OK: it's time for this one....artificial turf, and its detriment to your game

[mtbloco]

That's OK. I see things others don't, quite often.

for the record I hate the mats at the course I frequented during covidian golf.
But I have a fiberbuilt hitting mat that is like a shop broom. It’s much better to hit off of.

Knocking balls on a mat with a SkyTrak has definitely helped me. I managed to avoid my typical early season slump and saw a direct correlation between my loss of practice time on the mat and complete derailment of my scoring on the course. I think my mat is nice and fluffier than what I usually see at a range. You can stick a tee in like you would normal grass. But then again, I know nothing so who knows!

I am contemplating adding a Skytrac to the mix. Do you have it inside? If so, How big is your hitting area?

 

[RealPretendPsychic]

for the record I hate the mats at the course I frequented during covidian golf.
But I have a fiberbuilt hitting mat that is like a shop broom. It’s much better to hit off of.




I am contemplating adding a Skytrac to the mix. Do you have it inside? If so, How big is your hitting area?

Yup, I just have it in a standard garage.

 

[blueonblack]

Can you get some of those rubber industrial safety mats or something to put under the mat too so it isn't on concrete?
Concrete is just so bad.

 

[Knot Right]

I used a white piece of chalk once to see how forgiving range mats were after I read where Trevino was making comments about them being bad for your swing.

I found that I could hit up to 2" behind the ball with a 7 iron and still get pretty close to my usual yardage.

This is why I would never get fitted in doors.................. with the possible exception of a driver.

 

[tahoebum]

The quality of mats/turf varies greatly from ones that are very realistic with lots of feedback and grass like distances from poor contact to ones that I won’t hit off of. My club has a range that is about 420 yards long and one end is mostly off of mats and the other is only grass. The mats are fantastic and realistic enough that if I’m only hitting 70 or fewer balls I won’t make the extra drive down to the far end of the range especially since I almost always walk. It’s a pain to go get a golf cart and then return it just to go to the range when I can just pull my car up 10 yards from the mats and get a quick warm up in before my round.

If I’m warming up at a course that has poor quality mats and I can’t hit balls adjacent to the mat off of a tee, I’ll just warm up with my driving iron or 4 wood and sweep them with a very shallow AOA.

 

[Luchnia]

One thing we might want to consider is that mats have improved a lot now days. I made one for chipping recently and the material was amazing. I was able to adhere it to a flexible board that would somewhat resemble the club moving down to a slight divot. Of course, never as real as grass, but certainly they are much better now.

 

[captaincaution]

The club we are considering joining has one of those long continuous mats to hit from. There is also an area with grass, but it is much shorter. I've seen a similar setup at other clubs in the area.

 

[Goose]

A good mat = non issue.
But yes, grass over mats.

 

[Smiter]

In Ohio if you’re going to get in any winter golf, you’ll be doing it on a SIM most likely. Which means mats.

Worst part of that for me is getting that green burned gunk off of my irons and wedges. Otherwise I’ll take the only golf I can get.

 

[RealPretendPsychic]

I could probably throw a rubber mat underneath, but honestly I’ve taken thousands of swings on this thing without any wrist/elbow/shoulder soreness. It’s pretty heavy and responsive. The club can grab and simulate fat shots.

 

[SHIFTY]

my buddy only played 3 rounds outdoors, and the rest indoors this summer, and won his club championship by 9 strokes! He actually says he shoots better outdoors when playing lots of indoor.
Myself my first few rounds in the spring were some of my best, after playing all winter in my sim. I think I'm really technical inside, and seem to forget, fall away for that outside after awhile.

If you have a good matt like a fiberbuilt it will punish you for fat shots, not bounce off mat and still make shot look good. Mat is everything, my fiberbuilt is softer than outside I would say, and studies say its the most realistic compared to shooting outside. Can hit thousands and not have sore anything. FYI my 5x5 mat probably weighs 300lbs with the rubber base. I can barely drag it to move it.
Your launch monitor numbers will tell you everything.

 

[-CRW-]

Look at the loft though. That's a very long iron. Not near the same as hitting shorter ones off a mat.

In sure he hits short irons and wedges off the mats all the time as well.

The club I play at has mats that we have to use a few days a week to allow the turf to stay full and healthy. I have no idea what brand they are, but they feel like turf to me. I’ve never had any issue with them and I only think they’ll mask a flip that causes a drop kick type shot. They definitely don’t seem to mask face to path issues in my experience and what I see on the mats is what I see on the course/turf.

