PSP Golf "The Little One" - REVIEW

[Matt Saternus]

PSP Golf “The Little One” Review

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

“The Little One” by PSP Golf claims that it will “improve your ball striking, increase your distance, elevate your concentration and improve your confidence.” The idea is that if you can hit a club that is dwarfed by a golf ball, your normal sized golf clubs will look (and be) super easy to hit by comparison. But does it work? Read on, spies…

 

 

 

*Loyal readers will notice a change in the points system. In my continuing efforts to make the scoring system as good as possible, Ease of Use/Set Up is now worth only 10 points and Effectiveness has been bumped to 30 points. While I think Ease of Use is important, it is not equal to Effectiveness, and the scoring now reflects that. Please feel free to post or PM thoughts/ideas on this change or others that could be made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ease of Use/Set Up – 10 Points

 

There is no set up, and all you have to do with The Little One is hit balls with it. In this regard, The Little One is aces.

 

Score: 10/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Effectiveness – 30 points

 

My first experience with The Little One was a bit unusual. It was my first trip to the range after two weeks away from golf, and it was only twelve hours removed from 24 hours on planes and in airports. Not ideal conditions. I warmed up with some wedges, then made some swings with my 8 iron. If you had seen the results, you'd swear I'd never touched a club before; I mishit the ball in every way possible: fat, thin, left, right, hosel, toe. Extremely irritated, I grabbed The Little One, figuring at least then I'd have a reason for hitting the ball poorly. POW! Striped one right down the middle. “Beginner's luck,” I thought. BOOM! Right over a mountain, just like Jack Hamm. I hit another half dozen shots perfectly, then went back to my club brimming with confidence. SHANK! “What the ****? This was supposed to make hitting my club easier,” I thought. Long story short: I continued to hit The Little One well and hit my clubs badly. My takeaway: despite its small size, The Little One is extremely easy to hit.

 

I took The Little One back to the range on multiple occasions and continued to find it to be easy to hit. Often I alternated shots between The Little One and my own clubs. I did not notice any major improvement within the course of a given range session, or over time. I used impact tape on a couple of occasions to determine whether or not The Little One was making me more precise, and the results were middling, at best. On some occasions, the “after” impact tape looked better; other times it did not.

 

Ultimately, I think that The Little One is about mental training more than physical training. I think most people will look at this club and think, “Wow, this must be really hard to hit,” and then they will feel very confident when they hit it well (this assumption was validated by The Peanut Gallery). Due to my unusual first experience with The Little One, this mental part of the training was undermined, though I think I would have figured out how easy The Little One is to hit even if my experience was not so dramatic. I have to believe that, over time, any golfer will come to realize that The Little One is not difficult to hit, and the mental boost that it gives them will fade away.

 

Score: 10/30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longevity – 20 points

 

I enjoyed taking The Little One into the shop and out to the range for the funny looks that it garnered. As a serious training tool, I was quickly leaving it behind in favor of more effective training aids. For me, the longevity of The Little One was very limited, and, as I stated earlier, I think that it will have a short life span with other golfers as well.

 

Score: 5/20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Value – 20 points

 

The Little One can be purchased online for $90 which is on par with many other training aids. Since I did not find it to be as effective as other training aids I've used, and because of the low longevity score, I would not rate it as a great value. Similarly, while The Peanut Gallery really enjoyed using The Little One, there wasn't a single one who said they would buy one for $90. If you're looking to improve your ball striking, I think your money would be better spent on a couple of lessons with a PGA Professional or on a better training aid. If you're looking for a club that's tough to hit, buy a set of old blades from a garage sale for $10.

 

Score: 5/20

 

 

 

The Peanut Gallery – 20 points

 

The Little One was a definite hit with The Peanut Gallery. A large part of this is because it's eye-catching and easy to understand: it's a tiny little club and hitting it will make you focus harder/hit the ball better (in theory). One of my PGA Pros actually couldn't stop giggling at the looks of The Little One, but he said that he liked the concept. Overall, it seems that the PSP was well-liked by The Peanut Gallery and it had the desired effect: they believed that their ability to hit the PSP proved that they were good ball strikers. While I will give The Little One a perfect Peanut Gallery score, it should be noted that no one in The Peanut Gallery spent more than a few minutes with The Little One, nor did they express any desire to.

 

Score: 20/20

 

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

While I can appreciate the concept behind The Little One, I am not convinced that it is worth your hard earned dollars. At best, I think that it can provide a one-time shot of confidence to your ball striking. At worst, I think it's a waste of time. Despite its looks, The Little One is not difficult to hit and did not force me to improve my ball striking.

 

Score: 50/100

 

[GolfSpy Tim]

Wow... solid review, and shocking at the same time.

 

Mostly shocking because I've had a Little One in my lineup for a while now, I had taken it out twice to begin a review, but each time I felt I wasn't being subjective enough, or maybe I was missing the point because I really believed it was going to be a magical training aid and make me feel like I could make more solid contact with ease, and each time I pulled it out, I didn't see improvement at all.

