Practice or hurting my game?

[trog2233]

I have a practice net with a mat set up in my garage and i try to hit a couple balls every night. I usually only hit irons. Will hitting into that help my game or hurt it cause i dont know how the ball flight of each shot is. I figured it will help me make better contact with each swing at least.

[Msokol13]

Yes. I think you need to focus on consistent contact, also, see if you can get a mirror and set it up directly behind you so you can make sure you are taking the club straight away. The take-away is the most important part to build and consistent swing

[allin]

I have a practice net with a mat set up in my garage and i try to hit a couple balls every night. I usually only hit irons. Will hitting into that help my game or hurt it cause i dont know how the ball flight of each shot is. I figured it will help me make better contact with each swing at least.

If you ingrain poor swing moves bad, if you ingrain good moves good. I would concentrate on posture, alignment, grip, etc., maybe tempo as well, you need to see results if making mechanical changes.

[PiKapp23]

I think it's a good way to retail 'muscle memory' and keep you swing somewhat grooved, but it's not perfect practice because you can't actually see the ball flight and the mat prevents you from getting the good feedback that hitting off grass does (in the form of a divot). If you are a good, consistent ballstriker on the course then this might be fine (at least to some degree) because you can probably tell a lot about your ball flight from the feel of contact - aka feedback. The worst thing about the mat is it can hide fat and thin shots to some degree and with the net you can't tell how high or what direction the ball went but if you can familiarize yourself enough with your swing then you'll quickly recognize these feelings and that will help make your practice setup that much more effective.

In the winter I will often go to Golf Galaxy and hit on the simulators just to maintain my swing and found that I could tell what the shot looked like without even looking at the screen just by feel and experience. I would put up a net and mat for winter/bad weather practice if I had the room.

[mkrolewski]

As is stated, the worst thing is that you cannot determine the flight path using only a mat and a hitting cage. Therefore you could be doing something wrong -- and learning that as your swing. This is that "practice makes permanent" issue. To a large extent, any practise without appropriate feedback is bad for you.

There are devices that measure your swing which range from a $100 or so and up. Some measure ball flight and infer swing performance. The other class measures the actual swing and club motion and infer the ball flight. Personally, I like the later. All of these systems are designed to generate feedback on your swing. And without the specific need to have a pro watching every swing while you are training.

I tried the 'p3 swing pro' a few times ( I own one). Lots of data on your swing -- actually too much. IMHO one has to pare down the data and look at the particular numbers that are significant to you. Having said that, one can see from the data whether your swing is true, on line, correct angle of attack, etc. In fact, since the device is measuring your club, you do not even have to hit a ball.

Similarly there are tempo devices like the 'Sonic Golf' System. At $400, it is not cheap. But then again, getting better is not cheap either.

[brgolf]

I'd consider using it to warm up before a round. This can save you making a slow start and dropping one or two unnecessary shots on the first few holes.