This Toddler Golf Set Gives Little Ones Legit Clubs

My wife and I are expecting our first child about five weeks from now.

One of my first thoughts early on in the pregnancy was, “I can’t wait to get him his first set of golf clubs.”

That had me racking my brain about my first set of clubs as a youngster. They were cut-down PING i2s my dad played back in the day. Even though the height was right, the weight was out of whack. It was like trying to swing a dumbbell.

I would soon get junior clubs but not until nine years old when I confirmed I was interested.

I wonder how many kids have been given hand-me-down clubs and given up golf completely because making contact with the ball was too hard. Fortunately, I kept going, but there must be many who are too frustrated to continue.

Wouldn’t it be nice if young kids—even just a year or two old—could start getting used to the feeling of having a real club in their hands with a toddler golf set?

Not a cheap plastic set you can get on Amazon for $30. Not cut-down adult clubs.

We’re talking about a legit junior set that can give the littlest munchkins the universally amazing feeling of solid contact.

Does this exist? It does now.

Creating high-quality toddler golf clubs

Max Franklin’s oldest child, Max Jr., has been swinging a club, with obvious natural talent, since he could walk.

“I told my wife he has a one-in-a-million kind of golf swing,” Franklin said. “Even adults say, ‘He swings better than me.'”

Talk about a lifelong golfer in the making. The smaller Max spends hours in his yard or local park hitting foam balls while the bigger Max tries to give him as many opportunities as possible to swing a club.

Finding him without a club and ball is a rare occasion.

Now four years old, the little guy regularly goes to the simulator and can hit his driver over 100 yards.

He is so obsessed with golf that the cheap plastic sets of clubs his dad bought for him would constantly break. Time after time, Franklin had to order new clubs for his kid.

The smallest U.S. Kids clubs Franklin could find were for kids 36 inches tall. The height was reasonable but the weight of the club was still too heavy for a toddler to use effectively.

“With all of the metal clubs, it’s just not a great way for them to have fun at that age,” Franklin said. “They’ll hold it like a hockey stick or do cross-handed grip because it’s too much for them to lift. Imagine playing golf with a sledgehammer. That’s what you are asking your 30-pound toddler to do with even a one-pound club.”

Needing something lighter, Franklin built a series of prototypes for his son in 2023. It was never intended to be a business—he was just being a good dad.

“We started going to the park and people kept coming up and asking what we were using,” Franklin said. “That’s when I thought, ‘Maybe this could become a product.'”

This was the origin of Tot Clubs, a high-quality, ultra-lightweight plastic toddler golf set that looks and feels like legitimate golf clubs. The small family-run business out of Dallas officially launched this August.

“It went from a DIY passion into thinking, ‘Wow, these clubs can withstand the full extent of a toddler’s fury and they can hit them pretty well with a plastic or foam ball,'” Franklin said.

The gap in the market that Tot Clubs fills

Most kids won’t be strong enough for metal junior clubs—or can’t be trusted to use those clubs—until they are around five years old.

Tot Clubs bridges the gap, offering a short-term solution for kids up to around five or six years old. The hope is that the kids will become inspired to want their first full metal set.

The clubs come in four sizes and you can start your child with the small size very early on—even less than a year old in some cases.

One of Franklin’s neighbors has a son who is only 10 months old and has already started using them.

“If he’s awake, the clubs are with us,” the neighbor told Franklin.

So what is the difference between Tot Clubs and the typical set of plastic clubs you would find on Amazon?

The three-club set (driver, iron, putter) have plastic heads with internal weighting, no-flex wooden shafts for durability and actual rubber grips. You can order Golf Pride grips on the clubs.

Most importantly, they are as lightweight as a club can get (140-180 grams, less than half a pound).

The other plastic models you find online are typically heavier and break easier, according to Franklin.

“Those clubs don’t really simulate a shot very well. It’s just a stick to hit a ball rather than actually a lofted iron, for example.”

Each set comes with seven plastic balls and a sleeve to keep everything in one place. Safety is paramount with a toddler so all materials involved are light enough to avoid injury.

There isn’t much formality with “teaching” a toddler how to play golf but the feeling of hitting a ball with a stick—and making the ball go in the air—is an addictive one, even at that young age.

There are eight color combinations and left-handed versions of the clubs are also available (no guarantee for toddler golf clubs). The price for all sizes is $75 for a set, more than reasonable given the quality of the sticks. You can only purchase through the Tot Clubs site.

Franklin was nice enough to send me a set for my son to use in the future. I am blown away by how sturdy the clubs feel despite the lack of weight. I’ll be reporting back with a more comprehensive review when the time comes.

Tot Clubs has been totally reliant on word of mouth to this point so let’s help spread their story.

Do you have a toddler who might be interested in golf? Or at least one who wants to whack a ball with a stick?

Give Tot Clubs a shot. For more information, visit their website.

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