Matt range instead of grass

[Rogad09 12]

I feel like I just got worse lol. I usually hit off of a grass range to closely simulate how it would be in a game sitch. Today they brought out mats instead and i topped or chunked about 80-90%. 
so I guess my question is have any of you experienced that? How did you fix it? 

Edited June 20, 2020 by Rogad09
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Edited June 29, 2020 by Delete
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[den748 166]

I find that I get false feedback from hitting off of mats.  I usually chunk on the course and if you're just a little fat on a mat it could seemingly be a pretty good shot.   Also to @TimoTe point, mats usually don't have a perfectly flat lie and there is almost nothing you can do about it.  

One more thing I hate about mats, I can NEVER get my tee to the right height.  So the swing that should be least impacted (a tee'd up drive) ends up being impacted.  I get why they have to have mats, no way any grass would grow at most public courses but it's still frustrating. I'd pay extra for a range with grass.  

[Letthebigdogshunt 90]

I won't hit off mats as it is not what I do on the golf course. Practice should be on grass unless you hit off mats on the course. 

[RickyBobby_PR 9,249]

Johnny Ruiz, Matt Wolff honed their skills hitting off mats and still do to this day. 
 

Gankas has numerous high ranking amateurs that hit off mats. 

 

[gavinski91 1,581]

I agree with @den748 about getting false positives on your swing off of mats. My tendency is to come in too steep with my irons too far behind the ball. On the course that results in a fat shot if I'm lucky, or a chunked shot that only goes 5 yards. If I'm hitting off a mat the club head can skip forward into the ball instead of digging in, giving me a ball flight that looks like a perfect shot even though realistically the low point of my swing was too far behind the ball.

Also, I've never experienced it myself but I've heard from others that turf mats placed on concrete can lead to wrist pain or injury from iron shots.

[russtopherb 9,330]

I won't hit off mats as it is not what I do on the golf course. Practice should be on grass unless you hit off mats on the course. [emoji6]

Loathe hitting off mats, but mostly due to my tennis elbow. If it’s mats only, then it’s driver only for me.


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[Rogad09 12]

All of you guys are awesome thank you for the input and glad im not the Only one who suffers. 

[GaDawg 1,368]

59 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

Loathe hitting off mats, but mostly due to my tennis elbow. If it’s mats only, then it’s driver only for me.


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5 hours ago, Letthebigdogshunt said:

I won't hit off mats as it is not what I do on the golf course. Practice should be on grass unless you hit off mats on the course. 

I will not hit off mats either for the reason mentioned above. Additionally, I was told that hitting off mats will effect the loft and lie angle of your clubs. Not sure if that's true or not, but my body aches after hitting off mats.

[RickyBobby_PR 9,249]

8 minutes ago, GaDawg said:

 

I will not hit off mats either for the reason mentioned above. Additionally, I was told that hitting off mats will effect the loft and lie angle of your clubs. Not sure if that's true or not, but my body aches after hitting off mats.

Forged clubs will change over time regardless of hitting off mats or not. 

[TR1PTIK 3,492]

I've personally never had an issue going from a turf mat to grass. In some rare cases I would say I even prefer mats - say the grass portion of a range is all chopped up and not well cared for, not mowed to a comparable length, or just simply not level. However, what works for me isn't a guarantee for the guys on either side of me; they could really be struggling. As @TimoTe mentioned, you really need to train your ears and know what a quality golf shot feels like when hitting off a mat. If you don't know what a truly well struck ball feels like, then you probably won't be able to identify the false positives such as hitting one fat, bouncing off the turf, and getting the ball in the air okay. That shot in particular is going to be extremely frustrating when you get to the golf course.

[Tom the Golf Nut 7,762]

I have not had any problems with going from mats to grass. I have an indoor stimulator which obviously requires mats.  Perfect lie every time! The only concern is if you tend to take a larger divot. This can potentially cause you to injure a wrist or elbow due to the turf not giving way as grass would.  Repeated hits will take its toll on you. If you hit to far behind the ball you will bounce into the ball and still pull off a shot that looks good but actually isn't. I take a shallow divot so it is not an issue for me.

I did find out the hard way that even though I have settings on my simulator for no ball, foam ball, and golf ball, you should not play very often with no ball. You need impact to transfer force to something or all that force is pulling on the elbow joint causing a golfers elbow. Had to stop playing for a few months. Lucky it was winter time.

On some of the older driving range mats they used a plastic type of turf. This actually melted and adhered to the sole of your irons from the friction. All you had to do was look at the sole of your club and you could see if your lie angles were correct for you by the location of the green residue.

If you think about it, all your simulators, fitting sessions,  PGA superstores, Golf Galaxy, Dicks, and others all put you on artificial turf to hit and reccomend clubs for you. 

[Pandaman 272]

I would say it could depend on the mat in question a fair bit.

I have used several driving ranges over the years and some were noticeably harsher than others.

I have a small hitting mat at home, it has a good thickness of rubber 'underlay' which feels a lot like a firm fairway.  The 'turf' is not too forgiving either, so my (quite common) ground first shots 'dig in' a little so are not unfairly forgiving.  I use it straight on top of paving too and haven't felt as if it would be too harsh compared to a decent fairway in a dry spell.

[Kenny B 32,449]

The mat does make a difference, but so does the grass on a driving range.  

At my course we have grass except in the winter when they bring out the mats.  The mats are too soft and any mishit can still give you a good result.  The grass is so thin from constant use that the turf does not resemble anything on the course.

We have a local driving range that is covered with heaters in the winter and misters in the summer.  Nice, but their mats are very hard.  They do rotate new one in every so often, but they are certainly hard on my body.

This year I purchased a Real Feel mat for my house.  I love it!  It's firm like our fairways, but it doesn't jar the body on mishits.  Mishits do not give good results, so feedback is more like a bad shot on the course.  It's expensive, but I think it will last a long time.  Their Turn & Lock unbreakable mat tee adjusts from 1 1/4 to 2".  Hasn't broken yet.

[Firebird 379]

Wish we had the option. Every driving range close by has only mats. If they are good quality then they are ok but most buy the less expensive ones and they are horrible. The really good ones are easy to identify as you can push a tee in to them.

 

[ChitownM2 714]

I also hate hitting off mats.  Same reasons as most people here, false positives on bad shots and overall it is harder on the joints. 

Was at a local municipal course for a round last week and was surprised that they still had those old mats that leave green all over your clubs when you hit off them. I was hoping those things would be gone by now....I guess they must be a lot cheaper than getting "good" mats

[Kaplack 85]

Testing has shown most players hit irons further and straighter; off Range Mats than real grass.

 

[StrokerAce 11,769]

21 minutes ago, Kaplack said:

Testing has shown most players hit irons further and straighter; off Range Mats than real grass.

 

INteresting.... can you post a link to the test results? I've never heard that.

[puttnfool 462]

On 6/21/2020 at 11:48 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

Johnny Ruiz, Matt Wolff honed their skills hitting off mats and still do to this day. 
 

Gankas has numerous high ranking amateurs that hit off mats. 

 

I'd bet they're quality mats, though, and not the junk that's seen at most courses.

[RickyBobby_PR 9,249]

14 minutes ago, seeking70's said:

I'd bet they're quality mats, though, and not the junk that's seen at most courses.

In the videos they look like most mats I’ve seen around here.