---
title: "Smart Ball, Putting Arc, PuttOut gates: half your practice kit stops a fault and half proves it's gone"
url: "https://ifrothgolf.com/read/constraint-vs-feedback-training-aids"
type: "explainer"
topic: "training"
author: "Jordan Hale"
published: "2026-09-19T18:00"
publisher: "ifrothgolf"
---


# Smart Ball, Putting Arc, PuttOut gates: half your practice kit stops a fault and half proves it's gone

> Every aid in the drawer does one of two jobs. One physically prevents the wrong move while you are attached to it; the other lets you make it and then tells you. Own three of the first kind and none of the second and nothing changes.

## In short

- Golf training aids do one of two jobs. A constraint removes the fault physically while you are attached to it — the Tour Striker Smart Ball between the forearms at around $30, the SKLZ moulded grip at around $30 and right-handed only, the Putting Arc T3 tracing the stroke path at around $60. A test lets you make the fault and reports it: the PuttOUT Pro gates at around $40 give 70, 60 and 50mm openings rated at roughly 2.3, 1.5 and 0.5 degrees of face tolerance, and alignment sticks at around $15 work either way depending on how you lay them down. A constraint cannot come to the first tee, so every session with one should end with unassisted reps through a test and a number written down. Buy in that order: the cheapest test in the area where you lose shots, then one constraint chosen by what the test found, then a venue. The purchase usually wasted is a second constraint in the same area, which is why the drawer fills up with things that all did the same job.

Open the drawer. A tempo trainer, a connection aid, a putting guide, maybe a grip moulding, and a set of alignment sticks still in the plastic. Five things, four of which do the same job, and the fifth is the only one that could have told you whether any of it worked.

That is the sorting rule nobody applies before buying: **an aid either stops you making a fault, or it lets you make it and reports back.** Constraints and tests. Both are useful. They are not substitutes for each other, and almost every dead training aid in a British garage is a constraint bought by somebody who already owned two.

## The difference, stated plainly

A **constraint** physically removes an option. The [Tour Striker Smart Ball](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/tour-striker-smart-ball) sits between your forearms, and while it is there your arms cannot run away from your torso — not because you are concentrating, but because the geometry will not allow it. The [SKLZ Tempo and Grip Trainer](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/sklz-tempo-trainer-pro) has a contoured grip with precisely one comfortable way to hold it, so a lazy hand position is unavailable rather than discouraged. The [Putting Arc T3](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/index-putting-arc) gives the putter heel a curve to trace, and if you drag the stroke straight back the head bumps into moulded plastic.

A **test** does the opposite. The [PuttOUT Pro Putting Gates](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/puttout-gate-trainer) let you make any stroke you like and then tell you whether the ball went through: three steel gates at 70, 60 and 50mm, which PuttOUT rates at roughly 2.3, 1.5 and 0.5 degrees of face tolerance respectively. You can fail. Failing is the product.

Constraints feel wonderful, which is the trap. Everything you do while attached to one is correct by construction, so the session produces a stream of good reps and a sense of progress that the gear did not actually cause. It is a close cousin of the blocked-practice illusion we picked apart in [the guy grooving 60 straight 7-irons](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/most-range-practice-is-wasted) — the reps look better, and the thing getting better is the version of the task with the training wheels on.

## The question nobody asks: what about the rep after you take it off

A constraint cannot come to the first tee. You are not allowed the Smart Ball in a medal, the Putting Arc will not be sitting beside your ball on the eighteenth green, and the SKLZ grip is not the grip on your 7-iron. Whatever they change has to survive their removal, and the only way to know whether it did is to check.

Practically, that means a constraint session should end with a handful of unassisted reps that are measured. Not felt. Measured. Put the Arc away, then roll ten putts through the 60mm gate and count. If eight go through, the path work is landing. If four go through and four clip the posts, you have learned something genuinely useful, and it is probably not what you expected: the Arc trains path and only path. If the ball is still starting off line with a clean path, your miss is face angle, and you have been fixing the wrong variable for three weeks.

That is the most common mis-buy in putting, and the product's own honest description says as much. A path guide is the right purchase for a wandering stroke and the wrong one for a face problem, and the only way to tell those apart before you spend is a test.

