Introduction
By: Matt Saternus
In a world of increasingly complicated, high-tech training aids, The Pill dares to be different: a training aid so simple that you know how to use it the first time you lay eyes on it.
I first saw The Pill at the 2013 PGA Show, and I immediately named it to my “Best of Show” list. Shortly thereafter, I had The Pill in for a full review. So, will The Pill be the kind of training aid that I form a lifelong bond with, or is it just a one-night stand?
Ease of Use/Set Up
While it’s perfectly easy to understand how to use The Pill, actually using it does require some time and effort. The Pill needs to be aimed perfectly or else it won’t work as intended. This means that you 1) need to know the perfect line for the putt and 2) have to bend down and align The Pill perfectly on that line. Though this isn’t difficult once you figure out the right line, it can be laborious.
Score: 5/10
Effectiveness
So, what is it that The Pill is trying to teach us? To be perfect at impact. The Pill makes it harder to make putts with imperfect face angles. Said another way, with a standard golf ball, you can have your putter face in a less-than-perfect position and still make putts. With The Pill, that won’t work. If you want to work on having a more-perfect face angle at impact, The Pill can teach you.
Score: 30/30
Longevity
While The Pill is definitely effective in what it aims to do, Longevity is where it really falls short for me. As I said above, setting up The Pill is time consuming, and it must be done on every putt. Set it up incorrectly, and you all but guarantee a miss (and potentially inaccurate feedback). This does not make putting more fun, nor does it make it easier on your back. Since putting is already the least-practiced part of the game, this is a deadly combination.
I do think there are two groups of guys who might use The Pill on a long term basis: guys with professional caddies and guys stuck putting indoors all winter. Yes, that first one was tongue-in-cheek, but for the golf nut putting on a 5-foot strip of carpet all winter, the added challenge of The Pill might be worth the additional bending over and lining up.
Score: 10/20
Value
The Pill is available through The Pill website for ($12.95 each) or ($44.95 for 3) and a carrying bag. While this price is far below the “average” price for a training aid, it should be recognized that this training aid is slightly more “consumable” than others due to the possibility of getting lost or being left somewhere. The Value score reflects a combination of good pricing and Effectiveness, but poor Longevity.
Score: 15/20
The Peanut Gallery
The Peanut Gallery had an initial reaction to The Pill that was much like my own: “That’s cool, and I get it” (The Peanut Gallery is always very proud of itself when it doesn’t need an explanation). After watching The Pill carve seemingly-impossible curves around the hole, the “cool” part started to diminish, but the “I get it” part grew. After a few minutes of playing with it, the consensus was that The Pill was definitely tough, but there was not great interest in owning one.
Score: 15/20
Final Thoughts
Though I like the concept of The Pill and find it very effective at its stated purpose, I think that it’s a miss for the average golfer due to the time involved in setting it up on every putt.
Ed G
9 years ago
It works. If you strike it correctly, it rolls along a straight line, if you don’t, then it wobbles/ falls over…….so it gives instant feedback on the quality of your ball striking. A line around the circumstance of a normal ball will provide similar feedback…..but the feedback from the pill is more obvious and dramatic. Putt at a hole it you like, but ‘line of direction’ putting practice is less demanding on the need to ‘set up’ the pill.