Very consistent from the mat, very inconsistent from grass

OK so the problem is pretty much described in the title, when in the range ( 90% of our ranges don't have real grass sections ) i can hit all my irons and hybrids, 3h, 4h and 5-LW  pretty well and pretty consistently, when i play a round it is like 50/50 on whether i connect correctly or take a ton or dirt from under the ball and fluff the shot.

I know that in the range the mat helps because if im going to far under the ball the mat will stop me and i'll get a reasonable shot anyway, grass on the other hand unless its hard baked is not so forgiving.

Apart from finding a real grass range what can i try to fix this?

Just played a round in which i was driving and putting really well but dropped a ton of shots on my approach shots.. as above i would either dig a massive trench and the ball will fly / roll maybe 50 yards or i will try compensate for this and blade the ball to god knows where.

I know i should and am trying to hit the ball before the grass but this will obv take me time to get good at.

Any ideas?

Cheers

You have to work on not hitting fat. As you point out fat shots can look ok off the mat. In my experience though it is easy to tell by sound and feel when your hitting it fat off the mat. You need to learn to ignore the results of the shot.

The other thing to look at is finding a better mat.  A real feel (or any of the other similiar ones) is a bit different than a worn mat.

So Those "effortless" right on the sweet spot shots ( trying to explain the feel of it ) are the ones i should be concentrating on, not the kinda jarring / thumping like ones. So when on the range i just count the second kind as bad shots? even though they turn out quite well

Edit: let me explain better, i assumed the ones that kind of thump the mat were just like shots where i would take a divot on grass, ie the thump being my club cutting in below the ball

When i say there are very few real grass ones here, this also extends to mat type.. unless i wanna take a two hour round trip i have two local ranges and the mat choice isn't much of a choice if u get me ;)

tour striker pro 7 ordered last week, i like the idea of the towel behind the ball also.. how far should the line of the towel be from the ball?

I swear mate, I'm from Ireland, for some reason the ranges here are very averse to real grass.. i was amazed to see all you guys from the US post your swings etc hitting buckets from what to me looked like massive fairways haha.

There is one place about 30 mins away from me but they're opening hours are 9-5 business days.. talk of them going into receivership, i wonder why?

Edit: the towel can be replaced with a small plastic / cardboard square right? pretty much anything that wont damage me or the club.