Didn't realize: Only been practicing on mats at the range this year. They are the artificial turf kind, and I can strike it decent (not fat/thin.) Will my swing be messed up on normal ground?

**Kevin18** · June 19, 2012

Hello,
I didnt even realize it, but I've been playing only on mats at the range. If I have decent contact on the artificial turf, do you think I can still hit it fine on the normal ground? And if not, could I fix that practicing on the ground everyday now before the weekend (only 2 days really since Friday I might be busy ) since I have a golf match with friends on Saturday. I'm really worried haha.
Thanks so much and may god bless you all! ^_^

**Kevin18** · June 19, 2012

The question (since its cut off) is:

Didn't realize: Only been practicing on mats at the range this year. They are the artificial turf kind, and I can strike it decent (not fat/thin.) Will my swing be messed up on normal ground?

**Kevin18** · June 19, 2012

And the artificial turf has the bristle like texture so it is not solid cement

**ChiralClubs** · June 19, 2012

In my personal experience, as long as you can be sure that you're not hitting behind the ball, then sliding the club and hitting it, you should be fine on grass. If you're hitting the ball first and compressing it, it should translate well to grass. Obviously, you won't develop a feel for how to hit out of different lies though.

**Mr3Wiggle** · June 20, 2012

On mats you can still trust feel. In fact I can tell if I've hit one fat (by how it feels) easier on a mat than on real turf.

**carpediem4300** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

On mats you can still trust feel. In fact I can tell if I've hit one fat (by how it feels) easier on a mat than on real turf.

REALLY???

I find it uber hard to tell when im hitting fat on matts, only indicators are balloning/hooking/occasion top

on grass its quite obvious when you start digging to china,..

**bplewis24** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

On mats you can still trust feel. In fact I can tell if I've hit one fat (by how it feels) easier on a mat than on real turf.

Not sure about the very last part, but I agree that I can still tell just as easily if I hit one well off mats. Having practiced exclusively off grass last year and about 80% off mats this year, I'm pretty confident in knowing when I've struck it well.

**Mr3Wiggle** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Not sure about the very last part, but I agree that I can still tell just as easily if I hit one well off mats. Having practiced exclusively off grass last year and about 80% off mats this year, I'm pretty confident in knowing when I've struck it well.

Didn't say you can't feel a fat shot on grass. Some grass ranges, especially bermuda ones are especially penal on fat shots. Personally the firmness of the mat gives me a lot of feedback when I hit it fat.

**Limpinswinger** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by Kevin18

Hello,
I didnt even realize it, but I've been playing only on mats at the range. If I have decent contact on the artificial turf, do you think I can still hit it fine on the normal ground? And if not, could I fix that practicing on the ground everyday now before the weekend (only 2 days really since Friday I might be busy ) since I have a golf match with friends on Saturday. I'm really worried haha.
Thanks so much and may god bless you all! ^_^

Grass tees are preferred if they're available, but, practicing on mats is fine. The biggest difference is that hitting fat on a mat won't punish your shot as much as it will on grass, but, it will punish your shot plenty. If you are hitting the ball before the mat and making good contact, the outcome will be virtually the same as if you were hitting on grass.

**Kieran123** · June 20, 2012

If a player can not tlel when they hit it fat on a mat - they do not have any idea of how far they hit their clubs. You can feel a fat shot on mat - and you can see a fat shot on a mat.

**nevets88** · June 20, 2012

If you've been playing for awhile, you can tell if you hit fat on mats, but it depends on the person. You can tell if you hit fat, but just how fat? Also the divot and grass mark on the face tells you exactly where you made contact, toe/heel hits. And if you hit ball first, not fat, how do you tell how high or low on the clubface you made contact? Yeah, you can guess from the ballflight, but grass tells you all this more definitively. You can mark your ball with dry erase or oil pastel with mats, but grass is grass. It is the actual surface you play on. Good mats plus Trackman/Flightscope would be optimal.

