Improvement

[imtomtomim]

My stomach just turned from that Pontiac Aztek comment.

You preach great stuff, but c'mon!

[iacas]

Originally Posted by imtomtomim

My stomach just turned from that Pontiac Aztek comment.

You preach great stuff, but c'mon!

The rear seats could be completely removed! You know how uncommon that is! And I got 30+ MPG.

[x129]

The Aztek was great as long as you were sitting inside of it. The pain was all inflicted on the people on the outside who had to look at it

Originally Posted by iacas

The rear seats could be completely removed! You know how uncommon that is! And I got 30+ MPG.

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by iacas

The rear seats could be completely removed! You know how uncommon that is! And I got 30+ MPG.

I'm sure that functionally it was an amazing car... but the thing was just hideous...

[iacas]

Originally Posted by tristanhilton85

I'm sure that functionally it was an amazing car... but the thing was just hideous...

Jim Furyk won about $16M in 2010. His swing works and looks ugly too.

Topic again, please...

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by iacas

Jim Furyk won about $16M in 2010. His swing works and looks ugly too.

Topic again, please...

Sorry... got sidetracked for a second.

Back to the OP, I think that is something that I need to work on a bit.  I'll often be trying to work on a certain piece and when I don't see the improvement right away (i.e. good ball flight) I abandon what I'm doing...  it's hard when you don't see the results right away.  I guess that's a great reason to get a net.

[HeadGolfool]

Lee Travino says hitting off mats is the worst thing you can do for your golf swing, it gives a false sense that yoy are hitting the ball solid.  I think there is some value to practicing at home with a camera or mirriors where you can work on club positions at different spots of your swing.  I see so many golfers take lessons from one teacher after another and never commit the time that it takes to make a swing change or thay buy the latest and greatest new club looking for that magic pill.

Every golfer I have helped ou,t has made the biggest improvement in their scores by learning to manage their round.  In other words, how to get the ball in the hole with the least amount of strokes.  I didn't say it consisted of hitting the ball a mile, in fact it may not be pretty and glomorous like the equipment companies are promoting, but they are shooting scores they never thought possible.  Trouble is most golfers egos won't let them play to score vs. trying to hit the ball far.  To bad because golf can be a lot easier than most golfers are experiencing.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I think mats have a place in golf.

- At the very early stages of learning golf it's all about getting a consistent swing; it's pretty much irrelevant where the ball goes. Hitting off a mat lets you see some type of progress because your fat shots will likely still fly and you won't be embarrassed at hacking-up a course or grass range. That early in learning there's nothing worse than being disheartened.

- When there's no grass range available and you're working on a specific piece of your swing. Again you're not overly fussed about where the ball flies for that practice session as you're adding muscle memory and automation to that single piece of the swing.

Obviously the state of the mat also goes some way toward the realism factor. I've hit off what feels like felt on concrete, I've hit off reasonably padded mats where the club can be pressed down into the mat a certain amount and I've hit off a mat that felt like firm grass, 'gave' like firm grass and even used regular tees into it. Hell it even had random "grain" patterns where it was trodden down in areas.

I thing mats do have a place in golf but only when used correctly. They give a false sense of hitting the ball solid if you assume that grass and mats are the same and spend every day hitting off them.

[bunkerputt]

I can tell if I hit it pure or not on mats easily.  I'm not looking at the ball flight when doing it.  Anyone who can distinguish between contact quality and ball flight (apples and oranges?) can do the same.  Grass sounds better and gives you better feedback.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I can tell if I hit it pure or not on mats easily.  I'm not looking at the ball flight when doing it.  Anyone who can distinguish between contact quality and ball flight (apples and oranges?) can do the same.  Grass sounds better and gives you better feedback.

I have few driving range options and unfortunately they are all mats. I think I can feel ball first contact in my hands and my ears, it feels like the ball isn't even there and the sound is a quiet "snik" sound. I don't have enough experience to know if my impressions are true or not but seeing as my only full swing practice options are mats maybe someone can tell me how they "know" they got good ball first contact off of a mat.

On, what I believe to be, my fat shots I hear and feel a definite "thud" as opposed to a "snik". Sorry for the overly technical sound effects

[MiniBlueDragon]

Going on sounds, for me the following is true:

- Thud-crack = fat shot

- Crack-thud = good contact. ball first, ground second - deep divot

- Crack-floomph = good contact, ball first, ground second - small divot - Just the way I like it!