 

[PapaJohick]

Look at the loft though. That's a very long iron. Not near the same as hitting shorter ones off a mat.

in the comments he responded to someone saying when he is testing/practicing, he will only use mats for all clubs in order to get the most precise numbers without interference from the turf/dirty grooves/etc.

that's all good and well when you're him haha.

 

[tequila4kapp]

I strongly prefer to avoid matts for iron play if at all possible as they mask the worst of my swing flaws.

 

[SHIFTY]

I strongly prefer to avoid matts for iron play if at all possible as they mask the worst of my swing flaws.

not with a good mat, fat shots will be fat, thin thin, etc. cheap mats your club will bounce off and still hit the ball ok when it shouldn't be. Only downfall with a good mat IMO is perfect lie everytime. Funny how I see people with cheap mats and they think they are all the same, its like night and day. If you get green on the bottom of your club once broke in, cheap, if it hurts when you swing down, cheap, if it comes with no base, cheap. You get what you pay for.

 

[SHIFTY]

I would say biggest detriment to swing indoors is the indoor swing itself, for some reason people swing different indoors than out. Usually takes a few swings to a couple sessions to be swinging the same. My driver is the worst for this, I grip it too hard and is nothing like my outdoor swing. After a few rounds its back to normal.
The indoor swing is real!

 

[-CRW-]

in the comments he responded to someone saying when he is testing/practicing, he will only use mats for all clubs in order to get the most precise numbers without interference from the turf/dirty grooves/etc.

that's all good and well when you're him haha.

Thanks. I knew I read that somewhere but couldn’t find it or remember where I saw it.

 

[tequila4kapp]

not with a good mat, fat shots will be fat, thin thin, etc. cheap mats your club will bounce off and still hit the ball ok when it shouldn't be. Only downfall with a good mat IMO is perfect lie everytime. Funny how I see people with cheap mats and they think they are all the same, its like night and day. If you get green on the bottom of your club once broke in, cheap, if it hurts when you swing down, cheap, if it comes with no base, cheap. You get what you pay for.

View attachment 8967980

Maybe you can get similar performance off mats for fat shots. But you can't see divots and divots tell me a lot.

 

[SHIFTY]

Maybe you can get similar performance off mats for fat shots. But you can't see divots and divots tell me a lot.

true, I use those at the range a lot. I use the numbers on my gc2 to tell me what I need to know indoors. That being said, I can see if someone doesn't have a launch monitor to tell them whats going on that it very well could be detrimental to your game without proper instruction, or taking video.

 

[dpgator33]

I’ll hit off a mat purely for warming up/stretching but I don’t like them for “practice”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[blueonblack]

not with a good mat, fat shots will be fat, thin thin, etc. cheap mats your club will bounce off and still hit the ball ok when it shouldn't be. Only downfall with a good mat IMO is perfect lie everytime. Funny how I see people with cheap mats and they think they are all the same, its like night and day. If you get green on the bottom of your club once broke in, cheap, if it hurts when you swing down, cheap, if it comes with no base, cheap. You get what you pay for.

View attachment 8967980

The logical ending of the above Fiberbuilt synopsis is incomplete.
How close does Fiberbuilt come to real grass, not the competition? Love me the logic.

Fiberbuilt is the same as grass.
We tested Fiberbuilt against real grass, and other mats.
Fiberbuilt is the best.

Poor logic. Not valid.

 

[SHIFTY]

The logical ending of the above Fiberbuilt synopsis is incomplete.
How close does Fiberbuilt come to real grass, not the competition? Love me the logic.

Fiberbuilt is the same as grass.
We tested Fiberbuilt against real grass, and other mats.
Fiberbuilt is the best.

Poor logic. Not valid.

there is trackman results somewhere between their mat, the top 5 others and real grass, fiberbuilt was closest to grass is what they are saying in carry and spin/launch numbers.

 

[millsan1]

If you aren't honest with yourself, or know what is happening in your swing, then yes, they can hide flaws.

Specifically, fat shots can come out pretty darn good from a mat, which obviously wouldn't happen on the course.

I do hit off mats, but I am also in tune with my swing, so I know after impact exactly what I did and can be pretty sure of the outcome of the shot. My coach teases me and calls me a human launch monitor.