Range mats promote bad habits?

[uttexas]

Mats are terrible and force you to develop bad habits. It hurts to take a divot off of some mats, which shallows out the bottom of your swing path. I suppose the mat that Vijay is the spokesman for would be fine, but most mats create bad habits imo.

[whit53]

Here in Nebraska the winters are long with a few days in the 50's. When that happens I head for the driving range to keep the muscle memory intact. I find that I rarely hit a bad shot off the mats, however, when I play a short par 3 course I hit shots fat and thin often. A few weeks ago an indoor golf room opened in Omaha and I have played a few rounds on the simulator and find the same, no fat or thin shots.

Yes mats do mask poor impact...... both fat and thin shots. The best way to practice on mats, it to roll up a small towel lengthwise and place it under the mat, about 12-inches from the outer edge. Place and hit balls positioned between where the towel is positioned and the outer edge of the mat.... This allows the mat to depress slightly at impact and gives you a better facsimile of true turf interaction.

Hope this helps.

[ks8829]

mats are fine just remember that you have to judge solid hits by the sound and feel of ball contact because mats will mask fat shots.

mat will sometimes change the lofts on forged irons.

[JonnyGolf]

Here in Nebraska the winters are long with a few days in the 50's. When that happens I head for the driving range to keep the muscle memory intact. I find that I rarely hit a bad shot off the mats, however, when I play a short par 3 course I hit shots fat and thin often. A few weeks ago an indoor golf room opened in Omaha and I have played a few rounds on the simulator and find the same, no fat or thin shots.

Have you ever taken a divot on a mat? absolutely, mats hide fat shots.

you've got to get attuned to the sound of good contact in order to gain awareness of your swing.

[Eeryck]

Here in Nebraska the winters are long with a few days in the 50's. When that happens I head for the driving range to keep the muscle memory intact. I find that I rarely hit a bad shot off the mats, however, when I play a short par 3 course I hit shots fat and thin often. A few weeks ago an indoor golf room opened in Omaha and I have played a few rounds on the simulator and find the same, no fat or thin shots.

The reason that the mat masks the "fat" shots is because instead of making a divot ahead of the ball as you would on turf, your club bounces along the mat and you still put a good ammount of the club face on the ball.

As was stated before if you have to practice off mats in the winter you should focus on ball first contact, as you would on the course anyway. With respect to not being able to take a divot, I don't particularly see a problem, you can see on the mat that your swing is still bottoming out after impact by the slight color change in the mat after you hit the ball as you crush the "whatever material it is mad out of" with the bottom of your swing. The only problem with this is if the range you go to has paper thin mats. Regards, -E

[RocketSauce]

i will NEVER hit off mats because of exactly that. its masks bad shots, then when you get to the course everything feels different. thats one of the first things my teacher taught me when i first started playing when i was a teenager.

[Clambake]

For those that say they'll never hit off mats, I hope you realize how lucky you are that you have a choice. Even here in San Diego, I cannot find a range that gives you the option of anything but mats. The only two places I've been able to hit off nice grass were private clubs where I was a guest, but since I'm a public golfer there isn't any option but to learn off the mats.

[kfowler]

i will NEVER hit off mats because of exactly that. its masks bad shots, then when you get to the course everything feels different. thats one of the first things my teacher taught me when i first started playing when i was a teenager.

Come here in Detroit and say the same thing. You'd be hitting off 12" of snow or a sheet of ice in 20* weather. We have no option but to hit off of matts during the winter. As metioned before, you have to pay more attention to the sound and feel of a shot.

[Mr Eagle]

ks 8829 touched on a good point,If you have to practice on mats during the winter get your clubs checked out for loft and lie before heading for the course,the mats can knock them about a bit

[mrserv0n18]

I think mats hurt your game badly, espeically to the inexperienced golfer, I practice at the golf dome 3 times a week and I can hit pretty damn good, well , it had been 4 months since I played real golf cause of winter and I just went to mexico for a week and played like total shit on real turf. Its so deceiving and had been so long I forgot how different real grass is. Not so bad for woods but irons it will mess your game up bad

[wannabe]

I hate mats. Same as others have mentioned, I was hitting great off the mats, or so I thought, then went to a course and was horrible.

Here in Georgia, we have mild winters and the grass tees at the ranges are open year round. I drive further and spend more to use them, but it's the only way to learn.

That said, the quality of the mats used at the ranges vary widely, and there are definitely some high end mats out there that give more of a true turf-like experience. Look for those, and ask around the different ranges for what they use and why. See if you can get them to bring in some better mats. Even if they make you pay more, it's worth it.

Oh, and yeah, this is true mainly for irons.

[Mr3Putt]

i will NEVER hit off mats

If I lived in Tampa I would say the same thing. During the coldest days of winter, the only place to whack a golf ball around here is the "dome". It's an indoor range. It's just like real golf, but without the fun part. But, when your jonesing, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. They have trouble growing natural turf.

[Sherlockian]

I prefer hitting off turf, but around here, it's like hitting out of a bunker. There is more sand than grass at most of the "grass" areas, and I hate my irons looking like they were brought home dragging behind the car. There are a couple of courses that have decent turf areas that I use to warm up before a round, but most of the time I am hitting off mats at the range.

[wannabe]

They have trouble growing natural turf.

Wonder why?

Seriously, I understand it's cheaper to have mats, but I wonder if anyone's attempted to grow grass indoors for an indoor turf range. Growing plants indoors is not really that difficult, and I would think that certain grasses would be pretty simple. hmm...

[kfowler]

It's better to hit off mats than hit off grass that's been divoted to hell.

[Titleist Man]

If I lived in Tampa I would say the same thing.

Your lucky you have a dome the only way i get to hit balls is to go out in 36* weather. Ughhhh cant wait for summer

[griecke]

Thanks for all the comments. I guess if you live in Nebraska you just have to put up with mats in the winter. Lucky in the summer we have lots of ranges to hit off grass. At least mats keep the tendons streched. I do listen for the sounds and have found that a good shot feels and sounds real sweet.

[limotek]

Here in Nebraska the winters are long with a few days in the 50's. When that happens I head for the driving range to keep the muscle memory intact. I find that I rarely hit a bad shot off the mats, however, when I play a short par 3 course I hit shots fat and thin often. A few weeks ago an indoor golf room opened in Omaha and I have played a few rounds on the simulator and find the same, no fat or thin shots.

dont hit irons off the mat, its very deceiving - u need to take a divot which you cant do. what you end up doing is taking a clean shot picking the ball off the mat which will lead to thin shots or shanks on the course.