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mat or grass lesson

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generalagony

generalagony

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I notice that when I warm up on a mat and then play a round I have a hard time adjusting to the different surface and it takes me a little time to adjust and be able to hit it well. That being said, when looking to take lessons, does it make a difference if you take lessons on a mat vs outside on grass for your overall results and longterm developement or is the golf instructor able to put a swing together for you that will translate well to both playing surfaces?
 
Im not the pro but Im curious about this too. I hate hitting off mats as I feel it messes up my game when I go back to grass. Maybe its just me but I seem to hit everything fat after hitting on mats.
 
that is exactly what happens to me too. We will just have to wait and see :)
 
It depends on what the range decides to do, either put the mats out or let you tee off the grass, but I actually prefer the grass myself. Sometimes I notice that when I'm hitting bad off the mats, I do much better on the course haa haa or vice versa...who knows...
 
I dont like or enjoy hitting off mats and can only thing of one or two times that I have actually purchased range balls to use off the mats. I will wait until I can hit off the ground.
 
Lets keep this section clean until the THP pro has had a chance to respond.
 
This is an interesting debate. I currently teach about 97% of my lessons off of an artificial "grass" type of a mat. Not a piece of rubber covered with astro-turf like most ranges have. The down side to that type of a mat is any shot hit a touch heavy will still fly like a well struck ball and when you take that to the course that same heavy shot will distroy you game.

If the debate is taking lessons on this type of a mat versus natural grass...It is easier to learn off of a mat but as you are progressing make sure that you and your instructor move to the grass as more of a test to make sure that your new swing is truly holding up under a game type of situation.

I am a big fan of making changes under ideal conditions. This helps to build confidence in the changes much quicker and from what I have seen if my students see results early in a change they are more likely to stick with the changes.

As for practice time at the course or range....I am in favor of practice under game conditions. Hit off of the grass when possible...more so if it is a pre-round warm up. I hope this makes sense and let me know if there is anything I can help with.
 
amollerud said:
This is an interesting debate. I currently teach about 97% of my lessons off of an artificial "grass" type of a mat. Not a piece of rubber covered with astro-turf like most ranges have. The down side to that type of a mat is any shot hit a touch heavy will still fly like a well struck ball and when you take that to the course that same heavy shot will distroy you game.

If the debate is taking lessons on this type of a mat versus natural grass...It is easier to learn off of a mat but as you are progressing make sure that you and your instructor move to the grass as more of a test to make sure that your new swing is truly holding up under a game type of situation.

I am a big fan of making changes under ideal conditions. This helps to build confidence in the changes much quicker and from what I have seen if my students see results early in a change they are more likely to stick with the changes.

As for practice time at the course or range....I am in favor of practice under game conditions. Hit off of the grass when possible...more so if it is a pre-round warm up. I hope this makes sense and let me know if there is anything I can help with.
Click to expand...

Andy, as usual excellent advice, but may I throw out another problem with hitting off the mat? The entire rectangular set up of the typical "range stall" makes it somewhat easy to achieve proper set up. When out on grass, you either learn the proper pre-shot rountine to line-up correctly, or you begin spraying the ball. Better to learn this on the range than on the back nine.

The problem we face at many ranges Northeast is that so many areas have very limited grass facilities, so that by late July/August, we are basically hitting off very tight lies.
 
I avoid hitting off mats. Actually, I don't hit off mats at all. I hope no matter where I go I can find a range that has grass stations.
 
you answered my question IMO the best it could have been answered. Thank you for your help. I am lucky enough to have mostly grass ranges in my area so finding a place to actually practice on grass is not an issue at all and I think your point of practicing under ideal conditions to see results faster is a good point that didn't cross my mind. Thank you again.
 
Theres almost NO grass ranges here. One course close by has grass but they wont let you hit off it right now, been too wet. Mats are everywhere to hit off.
 
I guess we're lucky around here. There are mat only ranges, but there's a bunch of courses around here that let you hit off the grass.
 
mats for practice

mats for practice

I find this an interesting debate because up here in the great white north we are forced inside to practice in the winter months. I am lucky that I have an indoor practice area with mats. I find that during these practice sessions I spend more time looking at my setup. I will focus on posture, ball position, and grip. I have never found that this messes up my swing when I get back out on the course in the spring. I can tell when I hit the mat early or if I am thin but I know that I am there to just keep up my basics from getting rusty so that when the snow melts and I get back out to the practice area I do not have to spend a lot of time getting back into the groove of things. This leaves me more time to work on distance control and ball flight which are all controlled by the basics!
 
that is a very good insight as well. Thank you for all the good input.
 
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