How many practice off a mat?

[AAL]

I don't like to practice off a mat for a couple reasons: 1) Having arthritis in both hands results in a painful experience. 2) I think hitting off the standard rubber-based mat at many driving ranges can cause faults in the swing as the impact from the mat with irons takes its toll. Nothing new here, as you all know this, but how many still hit off mats, especially during the off season. Are there new mat designs that avoid this problem? I would love to be able to practice during the winter, but these mats turn me off, and I don't like to hit balls off those tubular flex tees as I think that will also cause swing problems.

[rony]

I practice off of mats at the range in the Winter, because here on Long Island, thats all there is. In the Summer, I go to a big football practice field, close to my house and work with the wedges only. Mats are no problem for good ball strikers. You just can't take or observe your divots. But, if your swing mechanics are flawed and you hit fat for example, you will feel it. Also forged irons and mats don't get along. LIE angles get bent, especially once again, if you're hitting fat. With the Driver, because the balls are like rocks, just work on your tempo and form. Pay no attention to yardage. I agree that those rubber tube Tees are NG! However when you can't get on the course due to inclement weather, the "Mats" are better than nothing. :tongue:

[pickerjohn]

I only use mats for warm-up, don't get the proper feedback

for practice.

[titaniummd]

Since I am currently working on my swing, I am using mats to set a consistent lie. I am using a portable one that has a soft feel: Strike Zone Golf Mat.

[BILL12x]

I never hit off mats before a round.You can hit an inch behind the ball and the club will slide into the ball and make it feel like a perfect hit. If it's mats or nothing, I'll choose nothing and just take practice swings to warm up.

[xd3vilx]

For me, I practice off mat. But sometime good is recently they added dual layer. If you hit the map first without the ball, you will feel like whacking into a layer of cushion, ball will still fly but you know you just have a poor impact.

[weten2]

Here in Chicago there isn't an option to hitting off mats in the winter. The range I go to has a new mat with has a spring surface to avoid the shock.

[blindwolf]

Here in Chicago there isn't an option to hitting off mats in the winter. The range I go to has a new mat with has a spring surface to avoid the shock.

 

which range is that?

[Pinehurst1999]

Nothing at all off a mat unless it is teed up. Not worth the lack of feel, it actually hurts to hit off a mat right before a round.

[divot46]

I never use a mat unless it's absolutely necessary. I like to be able to vary the height I tee it up and I hate the feel of hitting the mat vs hitting grass and dirt.

[PurePursuit]

I'll have to agree with the majority sentiment towards mats here...They are harsh and too far removed from real course turf. Plus it kills the lofts and lies on your forged clubs way too fast.

[Tim Schoch]

Dittos. I tend to hit it fat on mats, which you don't realize because the club bounces up and hits the ball. So when I go to the range, I tee everything up (I bring my own rubber tees, cut to various heights) and this helps with my tempo.

[Samsquanch]

I practice on mats all of the time, because there aren't any grass tees available. Every once in a while when the course isn't busy I'll go out and practice on a flat fairway or whatever. Yeah I found that it screwed my lie angles a bit.

[Tmiller72]

NEVER hit off mats unless it's a driver off of the tee. You are only risking a serious injury. I have the MRI pictures of my shoulder to prove it. If you need to warm up before playing, just stretch and use a weighted club.

[Swingtheclub]

mats always tend to square the club its even worse if you hit drivers off a mat. I prefer not to hit on them but I will warm up on them if its all that is available.

 

Trust me you are better off hitting it off bare mud and teeing it up.

[madred]

Fortunately at my local driving range hre in the UK the option exists to use a mat or an alternative are where you can hit off grass. Unfortunately at my golf club during the frost season here from about November - April we have to hit off mats to protect the course and I hate it to the point that I tend not to play as often. Its necessary to change things in your play when you have to cope with playing off a portable mat which is slightly higher than the fairway itselft and then when the bad weather changes you have to get accustomed to getting back to the fairway conditions again. Competition results get really silly also with 'remarkable' scores coming in, but, I guess when you can hit a wood from a mat on the fairway with ease (some even use drivers) then it can be expected. Next week brings the return to the fairways for us and I am really looking forward to the change. Some golf clubs have a rule in winter that balls must be brought to the edge of the fairway to be played out of the light rough which I think I would prefer but apart from emigrating to a more golf friendly climate there is not much we can do.

[Redhaze737]

You may find it hard to believe, but here in Hawaii almost all driving ranges on Oahu are mats. The outer island resort courses have grass driving ranges, but to my knowledge only Turtle Bay and Koolau have grass on Oahu. And Koolau is mats on certain days. Plus rainy days, and Koolau has a lot of rainy days situated where it is on the Windward side. Turtle Bay driving range is very small unless you're a pro; then they'll let you set foot on their tournament driving range out by the first tee on the Palmer course. Hey, land is expensive here. Mats don't take up as much room and they are cheaper to maintain. Hawaii Kai and Ala Wai driving ranges are gold mines raking in big bucks virtually every day of the year.

 

Now Hualalai range on the big island is nice with Titleist balls and grass, but then you have to own a 3 or 4 million dollar townhouse or 15 million plus house in addition to paying the monthly maintenance fee in order to use the golf courses and driving range. You do get your own golf cart. Very cool. :-) Sorry, out of my price range. Although my brother in law did tell me to buy a town house when they were selling for 3/4 of a million many years ago. Ahhhh....... opportunities lost.

 

Mats rule on Oahu.

[lagwagon23]

I never hit off mats before a round.You can hit an inch behind the ball and the club will slide into the ball and make it feel like a perfect hit. If it's mats or nothing, I'll choose nothing and just take practice swings to warm up.

 

 

Very well put. I will hit driver off the mat if they have those white tees, but no irons.

