The Smart Ball is designed to help golfers feel their elbows squeezing together throughout the swing.

The Smart Ball helps prevent common faults:

• Reduces over-the-top moves by encouraging coordinated upper body turn
• Minimizes excessive arm separation that leads to slices, hooks, and inconsistent contact
• Encourages better low-point control and ball-then-turf contact with irons
• Eliminates chicken wing follow-throughs and flying right elbow positions

The Smart Ball enhances classic golf drills by providing immediate feedback when the arms disconnect during the swing. When the ball drops or squeezes out, you know instantly that your arms are getting out of sync with your torso rotation—useful for self-diagnosis without a coach present.

Effectiveness: Full Swings, Wedges & Putting

This is where theory meets practice. After several sessions, here’s what actually happens.

Full Swings

Using the ball between forearms encourages a one-piece takeaway and compact top-of-backswing position. The device promotes a body-rotational release, leading to cleaner strikes and better rhythm in the swing. Mid-to-high handicappers consistently report more centered face contact, fewer thin and chunky shots, and tighter dispersion.

Many players notice that initial restricted feeling but adapt after 10-15 swings, often leading to smoother tempo. Utilizing the Smart Ball can improve impact and strike consistency by preventing excessive wrist action and flipping during shots.

Wedge and Pitching Drills

For 30-80 yard shots, the Smart Ball reinforces connected chest-to-arms motion. Using the ball during the ‘ball between arms’ drill allows golfers to receive feedback without the distraction of an overly heavy or improperly sized object, which can compromise the drill’s effectiveness.

Many users find the training aid effective for improving short game consistency by developing a connected rhythm. Distance control improves because your wrists don’t flip as much through impact.

Putting

Slightly softer inflation works well for putting, helping maintain a unified triangle between shoulders, arms, and hands. Benefits include improved start line, more stable face, and a quieter lower body through the stroke.

The improved feels typically transfer after a few focused range sessions.

Final Verdict: Is the Tour Striker Smart Ball Worth It?

Yes. The Tour Striker Smart Ball is worth the investment for all golfers, even PGA Tour professionals, as you saw in the video above. It is the best training aid for arm structure and body and arm connection in the golf swing.

Core strengths:

• Simple to set up and use with no tech barrier
• Highly effective at training arm connection for full swings, wedges, and putting
• Portable and inexpensive relative to lessons and launch monitors
• Lanyard keeps the ball from rolling away, like the Impact Ball training aid

Limitations:

• Narrow focus on arm structure and body connection; won’t fix grip, alignment, or stance
• Can feel restrictive initially, especially for very long or fast swings

Any golfer planning to practice regularly, especially those fighting slices or inconsistent contact—should strongly consider adding the Smart Ball to their range routine. In a world of increasingly complex golf tech, a simple, durable, feel-based tool like this remains highly relevant and useful.