## Alignment sticks are both, which is why they are first

The [Longridge Tour Rodz](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/alignment-sticks) are the cheapest thing on this page at around $15 and the only item that works either way round. Lay one along your toe line and it is a constraint — your feet go where the rod is. Lay one on the target line, walk behind it, and it is a test: it shows you where you were aiming before you corrected, which is information you cannot get from inside your own stance.

That dual use is why they are the first purchase for almost everybody, and it is also why they end up unopened. A stick used as a constraint gives you nothing new. A stick used as a test tells you that the aim you have trusted for ten years is four yards right, which is an uncomfortable enough result that people quietly stop laying it down.

## The order to buy in

Three steps, and the sequence matters more than the individual choices.

**First, the cheapest test in the area where you actually lose shots.** Alignment sticks at around $15 for aim, the PuttOUT gates at around $40 for start line and face angle. You are not buying an improvement here, you are buying a diagnosis, and a diagnosis is worth more than any constraint you could guess at. Most golfers skip this step entirely because a test does not promise anything.

**Second, one constraint, chosen because the test told you what to constrain.** The Smart Ball at around $30 if the diagnosis is a disconnected upper body. The SKLZ trainer at around $30 if it is grip and a snatchy transition, with the caveat that it is built for right-handers only and lefties are simply out. The Putting Arc at around $60 if the gates say your path is wandering rather than your face. One. Not three.

**Third, and only third, a venue.** A mat, a net, a corner of the garage. These are places to do the work rather than tools that change it, and buying them first is how a bay ends up storing the lawnmower — the friction argument is laid out properly in [why garage practice dies in February](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/ball-return-nets-home-practice).

The honourable exception in the venue category is the [pop-up chipping net](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/pop-up-chipping-net) at around $30, because its target holes make it a test as well as a place. A chip either goes in a hole or it does not, which is pass-or-fail feedback with no extra purchase, and it is the reason a backyard short-game station keeps getting used when a net does not. We built the rest of that setup out in [the best short-game facility in town](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/backyard-short-game-setup).

## The purchase that is usually wasted

The second constraint in the same area of the game. A tempo trainer when there is already an [Orange Whip or a Lag Shot](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/orange-whip-vs-lag-shot) in the garage. A path guide on top of a stroke moulding. A grip trainer bought alongside a connection aid because both were on the same page of the same shop.

They feel like different products because they look different. Functionally they are the same purchase repeated, and the reason it happens is that constraints are the pleasant things to buy — they promise that the fault will be unavailable — while tests promise only that you will find out. Two constraints and no test is a practice kit that cannot tell you whether it has done anything, and that is the actual reason the drawer fills up.

The other honest waste is any aid bought for a fault nobody has diagnosed. Our long-standing shortlist in [the only three training aids worth buying](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/three-training-aids-worth-buying) holds up precisely because all three give feedback on a fundamental rather than holding you in a shape.

## Who should ignore this and book a lesson

If you have never had a lesson and cannot name your miss, no arrangement of gear on this page is the right spend. A coach is a test and a constraint in one, delivered in the correct order by somebody who can see you, and an hour of it beats the drawer.

If you are a beginner, the highest-value work is not in this framework at all — it is grip, posture and alignment, which are held shapes you can rehearse in a hallway, as we set out in [what actually transfers indoors](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/what-actually-transfers-indoors).

And if your putting problem is pace rather than line, gates will not help you and neither will an arc. That one is a distance-control job, and the mats are a different argument we have already had in [PuttOut against Perfect Practice](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/puttout-mat-vs-perfect-practice-putting-mat) and in [how to practise putting at home](https://ifrothgolf.com/read/how-to-practise-putting-at-home).

## One of each, and a number you write down

The whole thing reduces to a habit rather than a shopping list. Buy one test and one constraint per area of the game, and never let a constraint session end while the constraint is still attached. Take it off, do ten unassisted reps through the test, write the number on your phone.

Next week, do it again. If the number moved, the aid is working and you should keep going. If it has not moved in a month, the aid is not the problem being solved, and the correct response is to stop buying and go and find out what is.

