Mats or grass at the driving range

Our "home course" has nice practice facilities (excellent putting green and separate chipping green). However, the driving range is mats only. What are your thoughts on mats vs grass?

Our "home course" has nice practice facilities (excellent putting green and separate chipping green). However, the driving range is mats only. What are your thoughts on mats vs grass?

Mats are horrible. Don’t care what the manufacturer or the club advertises.

1. Mats are bad for your hands, wrist joints, elbow joints.

2. Give a false sense of how you hit balls. You can hit 6 inches behind the ball and not even know it.

3. Can’t see how deep divots are.

3. Can’t see divot lines to help correct mistakes.

Our "home course" has nice practice facilities (excellent putting green and separate chipping green). However, the driving range is mats only. What are your thoughts on mats vs grass?

 

Mats are horrible. Don’t care what the manufacturer or the club advertises.

 

1. Mats are bad for your hands, wrist joints, elbow joints.

2. Give a false sense of how you hit balls. You can hit 6 inches behind the ball and not even know it.

3. Can’t see how deep divots are.

3. Can’t see divot lines to help correct mistakes.

Agree with HH on this

Mats are really bad

I myself only practice on mats with blades to maximize feedback

If you can’t tell when you hit 6 inches behind the ball, you’ve got a lot more problems than whether you need to hit off mats or grass.

I like mats for being able to set up an alignment station and having a consistent tee height.

Yeah, I think I am mostly in agreement. For drivers/3-wood off the tee, mats are probably OK, but for fairway woods off the ground or the irons, it seems like it could be bad habit forming. As far as detrimental to joints, etc... I would think that the ground is harder than these mats most times. Maybe that thought is wrong?

I think my junior (currently 6) is still a year or more away from hitting divots in front of the ball.

If you get a single vote for "mat", they are just trolling you.

If you can't tell when you hit 6 inches behind the ball, you've got a lot more problems than whether you need to hit off mats or grass.

 

I like mats for being able to set up an alignment station and having a consistent tee height.

Lee Trevino said it, and on more than one occasion.

Green synthetic practice mats are the worst thing for your golf game that I know of. You can hit six inches behind the ball and not even know it, because the ball still gets airborne. Practice nets are awful, too. Swing a weighted club instead.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/myshot_gd0205

My son hits off both. We obviously prefer grass, but beggers can't be choosers here in socal. I mean a majority of ranges are off mats so we deal with it. With the exception of higher end courses and private clubs the turf at grass ranges here are very inconsistent.

My son hits off both. We obviously prefer grass, but beggers can't be choosers here in socal. I mean a majority of ranges are off mats so we deal with it. With the exception of higher end courses and private clubs the turf at grass ranges here are very inconsistent.

Are you saying Woodley isn't pristine? lol

My son hits off both. We obviously prefer grass, but beggers can't be choosers here in socal. I mean a majority of ranges are off mats so we deal with it. With the exception of higher end courses and private clubs the turf at grass ranges here are very inconsistent.

 

Are you saying Woodley isn't pristine? lol

Even Oak Creek, which is a semi private course here in OC, has horrible grass in most areas except the teaching stalls. Oh and a large bag of balls is $17. This also has a lot to do with people who don't know how to make a proper divot pattern before chopping up a new area of grass.

 

Mats are horrible. Don’t care what the manufacturer or the club advertises.

 

2. Give a false sense of how you hit balls. You can hit 6 inches behind the ball and not even know it.

3. Can’t see how deep divots are.

3. Can’t see divot lines to help correct mistakes.

This.

Grass is uncommon here...I have to drive 50 kms to go to any grass ranges.

I go hit on a mat range just to get out and get some fresh air.

Oh and a large bag of balls is $17.

Holy crap.. Don't think I've ever spent that much for a bucket of balls, grass or mats.

My son hits off both. We obviously prefer grass, but beggers can't be choosers here in socal. I mean a majority of ranges are off mats so we deal with it. With the exception of higher end courses and private clubs the turf at grass ranges here are very inconsistent.

 

Are you saying Woodley isn't pristine? lol

 

Even Oak Creek, which is a semi private course here in OC, has horrible grass in most areas except the teaching stalls. Oh and a large bag of balls is $17. This also has a lot to do with people who don't know how to make a proper divot pattern before chopping up a new area of grass.

$17.00 for range balls? Smh

My son hits off both. We obviously prefer grass, but beggers can't be choosers here in socal. I mean a majority of ranges are off mats so we deal with it. With the exception of higher end courses and private clubs the turf at grass ranges here are very inconsistent.

 

Are you saying Woodley isn't pristine? lol

 

Even Oak Creek, which is a semi private course here in OC, has horrible grass in most areas except the teaching stalls. Oh and a large bag of balls is $17. This also has a lot to do with people who don't know how to make a proper divot pattern before chopping up a new area of grass.

