GoSports Pro vs Country Club Elite Mat

[IkeReyes]

Hello everyone! I have been debating between the GoSports Pro and the CCE hitting mats and I was hoping I could get some feedback from you all. I am going to be adding it to my Garmin r10 setup and don't want to break the bank with the $500+ mats. The GoSports mat goes for $150 and the CCE for $280 from Costco and my main concern is avoiding wrist and elbow tendinitis. Any information is much appreciated!

[cksurfdude]

Happen to have a Country Club Elite mat and honestly it's ok, not great imo .. a little firm, so yeah extended hitting on it could potentially damage wrists and elbows...

One suggestion is to look for a cheaper area/stance mat, cut out a rectangular strip and fill that with a higher quality mat with "give" for your hitting zone.

[IkeReyes]

1 hour ago, cksurfdude said:

Happen to have a Country Club Elite mat and honestly it's ok, not great imo .. a little firm, so yeah extended hitting on it could potentially damage wrists and elbows...

One suggestion is to look for a cheaper area/stance mat, cut out a rectangular strip and fill that with a higher quality mat with "give" for your hitting zone.

Appreciate the insight. I am thinking of doing exactly what you suggested and using the savings on building a DIY "Divot Action" insert. Looks very straight forward from what I have seen online.

I was hoping to use the mat as is for awhile and then do the rectangle once it wore out a bit but only if the CCE mat is worth the price as is. 

[RunReno]

Hey everyone,

        I have a sim setup and have used the CCE mat for about 18 months.  I bought the mat because of their advertised realistic turf response to fat shots.  Since my miss is fat, I thought it would be good to 'feel' the fat shots while I was practicing at home.  In theory it sounded great but in reality it resulted in some tendonitis, finger joint pain and several bent clubs.  Hitting repeatedly off of firm surfaces is known to tweak your lie angles but for me, it actually bent my clubs toe down right at the distal end of the shaft.  I just replaced the shafts this week and will likely be buying some different turf and cutting out a rectangle where I hit from and replacing that part of the CCE mat with a better hitting surface.  The one that came most recommended to me was the EZ Tee Hybrid surface.  Hope this helps!

[IkeReyes]

10 minutes ago, RunReno said:

Hey everyone,

        I have a sim setup and have used the CCE mat for about 18 months.  I bought the mat because of their advertised realistic turf response to fat shots.  Since my miss is fat, I thought it would be good to 'feel' the fat shots while I was practicing at home.  In theory it sounded great but in reality it resulted in some tendonitis, finger joint pain and several bent clubs.  Hitting repeatedly off of firm surfaces is known to tweak your lie angles but for me, it actually bent my clubs toe down right at the distal end of the shaft.  I just replaced the shafts this week and will likely be buying some different turf and cutting out a rectangle where I hit from and replacing that part of the CCE mat with a better hitting surface.  The one that came most recommended to me was the EZ Tee Hybrid surface.  Hope this helps!

Thank you @RunReno! This is very helpful. I have decided to cut out and make my own Divot Action insert but was hoping to wear in the mat as is a bit before having to take on that project. Is the CCE worth it knowing this or should I just go with the cheaper GoSports and cut it out immediately. Thanks. 

[WaffleHouseTour]

May be a bank breaker, but it’s better than a wrist or club breaker. Actually right at $425 - get the True Strike Gel Section- it’s just the striking insert and drop it in to the rectangle you cut out of your stance mat. 
 

I have the insert dropped into my backyard green/practice area. Fat shots disappoint and good shots don’t. No wrist or joint pain. Installed spring of 2021 and I still like it. 

[IkeReyes]

6 hours ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

May be a bank breaker, but it’s better than a wrist or club breaker. Actually right at $425 - get the True Strike Gel Section- it’s just the striking insert and drop it in to the rectangle you cut out of your stance mat. 
 

I have the insert dropped into my backyard green/practice area. Fat shots disappoint and good shots don’t. No wrist or joint pain. Installed spring of 2021 and I still like it. 

Appreciate the advice but unfortunately it's a little out of my price range for just the insert alone. Maybe I'll do that down the line after buying the stance mat first. 

[MattF]

@IkeReyes when they come back in stock, look at this one from Carl's https://shop.carlofet.com/golf-hitting-mats/replacement-parts-and-accessories/divot-hitting-strip the price is a lot more palatable.

[BallsLeon]

I've been looking at different mats, and landed on a bit of a DIY solution. My goal might be a little different however as I want something for hitting outdoors into the net.

I landed on a length of EZ Tee Hybrid hitting mat: https://simturf.com/product/ez-tee-hybrid-hitting-mat/
Then mounting it onto rubber tiles with velcro stripping:

• Rubber tiles
• Heavy duty velcro strips

Could get enough for just a hitting strip, or make a whole mat.

 

[IkeReyes]

19 minutes ago, BallsLeon said:

I've been looking at different mats, and landed on a bit of a DIY solution. My goal might be a little different however as I want something for hitting outdoors into the net.

I landed on a length of EZ Tee Hybrid hitting mat: https://simturf.com/product/ez-tee-hybrid-hitting-mat/
Then mounting it onto rubber tiles with velcro stripping:

• Rubber tiles
• Heavy duty velcro strips

Could get enough for just a hitting strip, or make a whole mat.

 

Thanks for the info. Are you planning on standing on your mat or just having the strip to hit off of?

[BallsLeon]

24 minutes ago, IkeReyes said:

Thanks for the info. Are you planning on standing on your mat or just having the strip to hit off of?