- Snik = Clean contact. Picked the ball off the turf. No compression on the ball.

- CLINK = S****

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

Going on sounds, for me the following is true:

- Thud-crack = fat shot

- Crack-thud = good contact. ball first, ground second - deep divot

- Crack-floomph = good contact, ball first, ground second - small divot - Just the way I like it!

- Snik = Clean contact. Picked the ball off the turf. No compression on the ball.

- CLINK = S****

Hmmmm, I guess I'm a picker at the moment , still beats Fats and Thins. I really wish there was a grass range I could use so I could actually see my divots or lack thereof.

Thanks for the reply.

[Jwat381]

My only thought to add to this conversation is that progress is subtle. I get upset about my swing sometimes, like any aspiring golfer, but then I think back to a time (not too long ago) when I first started, and remember the frustration of hitting every shot thin and off the top. No matter how hard I tried, I hit every single ball off the very top. My hands would be more sore than when I raced dirtbikes. Now, I'm able to manage a golf course in some sense of the phrase, and shoot scores that actually reflect skill and progress. The number of thin topped shots I hit is very low or none, and I can actually enjoy the game. That's not to say I'm complacent with where I'm at, but looking back and acknowledging the progress I have made, rather than faltering at how much progress I have yet to make, really helps put things in perspective for me.

[Jwat381]

This is a frustrating topic for me because it rains here so much from October to June. Sure, there's plenty of patches of nice whether, but the point is that I have few options of hitting off grass on any given day, and having it be at least somewhat dry. Is it worse for me to hit off mats, or just not practice at all unless I can hit off natural turf? I feel like swinging a club is better than not swinging one at all, but I'd be lying if I said the golf course didn't feel a little foreign the first hole or two, even after a solid year of golfing.

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

I think mats have a place in golf.

- At the very early stages of learning golf it's all about getting a consistent swing; it's pretty much irrelevant where the ball goes. Hitting off a mat lets you see some type of progress because your fat shots will likely still fly and you won't be embarrassed at hacking-up a course or grass range. That early in learning there's nothing worse than being disheartened.

- When there's no grass range available and you're working on a specific piece of your swing. Again you're not overly fussed about where the ball flies for that practice session as you're adding muscle memory and automation to that single piece of the swing.

Obviously the state of the mat also goes some way toward the realism factor. I've hit off what feels like felt on concrete, I've hit off reasonably padded mats where the club can be pressed down into the mat a certain amount and I've hit off a mat that felt like firm grass, 'gave' like firm grass and even used regular tees into it. Hell it even had random "grain" patterns where it was trodden down in areas.

I thing mats do have a place in golf but only when used correctly. They give a false sense of hitting the ball solid if you assume that grass and mats are the same and spend every day hitting off them.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Personally I find that range practice off a mat is better than no practice. It allows all of my other muscles to continue remembering how to swing a club reasonably well and I'd rather have some type of feeling when I'm on course rather than none.

[Jwat381]

Thank you for the reassurance haha

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

Personally I find that range practice off a mat is better than no practice. It allows all of my other muscles to continue remembering how to swing a club reasonably well and I'd rather have some type of feeling when I'm on course rather than none.

[The_Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by HeadGolfool

Lee Travino says hitting off mats is the worst thing you can do for your golf swing, it gives a false sense that yoy are hitting the ball solid.

If that were the case, we'd never have heard of Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal and Sergio García.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by HeadGolfool

Lee Travino says hitting off mats is the worst thing you can do for your golf swing, it gives a false sense that yoy are hitting the ball solid.  I think there is some value to practicing at home with a camera or mirriors where you can work on club positions at different spots of your swing.  I see so many golfers take lessons from one teacher after another and never commit the time that it takes to make a swing change or thay buy the latest and greatest new club looking for that magic pill.

Every golfer I have helped ou,t has made the biggest improvement in their scores by learning to manage their round.  In other words, how to get the ball in the hole with the least amount of strokes.  I didn't say it consisted of hitting the ball a mile, in fact it may not be pretty and glomorous like the equipment companies are promoting, but they are shooting scores they never thought possible.  Trouble is most golfers egos won't let them play to score vs. trying to hit the ball far.  To bad because golf can be a lot easier than most golfers are experiencing.

Who's Lee Travino?