Need to move away from the OC when paying this price. You may want to look at a clubcorp club like Aliso Veijo.

Clubcorp is cheap to join and have great deals if your under 40. If not just join social and play 2 rounds a month and then use the free balls on the range. If they complain just have the kid take a lesson or two and no one will ever say anything :)

Forgot to mention you can also join the center club and that will get you aces to the private golf clubs of clubcorp in the area. Probably costs $150 to be social. The real deal is the young executive with is $250 a month which is full golf membership. This time of year you might even get free initiation if not usually something like $1k.

Clubcorp has issues but it cheaper then paying $17 a bucket of balls.

If you can't tell when you hit 6 inches behind the ball, you've got a lot more problems than whether you need to hit off mats or grass. I like mats for being able to set up an alignment station and having a consistent tee height.

Lee Trevino said it, and on more than one occasion. Green synthetic practice mats are the worst thing for your golf game that I know of. You can hit six inches behind the ball and not even know it, because the ball still gets airborne. Practice nets are awful, too. Swing a weighted club instead. https://www.golfdigest.com/story/myshot_gd0205

Trevino is a legend, but I agree more with BrianMcG. If you consider yourself to be a good ball striker, you know when you've made poor contact off of mats. Not only does it feel bad, but the sound is also a terribly loud thump instead of the click you would expect. Sure, you can get away with better looking shots than what the contact would indicate, but to say that hitting off of mats is a waste of time, like Trevino said, seems shortsighted.

Note: I 100% prefer to hit off of grass, but sometimes you have work with what is available to you.

If you can't tell when you hit 6 inches behind the ball, you've got a lot more problems than whether you need to hit off mats or grass. I like mats for being able to set up an alignment station and having a consistent tee height.

Lee Trevino said it, and on more than one occasion. Green synthetic practice mats are the worst thing for your golf game that I know of. You can hit six inches behind the ball and not even know it, because the ball still gets airborne. Practice nets are awful, too. Swing a weighted club instead. https://www.golfdige...y/myshot_gd0205

 

Trevino is a legend, but I agree more with BrianMcG. If you consider yourself to be a good ball striker, you know when you've made poor contact off of mats. Not only does it feel bad, but the sound is also a terribly loud thump instead of the click you would expect. Sure, you can get away with better looking shots than what the contact would indicate, but to say that hitting off of mats is a waste of time, like Trevino said, seems shortsighted.

 

Note: I 100% prefer to hit off of grass, but sometimes you have work with what is available to you.

Trying to figure out who said they are a waste of time?

Trying to figure out if people have ever heard the term over exaggeration to try to make a point. SMH

Mats are terrible

Mats are horrible. Don’t care what the manufacturer or the club advertises.

 

1. Mats are bad for your hands, wrist joints, elbow joints.

2. Give a false sense of how you hit balls. You can hit 6 inches behind the ball and not even know it.

3. Can’t see how deep divots are.

3. Can’t see divot lines to help correct mistakes.

#1 is reason enough for me. If it's mats only at the range I'll just go chip and putt instead.

Hitting off mats gave me a case of golfer's elbow starting last December that only went away recently. My advice is to only hit off mats that have the deep "turf" strip on the end of them.

If you can't tell when you hit 6 inches behind the ball, you've got a lot more problems than whether you need to hit off mats or grass. I like mats for being able to set up an alignment station and having a consistent tee height.

Lee Trevino said it, and on more than one occasion. Green synthetic practice mats are the worst thing for your golf game that I know of. You can hit six inches behind the ball and not even know it, because the ball still gets airborne. Practice nets are awful, too. Swing a weighted club instead. https://www.golfdige...y/myshot_gd0205

 

Trevino is a legend, but I agree more with BrianMcG. If you consider yourself to be a good ball striker, you know when you've made poor contact off of mats. Not only does it feel bad, but the sound is also a terribly loud thump instead of the click you would expect. Sure, you can get away with better looking shots than what the contact would indicate, but to say that hitting off of mats is a waste of time, like Trevino said, seems shortsighted.

 

Note: I 100% prefer to hit off of grass, but sometimes you have work with what is available to you.

 

Trying to figure out who said they are a waste of time?

 

Trying to figure out if people have ever heard the term over exaggeration to try to make a point. SMH

How do you interpret his quote then? He said that swinging a weighted club was better than hitting of mats or into a net. Doesn't that imply that hitting off of mats is a waste of time then? We can have a discussion about a quote from a legend of the game without being flippant.

Yes I have. The term is hyperbole.

Only mats in my neck of the woods unless you are a member at a Private Club and even those, you can only hit off the grass occasionally.

