Practice on mat vs. ground

[HAZARD MAGNET]

I have to look into that real-feel mat. I practice at home a lot but I also go to a range that has those "welcome mat" looking things. I have trouble hitting a 3 wood so I stopped there on the way to the course to work on the problem. when I was satisfied with my swing I went to play. Second shot, first hole decent lie 3 wood. Topped it for a 15 yd. worm burner. 3rd shot, still 3 wood practically plugged the ball in place! Unless I can find a realistic mat I'll only practice on grass!

[bluerrpilot]

I use both. I have a practice range near me that is all artificial turf >>> http://valleygolfcenteraz.com/home/default.htm I use them when I want to tee up when working on driver or long irons or when I dont necessarily need to hit down as much. I use grass at the local course range when using irons and wedges. I can gage ball contact better when I have the feedback from divots and grass.

[CalBoomer]

There's really nothing to discuss here. One should always practice off of grass or turf unless it's absolutely not available to you. Mats disguise all kinds of swing faults which will just jump up and bite you as soon as you get to the course.

[TakeDeadAim]

Beware of excessive practice on mats... your elbows will sure suffer the consequences.

[PS90]

I think hitting off mats messed up my swing. I've been going to ranges with mats out of convenience for a while now, and at the same time I've developed a bad habit of bottoming out my swing abruptly after contact, rather than continuing through the ball aggressively. My theory is that I made this compensation out of a conscious or subconscious effort to avoid repeatedly banging my club down so violently against the hard range mats. As a result, I've been cutting across the ball a little bit, and my misses have typically been weak fades. Just thought I'd post my experience as something for others to watch out for...

I totally agree. I find myself leaning WAY back in order to shallow-out my swing, just to not hit the ball super-thin. Whereas I would be normally taking a decent divot, here I smack the club head HARD on the mat, so I had to compensate by trying to hit shallower at the ball.

I could see how hitting a driver would be fine, but my course's driving range, not only has mats, but also won't let you use a driver to practice! The back of the range is too short or something like that. I gotta find a better course...

[linkin22luke]

yea mats suck, often times if you hit behind the ball, the club will bounce up and make it appear as if it was a decent shot, or it will hit thin, and both cases are not good.

[Fastrack]

There's really nothing to discuss here. One should always practice off of grass or turf unless it's absolutely not available to you. Mats disguise all kinds of swing faults which will just jump up and bite you as soon as you get to the course.

+1. In my area, driving ranges are all grasses. At home I have a mat in my backyard just to maintain my practice swing rather than hitting off of it.

[Zeph]

Turf is best, unfortunately, I only have mats as an option. I haven't tried the more expensive mats, but in the cheaper range, one with taller grass is preferable. They are not hard, the club will glide through, and you are punished when hitting it fat. Not 100% realistic compared to turf of course, but way better than the rock hard mats that clubs bounce off of.

A hard mat will disguise fat shots to a certain degree, but it can not be compared to a well struck ball. The problem is that beginners and high handicappers don't have the knowledge of how a well struck shot feels, so they (we) keep hitting it fat. You lose distance and speed when hitting it fat.

[mdl]

Grass is better, but mats aren't the worst thing ever. My home course range has mats. They're nice ones that they replace fairly frequently, and hitting off nice mats isn't as bad as some would have you think. Still, not as nice as getting to practice off of grass of course.