Range mat differences?

[vmsea]

I just went to a different range last night.
The one I normally go to has a very hard/dense mat. Last night, the mat was the fluffy/soft type.
for some reason I was getting 15+ yards on every club..
i.e. LW normally 85, i was hitting 100
PW 130 -> 145
7i 160 -> 175
etc

Is this a normal occurrence from fluffy mats? I rarely hit off of these.. but that was bizarre.

[Valleygolfer]

I just went to a different range last night.

Maybe they didn't mark the yardage correctly.

[golfro]

pretty normal. the new fluffy matts have a lot more bounce to them as opposed to the dense hard matts. so regardless of if you hit it fat and chunk it, the fluffy matts are forgiving and your ball will still go.

speaking of which, i need to find me a damn grass range.

[James_Black]

Maybe they didn't mark the yardage correctly.

that's probably it.

And hard mats are the best ones to hit off of, they don't mask fat shots.

[vmsea]

Nah.. yardages are marked accurately b/c i used a rangefinder and confirmed the distances as soon as I got there..

[alomar123]

I am glad to have never found a range without real grass. I think it would mess with me too much, as when I am on the range I do some stupid stuff and the grass is very forgiving to my clubs.

[sean_miller]

Never had a problem with this. The only problem I have had off mats is swing down to hard through the ball then digging too deep over at the grass side of the range. 3 or 4 shots clears that up.

[BallStriker]

If the first range was Puetz (Seattle) then the issue is the golf balls -- Puetz has had a longtime problem with people flying the fences right and left and, given the proximity of other businesses, they have had liability concerns. To address this issue, they have replaced all of their golf balls with seriously limited flight balls -- I used to love hitting there, but now I simply won't go there becasue of the balls -- it feels like you are hitting rocks and there is absolutely no feedback to me.

It's tough in the greater Seattle area....if you can get up to Harbor Pointe, they hit off grass Wed through Sunday

[golfro]

If the first range was Puetz (Seattle) then the issue is the golf balls -- Puetz has had a longtime problem with people flying the fences right and left and, given the proximity of other businesses, they have had liability concerns. To address this issue, they have replaced all of their golf balls with seriously limited flight balls -- I used to love hitting there, but now I simply won't go there becasue of the balls -- it feels like you are hitting rocks and there is absolutely no feedback to me.

I live 2 blocks away from Puetz and can't stand that range. I'll go if I only have a little bit of time and I just wanna hit some balls but I'll drive as far as Interbay for the 2 for 1 deal past 9 PM! UW has some of the hardest and dense matts ive ever hit on...their balls suck too.

BallStriker - you ever buy an Oki card? I might for the first time this year...

[BallStriker]

BallStriker - you ever buy an Oki card? I might for the first time this year...

No, never bought one......My two primary playing partners live in Tacoma/Gig Harbor and we play out at Gold Mountain most of the time...we buy the 10 round punch card and can play the Olympic on weekend mornings for $35 or the Cascade for $25...in my opinion, it is about as good as it gets...I also try and get to Bellingham, as they have a bunch of great courses.....To be honest, I like very few of the Oki courses (don't like Newcastle at all, Wash National is OK, Harbor Pointe is OK....I do like both the Hawks Prarie courses, but I just prefer playing out at Gold Mountain).

[golfro]

No, never bought one......My two primary playing partners live in Tacoma/Gig Harbor and we play out at Gold Mountain most of the time...we buy the 10 round punch card and can play the Olympic on weekend mornings for $35 or the Cascade for $25...in my opinion, it is about as good as it gets...I also try and get to Bellingham, as they have a bunch of great courses.....To be honest, I like very few of the Oki courses (don't like Newcastle at all, Wash National is OK, Harbor Pointe is OK....I do like both the Hawks Prarie courses, but I just prefer playing out at Gold Mountain).

Ah I see. If I had easy access to Gold Mountain, I'd play there often as well :)

[Zeph]

If you are hitting it fat, which you possibly might, it is very possible that you experience differences like this. A good ballstriker should not notice much, if any difference. The ball starts climbing up the face of the club immediately, it does not get trapped between club and mat, or bounce off the surface.

Different type of range balls could also make a difference.