[weten2]

The range in Chicago with the spring board is Cog Hill in Lemont. It is a peice along the normal mat for hitting the ball off of. It takes some of the shock if you hit the mat.

[stekoppite]

Fortunately at my local driving range hre in the UK the option exists to use a mat or an alternative are where you can hit off grass. Unfortunately at my golf club during the frost season here from about November - April we have to hit off mats to protect the course and I hate it to the point that I tend not to play as often. Its necessary to change things in your play when you have to cope with playing off a portable mat which is slightly higher than the fairway itselft and then when the bad weather changes you have to get accustomed to getting back to the fairway conditions again. Competition results get really silly also with 'remarkable' scores coming in, but, I guess when you can hit a wood from a mat on the fairway with ease (some even use drivers) then it can be expected. Next week brings the return to the fairways for us and I am really looking forward to the change. Some golf clubs have a rule in winter that balls must be brought to the edge of the fairway to be played out of the light rough which I think I would prefer but apart from emigrating to a more golf friendly climate there is not much we can do.

 

don't suppose this range 'with grass option' is anywhere near south manchester is it? (i'm in heald green, cheadle).

 

always use mats at the range that i go to, because that is all that's available. it is better than nothing, and the mats at my local range are pretty good as mats go, but i'd much prefer practicing on grass. ceratinly don;t like hitting drivers off those awful tubular rubber tees!!!

 

anywhere in my area that has grass practice areas??? please...........

[yoonie]

Hadn't hit off mats in a while, but I was demoing some irons at golfsmith a few days ago. One swing and my wrist was already killing me. Couldn't get myself to swing normally after that until I teed it up.

[honketyhank]

My practice area in my back yard is equipped with Fiberbuilt brush mats. They are rather forgiving of fat hits but with only a little experience you can easily tell the difference between a fat hit and a flush hit. There is an inch and half of brush between the ball and the heavy backing, so you don't pound your irons (and wrists) to death unless you take really really deep divots. I have had them for several years now -- they are very durable.

 

There is a driving range in our area that uses them also -- that's where I got the idea. Their website is http://www.fiberbuilt.com/ if you want more detail.

 

 

The conventional mat on the left is only something to stand on. The Fiberbuilt mat is the 1 foot by 4 foot bright green area to the right of the conventional mat.

[Alefty]

At the UGA range they recently extended the mat area. BY LAYING DOWN A CONCRETE SIDEWALK AND PUTTING HITTING STATION MATS ON IT. Now usually they have grass but sometimes they have mats, and I'm not near being a senior citizen but I can't stand hitting those mats! It is like 1" of foam on top of concrete.

[*sigh*]

The range I'm at this time of year switches back and forth. The Mats they have aren't bad, not too hard, and while ball flight wise mishits aren't too bad you can still feel and tell you hit it fat and such.

 

Real grass is definitely preferable, but some grass ranges aren't very good either. Especially since they are reseeding them so often the ones here are very soft and sandy, when the courses around here aren't like that.

[mikec222]

My practice area in my back yard is equipped with Fiberbuilt brush mats. They are rather forgiving of fat hits but with only a little experience you can easily tell the difference between a fat hit and a flush hit. There is an inch and half of brush between the ball and the heavy backing, so you don't pound your irons (and wrists) to death unless you take really really deep divots. I have had them for several years now -- they are very durable.

 

There is a driving range in our area that uses them also -- that's where I got the idea. Their website is http://www.fiberbuilt.com/ if you want more detail.

 

 

The conventional mat on the left is only something to stand on. The Fiberbuilt mat is the 1 foot by 4 foot bright green area to the right of the conventional mat.

 

fiberbuilt mats are great, foam ones.. terrible. Is hitting off those rubber tees easier, cause I always seem to hit it way better off of them then off of wooden tees.

[Ben D]

At 61, no arthritis (yet) but I find mats at our local ranges almost useless...a very poor simulation of course conditions. And to make it worse, my closest range replaced their mats with extremely dense ones that for 50% more have double the life, or so I was told. To keep the convenience factor, I bought some rubber mat tees and cut them to fit. Irons cut at just at the "grass" level, and so on. Another one has a hole for a friction fit of a standard tee placed to the height you want. This greatly helped when practicing with driver or woods where I am sweeping rather than hitting down into the ball. My irons are forged and I blame the mats for frequent adjustments for lie and loft.

[ALAN5PLOVER]

My practice area in my back yard is equipped with Fiberbuilt brush mats. They are rather forgiving of fat hits but with only a little experience you can easily tell the difference between a fat hit and a flush hit. There is an inch and half of brush between the ball and the heavy backing, so you don't pound your irons (and wrists) to death unless you take really really deep divots. I have had them for several years now -- they are very durable.

 

There is a driving range in our area that uses them also -- that's where I got the idea. Their website is http://www.fiberbuilt.com/ if you want more detail.

 

 

The conventional mat on the left is only something to stand on. The Fiberbuilt mat is the 1 foot by 4 foot bright green area to the right of the conventional mat.

 

Thanks for the info, that's just what I need!

[shuttle1]

Mats at the driving range are made for durability. I simply cannot hit off of them without heading straight home to the hot tub.

 

Actually, even that doesn't work anymore. I prefer to hit 10-15 balls before playing but if I have to warm up on the mats I just take some air swings and stretch instead.

 

Some of the mats available are actually pretty good. But, those aren't the ones at the driving range anywhere in my area.

[anthony_14]

My range has a few small mats that you can move around that are great. They have a layer of artificial grass substance on top. Nothing like the hard as a rock rubber mats at most ranges.

[LucF]

I have to practice in a dome during winter time. I leave my own mat there, a "Golf Mat", the one Singh advertises. Love it.