Is that a bad sign if you put two holes in your hitting mat after a month of having it?

Folks,

I put two holes in my hitting mat since I got it for Xmas. Granted that Erik, Mike, Beach, Valley, and others have been helping me out with my swing; is that a bad sign?

I am heading to Academy (after I pick up my kid) to buy another one. There is a lot of the mat's surface just after my hitting mat.

Good thing problem to have or bad problem to have?

Personally I use foam practice balls for indoor practice. Almost as good as a real ball for working on contact and keys 1,2 and 3 and it will not rip through nets or destroy household items, kill cats etc...

here's what I use:

http://reviews.golfsmith.com/8567/30034069/hx-practice-balls-reviews/reviews.htm

If I had the space and didn't have to worry about smashing the wife's stuff I might hit real balls, but these seem to do the trick just fine for indoor use.

Hey Ernie,

Thanks for the advice, but I use real balls (a luxury of having a garage to bang around in). I am wondering if there is a special type of mat that I can get.

That all depends; are the holes located past the ball?

The cheapie mats don't last long. Worse than the durability is the lack of shock absorption. I'm going to upgrade to a commercial quality mat soon after thrashing two somewhat expensive mats in just a few months. I haven't put any holes in them but one shed quite a bit and the other was damaged on the bottom from hitting down on the ball. The material on the bottom distorted where the club was making contact. Made the top of the mat uneven.

Yeah I had reportedly a commercial grade mat.

The one hole initially started on the non target side of the ball. Since the swing changes I have been implementing, new holes are now appearing where I should take a divot. A lot of the material is flying towards the net (I can take a picture for you guys to see gimme a few).

I have a question germane to this discussion. My target in my net needs to be cleaned of the ball impacts, will 409 or Tilex do the trick?

I was able to get a mat at a driving range. They were upgrading their mats and selling the "old" ones. I beat the hell out of it (outside over dirt) and no holes.

I seen the driving range in your garage, sweet. But what is under the mat, the concrete floor? If so that has got to be hard on your clubs let alone your hands and arms. That might acount for the holes in your mat. I would try doubling up on mats or adding some type of foam padding to cushion the strike. Just a thought, have no idea if it will work.

I guess it may depend on mat type but I would say the mat will survive better on concrete than on (thick) soft padding. At least this is my experience when having the mat on gravel instead of concrete. My mat was cheapo though.

Drop a little more coin on a higher quality mat.  You can hit off of a concrete garage floor with no problem... But you need to have a thicker - higher grade material.

Look into Real Feel or similar.

I can't even think of another company that even makes a similar mat to Real Feel....they are far and away he best mat I've ever hit off of.  I've hit thousands upon thousands of balls off of mine and the mat still looks brand new.  You don't get any of the green residue on your clubs and you don't get any of the rebound effect what so ever.  I got the stance mat/hitting mat combo for $177 and it was well worth it.

Ok I will look into that.

Yes it is a concrete floor my hitting mat is on...

I am thinking of getting one, but don't see the $177 one.

Is this it? If so, they raised the price.