Practice Mats

[Stewie007]

Does anyone else find this happening to them? I have hit off of mats before and it was just fine. I have never hit so many solidly bad shots in a row. My mid irons were atrocious. The long irons were idiotic, and my wedges were nothing short of ridiculous. The only thing I could hit reasonably well were my woods and the driver off of the tee. I generally take a small divot so upon contact with the ball, I'll hit the mat a bit with most of the contact happening after impact. These mats were thinner and harder and for some trumped up Prissy golf club I was really pissed off that I had to pay 12 dollars for a large bucket to hit off of these. Nothing but hybrids and woods were okay to hit. I found that the only way to hit well was to adjust my address position and modify my swing. This seems quite wrong to me. The image below is a decent mockup of the angle of the shaft. I've never had this problem with the thicker mats. I just prefer to hit my woods off of grass since they have graphite shafts and mats can wreak havoc on them over time, especially when I get a bad result and hit the ground a little harder than I would have liked. My driver was generally good as I found that I was lining up too far right before and it was the only thing I hit well off of these mats. Anybody else find that they generally hate mats? [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/image/id/176785/width/281/height/398][IMG]http://thesandtrap.com/image/id/176785/width/281/height/398[/IMG][/URL] By the way, no comments on shoulder alignment or any garbage like that, hehehehe. Its just a stick figure. ^_^

[iacas]

So what's the diagram showing, exactly? How you had to set up to hit the ball solidly?

You may have been "getting away with" poor swings on the "thicker" mats. Mats tend to let you get away with hitting the ball slightly heavy.

[Stewie007]

So what's the diagram showing, exactly? How you had to set up to hit the ball solidly?

You may have been "getting away with" poor swings on the "thicker" mats. Mats tend to let you get away with hitting the ball slightly heavy.

I understand what you're getting at, and sometimes I will hit the ball heavily. However, when that happens on the course it does not end up well. Lately, I've been hitting my irons somewhat well. My wedges have been straight and true, but I have not mastered selection nor power with them. So I'll generally baby it because I'm afraid of hitting over the green when I'm close. When I'm 100 yards out more times than not I'll chose a sand wedge and pitch it onto the green with a beautiful flight path. They're some of the best clubs in my bag regarding how I will hit them. So when I line up on these mats to hit and every shot is a duff unless I exaggerate my angles it just doesn't seem right. I don't take divots that are that deep. It just felt like the surface was too hard. Fat hits aside, the only ones I could hit well were my hybrids and woods. I hope I'm not coming across as argumentative, its just frustrating. :pound:

[ghalfaire]

I make it a point to not hit off mats.  I won't even warm up on courses that force you to hit off mats.  They are hard on the irons (most are mounted on concrete pads without adequate padding) and they don't act like grass in that you can hit it fat and the ball still flies well.  So I just don't use them anymore.

[AmazingWhacker]

A lot of people hate mats and won't use them.  I, on the other hand, love them.  I think the OP was complaining particularly about thin mats and I agree . .I won't use those because if I fear the contact will hurt then I start doing all kinds of funny things to prevent it.

I am not in a practicing mode right now but, when I am, I will hit several hundred shots a day off a mat.  It's true that mats can be deceiving and allow you to get away with fat shots but once you learn the difference (sound and feel) it's not a problem.  I actually prefer to do a lot of practicing into a net as well.  This way I focus only on balance in my swing and perfect contact instead of looking up to see where the ball is going.  I have found I really don't need to watch it to know where it's going.

[SAGolfLuvr]

I am a walking oxymoron or hypocrite. I won't hit off of mats at a driving range. I wish I had a golf simulator in my man cave or backyard like the P3PRO. I have no problem with hitting at Dave & Busters. Both require mats. Go figure.

[rustyredcab]

It is either matts or take the winter off. I choose matts and an 83 yard deep dome. Good matts are not hard on my hands or clubs. They have some give. I do worry that they forgive a slightly fat shot shot. But I think I am aware of those shots. Not to highjack this thread, but I plan to spend this winter on the matts with a tour striker. Gotta be better than working on my game by watching TV.

As for pre-round matt work: I like warming up on matts compared to not hitting balls. At my home course, we are restricted to matts when the grass is too wet for range work and they wish to save it from abuse. Having played for years at a course with no range, I'll take matts any day. Again, these are good matts that do not feel like hitting off the driveway.

[newtogolf]

No question mats can mask a bad swing but practicing on them to me is better than doing nothing.  I have a cut down rubber tee that I place my ball about 2" behind when I hit my irons.  If I hear the club hit the tee I feel confident that I'd have taken a divot in front of the ball.  You know easily tell if you hit a shot fat by the ball flight, sound and feel.

I ordered a Tour Striker 7i as well and plan to use it at the range until they shut down for the winter.

[Stewie007]

It isn't so much that I hate mats, its that I hated THESE mats. I generally prefer grass because it better simulates my game. I can't really duplicate what I learn on a mat because it doesn't behave the same way. The thicker mats behave more like grass, so I fare better with them. These mats were thin and I could see that I wasn't the only one having problems with them.

To say that it masks bad swings suggests that I would be digging graves with my clubs in the grass. Seriously, I'm getting back into the game, not golfing with a spade.... hehehe. :) I'm insulted!

Okay, maybe I'm joking about that.... Still.... I can tell the difference between a good strike and a bad one. My high handicap is largely because of my poor putting, and my inconsistent woods, which always seem to be great at the grass range... I guess its my mental attitude on the course.