Would you rather?

[TimG3394]

Pay $11 for a jumbo bucket of balls (110-120) and practice on grass OR Pay $14 for unlimited balls off a mat? I am starting to practice frequently and have the option of both. The jumbo bucket is a deal IMO but just wanted to see what you guys think. -Tim

[MiniBlueDragon]

Depends on what your goal for the practice session is. If you're planning on working on your driver or on swing mechanics where you don't care about ball flight then go for the infinite as the mat will be largely irrelevant. If you're working on irons/wedges then grass range every time.

[TimG3394]

Makes sense. I have been a big flipper so I'm really working on forward hands and proper divots. So I suppose the grass range is the way to go.

[tristanhilton85]

Personally I'd go with the jumbo bucket and grass... I've never liked hitting off of mats.

[LuciusWooding]

I'd take the mats, hit off tees, and hit shots around the practice green for a couple hours. You can get unlimited practice in 2 important parts of your game. The practice greens should tell you the conditions of the turf, based on the wedges interacting on pitches. If it's really soft or firm you can adjust on the course a bit but the mats are the same either way.

If I'm warming up pre round, I want the grass to hit off of. But I'd probably hit a small bucket in that case.

[cliffj]

Grass always wins out.   Mats give a false sense at times.  You can hit behind a bit and bounce into ball and think you had a good hit.  Grass will give much better feedback..  And.. good grass is less stressful on the body.  And... you can see your divots and get a lot of information from that... And.. you make chalk lines in the grass in see your strike points and work on that aspect.  Lots of advantages to grass.  Mats are really only good for inclement weather.  Forgot to mention that grass lets you tee up driver to height you like it, not the arbitrary height of the plastic do-dad (technical term) that happens to be at the station you select.

[x129]

You should bring your own tees when hitting off mats. I use something like http://www.igotthebug.com/adjustable-range-mat-tee-pr-250.html .

But yeah grass is better in general. One question you should ask is how many balls you will hit if you had unlimited. I know 110 balls would be 1.5-2 hours of hitting for me as I do a lot of practice swings in between when working on something. After that long of hitting, I am ready to spend time putting and chipping due to mental/physical fatigue.

Originally Posted by cliffj

Grass always wins out.   Mats give a false sense at times.  You can hit behind a bit and bounce into ball and think you had a good hit.  Grass will give much better feedback..  And.. good grass is less stressful on the body.  And... you can see your divots and get a lot of information from that... And.. you make chalk lines in the grass in see your strike points and work on that aspect.  Lots of advantages to grass.  Mats are really only good for inclement weather.  Forgot to mention that grass lets you tee up driver to height you like it, not the arbitrary height of the plastic do-dad (technical term) that happens to be at the station you select.

[Uber$winG]

When I am working on the pure mechanics of my swing, I prefer to hit off a mat. When I am working on making shots, I prefer to hit off grass.

I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t take advantage of both options.

For the mat, you could work on both basic and acquired motion drills before going onto the full swing, and not have to worry about pissing through a bucket of balls before moving onto the full swing.

You could work on the mat for two days, and then spend a day on the grass to see how practice is paying off.

What I am trying to say is that you might be better served by practicing on the mats, and then playing off the grass.

[mdl]

I agree with Uber$wing.  If you're working on mechanics, maybe have some drills to do, maybe switch it up and do three balls with a drill, then two full easy swings, or even working on a specific mechanics thing with a full swing, then you can burn through 110 balls way before you feel like you're done.  Hitting balls off the grass obviously feels nicer (ie, like a real round), but it's not THAT much of a difference.  If you struggle with flipping and hitting it fat, then yeah, obviously you want to spend some time on the grass range as well.  I'd go with Uber$wing's plan.

Not that his performance the past couple years makes this a great rec, but I watched Anthony Kim hit ~100 pitches, 30-60 yards, all off the mats at my home course range.  Can't tell me you can't get anything out of hitting feel shots off the mats!

[GaijinGolfer]

Grass.  A jumbo bucket of balls is plenty and you play off of grass, so why not practice off of grass as well?

[Zeph]

I would pick grass anytime. I got nothing but mats where I live and don't like them very much. I'd rather hit 20 balls off grass than 50 off mats.

[David in FL]

Grass every time.

That's more than enough balls for me to hit in any given session anyways......especially if I'm working on full swing shots.

[MEfree]

Grass for me as I rarely hit more than 110 balls.  I think it is better to hit 110 quality practice shots 3-4 times a week rather than hit ~300 less often.  If you have access to chipping/putting areas, I would spend the extra time there rather than hit more balls.

[showtime583]

Grass every single time and twice on Sundays for reasons mentioned above!

One other thing to consider is the wear and tear on the clubs themselves. Granted, range balls can beat up a clubface, but hacking away on old worn-out/hard mats can actually slightly bend irons and affect loft/lie. This is not an issue with newer mats or nicer facilities, but something to be conscious of nevertheless....

[bplewis24]

I'd rather hit a bucket of balls off of mats than hit off of bad "grass" (patchy, uneven, mostly dirt/sod, etc).

I'd rather hit off a good, well-manicured grass range than mats, but if given a better deal, I'll hit off the mats all day.  I've been hitting off mats a lot lately because the warm weather hasn't been picking up til right about now, and if you're practicing properly, mat practice is just as effective as grass.

Brandon

[uttexas]

without a doubt---grass. If I show up to a driving range and it's mats only that day, I'll get in my car and go to another one.

[rwfastrax]

totally depends on the grass...if it's grass like I have in my back yard...I don't care for that. If it's grass the quality of a fairway that's a different story. If you hit enough off mats you know when you've missed and still gotten a passable result and you also know when you've pured it too.

[crawford1982]

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

Depends on what your goal for the practice session is. If you're planning on working on your driver or on swing mechanics where you don't care about ball flight then go for the infinite as the mat will be largely irrelevant. If you're working on irons/wedges then grass range every time.

i'd second this heavily, makes perfect sense.