Best Pickleball Training Aids in 2024
- Alex Horscroft
- Last updated
After testing all the pickleball training aids I could use, I was most impressed by the Tourna Rally Pro Rebounder. It’s well made and is the perfect gear to practice even when a court isn’t available.
However, there were also a lot of other pickleball training aids, which I found useful, too. Here are my favorites:
- Tourna Rally Pro Rebounder Net — Best Overall
- GRIPFIXER — For Beginners
- PCKL Optic Pickleballs — For Practicing Spin
- Slam Master Pickleball Paddle — For Playing Anywhere
- Enhance Pickleball Dink Pad — For Practising Dinks
Table of Contents
Why You Should Trust Us
Here at Ping Pong Ruler, we are obsessed with sports. It began with ping pong but soon spread to others, including pickleball. We love playing and helping others with the information they need to improve.
For this guide, I carefully studied all of the pickleball training aids available and selected those that I felt were the most useful. I also detailed where each training aid excelled, as this should help you decide whether or not it is right for you.
The 6 Best Pickleball Training Aids of This Year
1. Tourna Rally Pro Rebounder Net — Best for Solo Practice
Specifications
- Helps with: Solo practice
- Buying options: Black, new black
- Price: $$$$
Want to play pickleball but don’t have a partner around when you need one? A rebound net could be just what you need! You don’t have to have a court outlined — just an outdoor area where you can safely strike the ball.
I chose the Tourna Rally Pro Rebounder above the rest because it is one of the few rebound nets designed for pickleball. It covers a large 7 ft by 7 ft area and has both height and tilt adjustability. This enabled me to drill various shots, such as groundstrokes, dinks, and volleys. I easily prefer it to the Slam Master pickleball training paddle.
2. GRIPFIXER — For Beginners
Specifications
- Helps with: Adopting the correct grip
- Buying options: Right or left, small or medium, 1-pack or 3-pack
- Price: $
One of my favorite cheap training aids for new players is the GRIPFIXER. A small tool fits over your handle to correct your grip. Lots of beginners hold the paddle incorrectly, which hurts their game. It’s also difficult to correct later down the line.
But with this, your fingers are guided to adopting either a continental or semi-western grip: two of the standard grips for pickleball. The GRIPFIXER was much more comfortable to use than I expected, and given that many tennis federations recommend it, it’s an aid I wholeheartedly recommend.
Another Interesting Read: Table Tennis Beginner’s Guide
3. PCKL Optic Pickleballs — For Practicing Spin
Specifications
- Helps with: Improving spin
- Buying options: Navy/neon green, blue, orange, neon green, yellow
- Price: $
While the vibrancy of all the PCKL Optic balls is admirable, I particularly like the Duotone set. This is because these balls helped me visualize my spin far better than the others.
Therefore, they are an excellent training tool for handy whenever you want to improve your spin game. They are also one of the cheapest training tools on this list, so they are the perfect cost-effective way to improve your performance.
A pickleball grip trainer is a great tool to pair with this. Together, they ensure you produce adequate spin and correctly hold the racket.
4. Slam Master Pickleball Practice Paddle — For Playing Anywhere
Specifications
- Helps with: Playing anywhere on your own
- Buying options: None
- Price: $$
The next pickleball training tool I recommend is the Slam Master. It’s a wooden paddle with a pickleball attached via a thin rope. This allows you to strike the ball, which will always come back, so there’s no need for a court.
Of course, the functionality is limited. I found using long, powerful strokes difficult as you don’t have enough time to reset before the ball returns. However, for dinking, it works a treat!
5. Franklin Sports Automatic Pickleball Launcher Machine
Specifications
- Helps with: Solo practice
- Buying options: None
- Price: $$$
The Franklin Sports pickleball launcher is a good bit of training equipment for practicing strokes when you don’t have a partner around. It holds up to 15 balls and automatically fires them toward you.
However, I have to say that I prefer the Tourna Rally Pro net as a means of practicing solo. While the robot holds 15 balls, the last 2 do not fire. The machine also ejects balls every 8 seconds or so, which is a touch slow for me.
Overall, it’s still a great buy and one of the cheapest pickleball robots. Yet, the expensive models easily outperform it. If you want to learn about my favorite pickleball robots, check out my guide.
6. Enhance Pickleball Dink Pad — For Practicing Dinks
Specifications
- Helps with: Practising accuracy indoors
- Buying options: None
- Price: $$
As any pickleball player knows, dinking is a super important aspect of pickleball, so drilling it is a non-negotiable. Here is a piece of pickleball practice equipment solely targeted at working your dinking skills: The Dink Pad!
I like the attention to detail on the pad. Not only does it have spots to aim for, but it also shows the net height and an area too high for dinking.
My only critique is that this pickleball training board is expensive for what it is. Essentially, The Dink Pad is a poster, so it likely took very little to make. Yet Enhance Pickleball is charging the price of a pickleball practice paddle for it. Therefore, if you want to make your own for less, you can save money.
Pickleball Training Aid Buyer’s Guide
Skill level: Many training aids are suited to a particular skill level, so try and envisage how useful the tool will be to you. A GRIPFIXER, for instance, is a poor choice for a seasoned player.
Motive: What is it you are trying to improve? While some tools provide broad training, many are specialized. The Dink Pad, for instance, is designed to improve your dinks.
Price: As with all things, consider how effective the tool is, relative to how much it costs.
Ease of Use: Some tools are straightforward to use while others require setup. For the latter, try to imagine how this will impact your motivation to train.
Closing Thoughts
There are plenty of exceptional pickleball training aids in 2024, but my favorite is the Tourna Rally Pro Rebounder, and I’m sure it will be for most of you too. It provides the best way to train when lacking a court.
Another one of the best pickleball training equipment is the GRIPFIXER. It may be small, but it helps ensure you don’t develop bad grip habits. This is super important as grip can be difficult to correct later when it is second nature.
Similar Reads:
- Paddle Tennis vs. Pickleball: What Are the Differences?
- 103 Pickleball Terms to Elevate Your Game
- 12 Fun Pickleball Drills
- Top Pickleball Players
Freelance writer. Table tennis enthusiast. Lover of all things online. When I’m not working on my loop game I’m probably binge-watching some fantasy show.
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