**Mr3Wiggle** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by nevets88

If you've been playing for awhile, you can tell if you hit fat on mats, but it depends on the person. You can tell if you hit fat, but just how fat? Also the divot and grass mark on the face tells you exactly where you made contact, toe/heel hits. And if you hit ball first, not fat, how do you tell how high or low on the clubface you made contact? Yeah, you can guess from the ballflight, but grass tells you all this more definitively. You can mark your ball with dry erase or oil pastel with mats, but grass is grass. It is the actual surface you play on. Good mats plus Trackman/Flightscope would be optimal.

The mats by me have shaggier turf so you can actually see where you made contact with the ground. Also the range balls leave ball marks pretty much every time.

**carpediem4300** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by nevets88

If you've been playing for awhile, you can tell if you hit fat on mats, but it depends on the person. You can tell if you hit fat, but just how fat? Also the divot and grass mark on the face tells you exactly where you made contact, toe/heel hits. And if you hit ball first, not fat, how do you tell how high or low on the clubface you made contact? Yeah, you can guess from the ballflight, but grass tells you all this more definitively. You can mark your ball with dry erase or oil pastel with mats, but grass is grass. It is the actual surface you play on. Good mats plus Trackman/Flightscope would be optimal.

THIS

**nevets88** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

The mats by me have shaggier turf so you can actually see where you made contact with the ground. Also the range balls leave ball marks pretty much every time.

I think it depends with regards to range balls leaving marks every time. Sometimes there's no mark at all. For example if conditions are wet or of there's no "skin" left on the ball to be "grabbed" on the clubface. But on grass, sometimes you don't see a mark either. On mats though, if you mark a ball, that mark will be on the face every time. On grass, stuff gets between the ball and face, so marking doesn't always work. But if you watch people on the range, only a small percentage of people actually look where they made contact. Most are just focused on the ball flight exclusively.

Does Trackman tell you where on the face you made contact?

**bplewis24** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

Didn't say you can't feel a fat shot on grass.

I'm just not sure I agree that it's easier on one vs the other. Haven't given it much thought though.

Originally Posted by Kieran123

If a player can not tlel when they hit it fat on a mat - they do not have any idea of how far they hit their clubs. You can feel a fat shot on mat - and you can see a fat shot on a mat.

Yes.

Originally Posted by nevets88

You can tell if you hit fat, but just how fat? Also the divot and grass mark on the face tells you exactly where you made contact, toe/heel hits. And if you hit ball first, not fat, how do you tell how high or low on the clubface you made contact? Yeah, you can guess from the ballflight

The ball flight is very good indicator. It's really no more of a guess than is trying to read a divot, which still requires some interpretation and understanding of swing path vs flight.

**nevets88** · June 20, 2012

Originally Posted by bplewis24

The ball flight is very good indicator. It's really no more of a guess than is trying to read a divot, which still requires some interpretation and understanding of swing path vs flight.

On grass, you have the addition of the divot plus ball flight. And ball flight can be deceptive. You can hit a hook, but was it hit in the sweetspot or was it a toe hook? Was that a stock fade or a heel fade?

The best indicator of your swing is everything at once. Ball flight, how contact was made to ground, contact point on clubhead.

**newtogolf** · June 20, 2012

You can get a good idea of ball contact on a mat, but there are other variables that will impact contact. Lie, grass height and thickness, Making clean contact with a ball sitting up on a mat is much easier than hitting it out of the rough or off a up or downhill lie.

**GatorCallaway** · June 20, 2012

I stopped hitting anything I wouldn't normally tee up (6-LW) off range mats and its translated to me being a better ball striker. It also keeps from having green mat burn on the soles of my clubs. of course with the weather has been here in Ohio, the grass portion of my driving range is basically like hitting off a cart path.

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Didn't realize: Only been practicing on mats at the range this year. They are the artificial turf kind, and I can strike it decent (not fat/thin.) Will my swing be messed up on normal ground?

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