Tactile feedback and "old" hands
I gotta go with Smilin' Ed.
Trouble with a small stick that moves 30 degrees or so off-axis is you really can't tell instinctively if you're commanding half or a third or three quarters or.... Larger sticks such as those on jet fighters are easier to figure out whether you are commanding max or half or...
If the small stick has a good "load" to it that requires greater and greater pounds of pressure along the way, then could be a player.
Viper stick moved zero originally. See the black-nosed Block I jets I flew in mid 1979. Block 5 modified the stick for 1/8 inch of movement. Breakout force to command gee or roll rate was same, but theoretically the stick stopped moving when you reached "X" pounds for pitch or roll. Apparently, someone thot we would then stop pulling more. Seems that a few guys were pulling over 100 pounds in a fight to ensure they were asking for all the jet could give!! I never noticed, to be honest, the ham fist I was.
I fly the online sim Warbirds and use a simple stick that is very stiff. The gimpy ones that move a lot and move easily are harder to use for fine corrections.