 

Totally agree, I hit the Little One with ease, while still struggled with my own clubs all the same as before.

 

Stoked that you took the time to follow through and really test this guy out.

 

Thanks for sharing your results and verifying what I'd felt like I was seeing but couldn't admit to being reality.

[mudfish]

This is why I love MGS... honest reviews that actually mean something.

 

When I started reading I thought to myself "wow this thing looks cool, something I might try if the price is right..." then I read on...

 

In theory this club is exactly what I need... I often finding myself hitting off the toe or heel, and consistent ball striking is my biggest issue. I thought this club would be perfect to fix that... I guess not...

 

BUT, that doesn't mean I'm not interested... there are no miracle cures, and what doesn't work for one person may work for another.

 

If I ever get serious about training, this club will be on my list...

 

Thanks for the review...

[GolfSpy WD]

I switched to a club with a smaller face (not intentionally, I mainly wanted a forged club with a thin topline) and found I hit it more consistently, similar to your findings in this review. Maybe the real problem is irons with too big of a face?

[Matt Saternus]

I switched to a club with a smaller face (not intentionally, I mainly wanted a forged club with a thin topline) and found I hit it more consistently, similar to your findings in this review. Maybe the real problem is irons with too big of a face?

 

While I don't want to turn this into another "playing blades will make you better/worse" thread, I will say that there's something to be said for a club that lets you know EXACTLY where you hit it on the face. I took my old blades out the other day and was shocked by how badly I hit them at first. I've hit some clubs in the shop where I literally have no idea if I hit it fat, thin, toe, heel, or flush.

[Walker]

While I don't want to turn this into another "playing blades will make you better/worse" thread, I will say that there's something to be said for a club that lets you know EXACTLY where you hit it on the face. I took my old blades out the other day and was shocked by how badly I hit them at first. I've hit some clubs in the shop where I literally have no idea if I hit it fat, thin, toe, heel, or flush.

My experience with the PSP was almost exactly the same as the reviewer's.

 

I have been practicing with some Wilson Tour Blades from the 70's, and they are much tougher to hit than the PSP. It is not difficult to make contact with the very upright PSP face, and the light/whippy shaft throws the ball up into the air.

[Matt Saternus]

My experience with the PSP was almost exactly the same as the reviewer's.

 

I have been practicing with some Wilson Tour Blades from the 70's, and they are much tougher to hit than the PSP. It is not difficult to make contact with the very upright PSP face, and the light/whippy shaft throws the ball up into the air.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the PSP, Walker. It's always nice to get multiple perspectives on a product, regardless of whether or not they're in line with my own.

[Rekklss]

Sorry. I have to disagree. A friend referred me to this practice club when I was an 18+ on the Golf Channel AM Tour. Sneed Flight out of Los Angeles. My friend had me try it .., very fustrating the 1st few times. But I focused on my technique & keeping my head still. Started hitting this PSP 7 iron exactly straight & to the pin where my own 7 iron was landing. Sweet. My friend is a scratch player - he told me this club turned his game around. I was playing Ping Eye2 at the time - maybe 7 years ago. Today , my SCGA index is 10.0 - I play either my Miura blades or my Titleist 681 blades. Shot my 1st even par round last week. I am a believer !!!

[PlaidJacket]

That's great. You're a 10 hcp'r playing blades and shoot'n even par. Congratulations and welcome to scratch golf. 

[Kenny B]

I hate that club!!  Every year around Thanksgiving our club drags that club out on the #2 tee box and we have to hit it in our Turkey scramble.

It's the only iron I have ever hit that hooks for me... a perennial fader of the ball.

[fixyurdivot]

If I was so moved as to try and hit a golf ball with a postage stamp on the end of a shaft, I'd pony up the extra coin for one of these .  I've never heard of this training aid... MGS ceases to amaze.  Thanks for the review @Matt Saternus.

[dbon]

It is very interesting to listen to high mid and low  talk about the PSP now PureOne. This product is not for beginners. Yes a very difficult tool to use unless you have some very basic fundamentals developed with your golf swing. I have been using it for over 10 years and yes it was extremely difficult at first. But once I made sure I had the right shaft in it for my swing and received some solid swing instruction on the basic fundamentals. I went from a 16 handicap to a 8.5 in about 90 days. Best training aid I have ever used because it forced me to exacute the swing and identifies any flaws in it. It slowed me down and forced me to concentrate and make a simple fundamentally sound swing.  If I got lazy hands at the bottom or at the top it always showed up. Product showed me exactly what I was doing wrong and right! I ordered the new pureOne 52° pitching wedge with the puretempo shaft and the 10° Driver last month. What has really got my attention is I am hitting the ball in the center of the face dead pure three out of four swings. If I'm not making a solid fundamental swing it tells me instantly. But when I do both it's awesome!  You have to be patient with it and start out doing more chipping and bump n runs around the greens to start. Reality is..... this product explodes all of your swing flaws....it did mine! db