Building a Practice Net

[Uber$winG]

I thought this might be useful to those of you who are “do-it-yourself” oriented.

The front facing panel into which I hit golf balls measures 9’x 9’

The net proper was purchased from Gourock Netting – http://www.gourock.com/
These folks can custom cut any kind of net you want, but I just bought a 10’x 10’ panel.

The frame is constructed out of 1” schedule 40 PVC - along with the requisite 1” slip connections (to solvent weld the connection points together I recommend using purple primer and #721 PVC cement).

The front of the frame is outfitted with insulation padding – PVC is susceptible to degradation from UV light (i.e., it turns brown and becomes brittle) so the padding covers the front frame while the rest of the frame is covered with whit duct tape, and the connection points are treated with white Krylon Fusion paint.

Both the net and the padding are fastened by zip-ties.

Total cost of constructing the net was around $150.

[mike295]

what are you using as a mat?

[tristanhilton85]

Very nice... I wish I didn't live in an apartment so I could have something like this.

[Uber$winG]

what are you using as a mat?

You will notice in the image “net2” that there is a sand box in front of the net… I usually hit off of that as a way of both working on balance and ensuring a visual marker for a forward swing bottom. I have a mat that fits nicely in that space, off of which I hit balls, when I work on pitching and chipping... But again, most of the time I hit off the sand.

[SpringBokVol]

That is really nice work. I am looking to construct something in my basement - more like a hitting bay than just a net.

If I ever get to it I will be sure to post pictures.

[wrx_junki]

Might improve my ball striking but may ingrain some bad habits if I don't see my ball flight.

I guess I can order this to hang from the ceiling of my basement with maybe a mattress behind the net.

Did you use #15 or #21?

[Uber$winG]

Might improve my ball striking but may ingrain some bad habits if I don't see my ball flight.

I really use the net to work on segmented hitting drills. That is to say, I may take 5 full swings to every 50 drill swings – like flying wedge drill swings. So I’m not necessarily worried about ingraining bad habits since I’m really working on instilling the proper mechanics of the full swing - just in segments. I also have a full length mirror attached to PVC that I place in front of me when I’m working on said drills (I should have posted a picture of that too).

This is the net that I both bought and recommend: http://gourock.com/mcart/index.cgi?I...=IT823&code;=13

[Genericity]

I built a fully enclosed cage at my old house out of PVC (schedule 40) also - would have used metal after I hit the PVC a few times and smashed it like glass. Good luck my friend and I hope you don't miss hit any with that net, your neighbors might want some windows repaired.... ;)

Also of note: I was pounding full driver shots into mine. Can't remember which clubs smashed the tubing but I figured I would note this fact.