My favorite place has really nice, thick mats. You can totally feel when you don't hit the ball correctly. Those really thin mats are horrible for my joints. I won't hit off them.

Only mats in my neck of the woods unless you are a member at a Private Club and even those, you can only hit off the grass occasionally.

 

My favorite place has really nice, thick mats. You can totally feel when you don't hit the ball correctly. Those really thin mats are horrible for my joints. I won't hit off them.

Yes, our home course uses mats from Thrasher Golf that are very thick. Wish we had grass, but the range isn't quite long enough given that you need fairly wide swath of grass at the tee area to rotate through which would shorten the range even more.

Unfortunately, we have a short range at the club. Maybe 240 to the trees, so they use mats. It would be ideal if they could have IRONS ONLY days off the grass. Usually only hits about 10 balls and some driver to warm up in the mornings...otherwise,most times off to the tee box cold. Best to go later in day and sit on a hole and hit balls from all over. No sunscreen needed, either!

 

Mats are horrible. Don’t care what the manufacturer or the club advertises.

 

1. Mats are bad for your hands, wrist joints, elbow joints.

2. Give a false sense of how you hit balls. You can hit 6 inches behind the ball and not even know it.

3. Can’t see how deep divots are.

3. Can’t see divot lines to help correct mistakes.

1. Only if you have a super steep attack angle that you should work to shallow out.

2. How do you not know that you hit 1/2" behind the ball? I'm amazed when people say they can't tell. Actually, mats give more accurate feedback about how you hit the balls than real grass. Almost everybody I've seen picks out a nice fluffy lie to hit balls off grass tees, just as if it was teed up so a lot of potential fat hits turn out perfectly good and you never know. Hitting off mats is like hitting off a very tight lie. Hit behind the ball and you should feel and hear that you had a bad swing.

3. I'll give you that one, but don't you already know how steep your swing is from seeing divots on the course?

4. Does the ball start out in the right direction at a good launch angle with the expected amount of sidespin (draw or fade)? Did you make good contact with the ball (ok, maybe you can't tell whether you made good contact since you apparently don't know if you hit 6" behind the ball)? Why do you need to see a divot to tell you if your swing was good?

Mats are horrible. Don’t care what the manufacturer or the club advertises.

 

1. Mats are bad for your hands, wrist joints, elbow joints.

2. Give a false sense of how you hit balls. You can hit 6 inches behind the ball and not even know it.

3. Can’t see how deep divots are.

3. Can’t see divot lines to help correct mistakes.

 

1. Only if you have a super steep attack angle that you should work to shallow out.

 

 

Simply not true. A lot of it depends on the surface beneath the mat and the quality of the mat. Swinging into a rock hard surface will give you golfers elbow and it doesn't matter how steep the angle is. A steep swing or poor swing can definitely help, but that isn't always the culprit. There are many ranges around with very poor mats. My daughters college team just had two injuries. One was tendinitis of the wrist and the other was the elbow. The culprit???? Having to hit off of mats in the North East on a trip for 4 days. Neither have steep swings.

What kind of mats (brand name) were they hitting off of when they got injured? Would be good to know just for reference.

What kind of mats (brand name) were they hitting off of when they got injured? Would be good to know just for reference.

Not sure. That is kind of like asking someone “what brand carpet do you have?”.

Lol

My son hits off both. We obviously prefer grass, but beggers can't be choosers here in socal. I mean a majority of ranges are off mats so we deal with it. With the exception of higher end courses and private clubs the turf at grass ranges here are very inconsistent.

 

Are you saying Woodley isn't pristine? lol

 

Even Oak Creek, which is a semi private course here in OC, has horrible grass in most areas except the teaching stalls. Oh and a large bag of balls is $17. This also has a lot to do with people who don't know how to make a proper divot pattern before chopping up a new area of grass.

 

$17.00 for range balls? Smh

Chelsea Piers in Manhattan charges $30 for 90-100 balls. And when weather is nice there is a 45-90 minute wait to hit balls.

I hit off mats all the time. Can’t tell how deep your divots are or how far your hitting behind the ball!?!?!? Hurting your wrists and elbows? What kinda hack swings are you taking? I have no problem hittting off either. Grass ranges are alwaaaays hacked up. 90% of people going to grass ranges don’t even know the proper way to take divots. Hit off whatever. It doesn’t matter. If you can’t tell the difference where you're hitting the ball off a mat you need tons of help with your swing.

Sure, everyone prefers a fresh cut, nicely mowed grass tee deck. For most, that's not a possibility. And grass ranges are the reason I went through three sets of MP-33 in 8 years.

I don't practice much anymore, but when I do, it's usually mats. If you can't tell if you hit a good shot off mats, then you have many more problems with your golf swing and you probably shouldn't be on the grass tearing up the tee deck.