Hitting Off the Mat Compared to a Tight Lie

[Hammer 4]

MHO, if you flip behind the ball, you probably hit it fat, if you flip at the ball, or slightly in front of it, you probably hit it thin, as the later would have the club head going in a upward direction.

Just going off my experience here...

[TimS65]

I noticed my issues from a mat when swinging on a very wet, soft muddy fairway in December. Whereas on a mat you get away with slightly catching the mat first, on the wet fairway the club would bite into the soft mud and totally mishit the ball. The soft ground accentuated my swing issues. I think its made me concentrate more on a good connection on the range mats since then.