Decided to go for a full standing mat, 4x6". That came out to $534 for everything ($455 turf, $60 rubber tiles, $19 velcro). Still ends up being cheaper (and larger) than the Fiberbuilt Grass Series hitting mat at $799.

However, just a hitting strip on EVA foam would be considerably cheaper than that.

[IkeReyes]

21 minutes ago, BallsLeon said:

Decided to go for a full standing mat, 4x6". That came out to $534 for everything ($455 turf, $60 rubber tiles, $19 velcro). Still ends up being cheaper (and larger) than the Fiberbuilt Grass Series hitting mat at $799.

However, just a hitting strip on EVA foam would be considerably cheaper than that.

Very nice @BallsLeon !!! Let me know how it is. I'm mostly concerned about wrist and elbow pain so hopefully you can tell me if the mat has some give to it when hitting

[BallsLeon]

@IkeReyes will do! And totally understand that, hoping the rubber provides some shock absorption as the EZ Tee has no foam backing.

I found this guys youtube channel to be pretty helpful, he's made videos on all the major offerings. I believe this was his favorite for injury prevention:

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I did the DIY and it's much cheaper. I needed a frame because my Optishot2 was tall, but you don't need a frame for what you are doing. Take a 4' x 6' piece of 1/2" plywood then cut out the section for your hitting mat. I then used the foam interlocking puzzle pieces that @IkeReyes mentioned (I got mine from Lowes). I used head liner adhesive to attach to the plywood. Then got an indoor-outdoor carpet from Lowes 6' by 8' for $30.00. Sprayed the foam tiles with the headliner adhesive and layed the carpet down, trimmed tucked and stapled from underneath. Then just inserted the hitting section to be level. 

Just measure the thickness of your hitting mat. You might not need to cut out the plywood but just the foam. Or, cut out the plywood and put two layers of the foam. The image below is the finished product, and it is still in great condition and used a few times a week. The only slight wear is by my right foot from pivoting. But to the untrained eye you wouldn't know. You can use Velcro strips to hold the hitting mat to the foam tiles. But being recessed holds everything in place for me. 

The board is a homemade down under board.

 

[IkeReyes]

9 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I did the DIY and it's much cheaper. I needed a frame because my Optishot2 was tall, but you don't need a frame for what you are doing. Take a 4' x 6' piece of 1/2" plywood then cut out the section for your hitting mat. I then used the foam interlocking puzzle pieces that @IkeReyes mentioned (I got mine from Lowes). I used head liner adhesive to attach to the plywood. Then got an indoor-outdoor carpet from Lowes 6' by 8' for $30.00. Sprayed the foam tiles with the headliner adhesive and layed the carpet down, trimmed tucked and stapled from underneath. Then just inserted the hitting section to be level. 

Just measure the thickness of your hitting mat. You might not need to cut out the plywood but just the foam. Or, cut out the plywood and put two layers of the foam. The image below is the finished product, and it is still in great condition and used a few times a week. The only slight wear is by my right foot from pivoting. But to the untrained eye you wouldn't know. You can use Velcro strips to hold the hitting mat to the foam tiles. But being recessed holds everything in place for me. 

The board is a homemade down under board.

 

This looks great! I'm thinking of starting out with one of the two mats mentioned and then doing the cut out once I need to. 

[max31man]

I did the same as you. Built a Garmin R10 setup in my garage this spring. I started with the GoSports Pro as I was building it out, but like you I wanted to avoid any possible joint issues. In the end, I have 2x GoSports mats as stance mats (I’m a lefty but all family and friends are righty) surrounding a SIGPRO Softy hitting strip. All of this on top of 1in foam tiles to make it level. It’s a temporary setup since I’m moving in a few months.

Hitting off a cushioned hitting strip is much more pleasant than a standard hitting mat.

[IkeReyes]

On 8/19/2023 at 9:53 AM, max31man said:

I did the same as you. Built a Garmin R10 setup in my garage this spring. I started with the GoSports Pro as I was building it out, but like you I wanted to avoid any possible joint issues. In the end, I have 2x GoSports mats as stance mats (I’m a lefty but all family and friends are righty) surrounding a SIGPRO Softy hitting strip. All of this on top of 1in foam tiles to make it level. It’s a temporary setup since I’m moving in a few months.

Hitting off a cushioned hitting strip is much more pleasant than a standard hitting mat.

I decided to go with the Real Feel Country Club Elite Mat to start out. If I hate it I'll look into cutting out a piece and inserting a strip into it similar to how you are doing it. Thanks for the info. 

[Shankdog]

I know I’m a little late to the party here, but I have a CCE mat.  I love being able to put a real tee into it, but I do get some wrist pain when using it on my garage floor in the winter.  If I were to do it again, I would have probably bought a different mat. 

[IkeReyes]

On 8/26/2023 at 8:10 PM, Shankdog said:

I know I’m a little late to the party here, but I have a CCE mat.  I love being able to put a real tee into it, but I do get some wrist pain when using it on my garage floor in the winter.  If I were to do it again, I would have probably bought a different mat. 

I just received my CCE mat and it is so soft. I have not had a full swing on it yet but so far 75% swings feel pretty comfortable. I do not take a deep divot so hopefully it will work out for me. 

[gman8966]

FWIW, I have had a Fiberbuilt grass series mat for 10 years and use it multiple times per week. The middle section is matted down some from tens of thousands of shots, but the rest is flawless. I have never had any pain using it. Fat shots don't go as far, like in real life. It's been a great mat. I'm going to get another insert on order for when I need it.