## The takeaway

Golf training aids do one of two jobs. A constraint removes the fault physically while you are attached to it — the Tour Striker Smart Ball between the forearms at around $30, the SKLZ moulded grip at around $30 and right-handed only, the Putting Arc T3 tracing the stroke path at around $60. A test lets you make the fault and reports it: the PuttOUT Pro gates at around $40 give 70, 60 and 50mm openings rated at roughly 2.3, 1.5 and 0.5 degrees of face tolerance, and alignment sticks at around $15 work either way depending on how you lay them down. A constraint cannot come to the first tee, so every session with one should end with unassisted reps through a test and a number written down. Buy in that order: the cheapest test in the area where you lose shots, then one constraint chosen by what the test found, then a venue. The purchase usually wasted is a second constraint in the same area, which is why the drawer fills up with things that all did the same job.

## FAQ

### What is the difference between a training aid that constrains and one that gives feedback?

A constraint physically prevents the wrong movement while you are using it, so every rep is correct by construction. A feedback aid allows the wrong movement and then tells you it happened, usually as a pass or fail. Constraints build a feel, feedback tools tell you whether the feel survived once the aid was removed, and most practice kits contain several of the first kind and none of the second.

### Which training aid should a golfer buy first?

The cheapest feedback tool in the part of the game where you lose the most shots. A pair of alignment sticks for aim, or a set of putting gates for start line and face angle. Buying a constraint first means guessing which fault to prevent, and a diagnosis is worth more than a guess.

### Do putting gates and a putting arc do the same thing?

No. A putting arc trains the path of the stroke and nothing else. Putting gates test whether the ball starts on the intended line, which is mostly a function of face angle at impact. If your path is fine and the ball still starts off line, an arc will not fix it, which is why it is worth testing before buying one.

### How do I know whether a training aid is working?

End the session by removing the aid and doing a fixed number of unassisted reps through something that scores you, then write the result down and repeat it the following week. If the number does not move over a month, the aid is not addressing your actual fault.

## Products mentioned

- [Longridge Tour Rodz Alignment Sticks](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/alignment-sticks) · $15 approx — The cheapest thing here and the only one that works as both a constraint and a test, depending on how you lay it down.
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3187Q5T?tag=ifrothgolf-20&ascsubtag=md_alignment-sticks) (affiliate link) · also stocked by Affordable Golf

- [PuttOUT Pro Putting Gates](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/puttout-gate-trainer) · $40 approx — Three steel gates at 70, 60 and 50mm — a pass-or-fail test of face angle and start line, with the tolerance printed on the box.
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0876DNKPT?tag=ifrothgolf-20&ascsubtag=md_puttout-gate-trainer) (affiliate link) · also stocked by PuttOUT

- [Tour Striker Smart Ball](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/tour-striker-smart-ball) · $30 approx — A constraint for arm-and-body connection: hold it between the forearms and the fault is physically unavailable.
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00II5RSR2?tag=ifrothgolf-20&ascsubtag=md_tour-striker-smart-ball) (affiliate link) · also stocked by Tour Striker

- [SKLZ Tempo and Grip Trainer](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/sklz-tempo-trainer-pro) · $30 approx — A moulded grip with only one comfortable hold, plus weight to expose a snatchy transition. Right-handed only.
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019GKDTM?tag=ifrothgolf-20&ascsubtag=md_sklz-tempo-trainer-pro) (affiliate link) · also stocked by SKLZ

- [The Putting Arc Travel (T3) Stroke Trainer](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/index-putting-arc) · $60 approx — A curved guide that traces the stroke path for you. Trains path and nothing else, which is the point and the limit.
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042YU7BW?tag=ifrothgolf-20&ascsubtag=md_index-putting-arc) (affiliate link) · also stocked by The Putting Arc (official)

- [PuttOut Pop-Up Golf Chipping Net](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/pop-up-chipping-net) · $30 approx — A venue with a test built in: target holes turn chipping reps into pass-or-fail without any extra kit.
  **Where to buy:** [Check price at Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T6JYRVL?tag=ifrothgolf-20&ascsubtag=md_pop-up-chipping-net) (affiliate link)

---

Source: [ifrothgolf](https://ifrothgolf.com) — independent golf-gear editorial.

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