Am I an oddball?

[ryunin]

The tee gives you a larger margin for error. The same swing could produce a fat shot if the ball were on the ground.

Yes  but it is quite easy to feel a difference between a well hit shot and a mishit even when you use a tee - the impact has a very different feel to it when the compression or solid impact occurs, and it should not matter whether it is off turf, mat or a rubber tee, no? Rubber tee would be bad for beginners who want to improve and it would allow them to somehow hit balls forever never making progress much, so take away the tee and the beginner is forced to hit down on the ball, at least a little. But once you learn how to hit down, you can hit balls off rubber tees or soft mats, that's my point / of course, if I am not advanced enough yet, soft mats or rubber tees could allow me to hit shots making the same mistake, scooping the ball or something. The mystery is what is is that I suddenly feel as great improvement in my impact?

[SavvySwede]

What do you think about this, guys?

It says no bounce, swing down and through, it sounds like what my mat is allowing me to do and you criticize it. So either the realfeelgolfmats is a big lie or?

http://www.realfeelgolfmats.com

I appreciate your opinions and explanations.

That is just a more cushioned mat. What gives fat shots their feel is turf coming between the ball and club, something which no mat can do. Firmer mats just give you a better sense of your swing bottom. If your main concern is injuries, stick with a cushy mat. You'll just need to take the results with a grain of salt.

[ryunin]

So I am pretty lost now.

I have scanned a few articles on the internet about usefulness or harmfulness of mats. Some people saz that it doesn't matter what you hit balls off as long as you hit the ball first. Some people say that mats are all really bad.

I only know that I hit the ball on the sweetspot. That is the great, soft feeling I hardly ever had in the past. So the thing is / is it possible to hit the sweet spot and NOT hit the ball first? It seems like some people here suggest that using that soft mat I can make a fat shot while hitting the sweet spot of the ball. Not sure if that is possible and if so, what feeling would I get if I then manage to hit the sweetspot and hit the ball without a fat adding to it?

And as for using a rubber tea - once you know you hit the sweetspot, what does it matter that there is a margin for error, when you didn't make the error happen?

[iacas]

When I put away the ball and try to hit without it, I hit the mat several inches on front of the ball so that should confirm compression too.

Practice swings aren't particularly relevant. Golfers make very different motions when the ball is sitting there.

I have scanned a few articles on the internet about usefulness or harmfulness of mats. Some people saz that it doesn't matter what you hit balls off as long as you hit the ball first. Some people say that mats are all really bad.

Mats are perfectly useful if you know what you're doing. Mats that don't prop the ball up much are the best. Those are often the firmer mats, or the gel-filled mats like the ones we use at our facility.

I only know that I hit the ball on the sweetspot. That is the great, soft feeling I hardly ever had in the past. So the thing is / is it possible to hit the sweet spot and NOT hit the ball first? It seems like some people here suggest that using that soft mat I can make a fat shot while hitting the sweet spot of the ball. Not sure if that is possible and if so, what feeling would I get if I then manage to hit the sweetspot and hit the ball without a fat adding to it?

Yes. You can hit the sweet spot with the ball teed up, and if you have a soft mat, that's effectively what's going on.

And as for using a rubber tea - once you know you hit the sweetspot, what does it matter that there is a margin for error, when you didn't make the error happen?

You can hit up with the ball on a tee and still hit the sweetspot, but that swing would not work when the ball is on the ground.

[DrvFrShow]

The hard mats can lie to you as well. You can hit a fat shot and it can still fly a good distance. For example, I was working lob shots on the mat a few weeks ago (raining but covered at the range). The good shots would go about 45 yds. The fat shots would go about 35 yds. That same fat shot hit off grass over this weekend would go about 15 feet because the club digs into soft turf rather than sliding along the hard mat. Unfortunately there are few places you can practice iron work on real turf. Few ranges allow you to hit irons off the grass.

[iacas]

The hard mats can lie to you as well. You can hit a fat shot and it can still fly a good distance. For example, I was working lob shots on the mat a few weeks ago (raining but covered at the range). The good shots would go about 45 yds. The fat shots would go about 35 yds. That same fat shot hit off grass over this weekend would go about 15 feet because the club digs into soft turf rather than sliding along the hard mat. Unfortunately there are few places you can practice iron work on real turf. Few ranges allow you to hit irons off the grass.

Yes, but you know you hit it heavy on a firmer mat (assuming some level of sensitivity to this, which must be learned a little bit, yes).

[ryunin]

So having considered all thoughts and suggestions, it seems I have learned to hit the sweetspot consistently with a little help of my soft mat. Now the thing is how to make sure I make a descending blow, too. Is there a little simple device or tool that would asure me that I made a descending blow with the lowest point of the arc in front of the ball? As we all know and I can see it easily, too, without a ball, I can notice where I hit the mat, but with the ball, I can only hope the nice feeling shot was not only hit on the sweetspot but also with a descending blow.

How about a business card put in front of the ball? It should fly away if I hit it, no? There must be a simple way how to tell the difference between hitting down and scooping the ball, I mean with  a mat, grass can show divots or at least some kind of marks. A quality video camera would help too, but I don't have one.

[Hammer 4]

So having considered all thoughts and suggestions, it seems I have learned to hit the sweetspot consistently with a little help of my soft mat. Now the thing is how to make sure I make a descending blow, too. Is there a little simple device or tool that would asure me that I made a descending blow with the lowest point of the arc in front of the ball? As we all know and I can see it easily, too, without a ball, I can notice where I hit the mat, but with the ball, I can only hope the nice feeling shot was not only hit on the sweetspot but also with a descending blow.

How about a business card put in front of the ball? It should fly away if I hit it, no? There must be a simple way how to tell the difference between hitting down and scooping the ball, I mean with  a mat, grass can show divots or at least some kind of marks. A quality video camera would help too, but I don't have one.

I would maybe use some face tape in your clubs, that way you can see if you hit it pure, or made a mishit. Also, the feel will provide the best feed back. And then there's the tried and true method of, Practice, practice...and so on..lol What helped me was to just let my arms fall down, instead of trying to "swing" at the ball, along with making a good shoulder turn, both back, and through the ball, i.e. replace the left shoulder, with the right..in your down swing. Mike posted a great video of a drill that could help, I have to go somewhere, but I'll try and find it when I get back. It's a pre set drill..it works..

[iacas]

How about a business card put in front of the ball? It should fly away if I hit it, no? There must be a simple way how to tell the difference between hitting down and scooping the ball, I mean with  a mat, grass can show divots or at least some kind of marks. A quality video camera would help too, but I don't have one.

That won't work, no.

A camera would help. Even an iPhone camera is pretty good. Get one, if golf is important to you…

[ryunin]

I would maybe use some face tape in your clubs, that way you can see if you hit it pure, or made a mishit. Also, the feel will provide the best feed back. And then there's the tried and true method of, Practice, practice...and so on..lol What helped me was to just let my arms fall down, instead of trying to "swing" at the ball, along with making a good shoulder turn, both back, and through the ball, i.e. replace the left shoulder, with the right..in your down swing. Mike posted a great video of a drill that could help, I have to go somewhere, but I'll try and find it when I get back. It's a pre set drill..it works..

I have been practicing this drill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6LoqIEhbMw

for a month and some kind of radical change came a few days ago, so I don't know what happened, but probably hitting the sweetspot. It feels great with my soft mat, not so great wit the firm driving range mat, but still solid feel. I will get that face tape and will see what it shows.

[ryunin]

That won't work, no.

A camera would help. Even an iPhone camera is pretty good. Get one, if golf is important to you…

My smartphone camera makes the crucial frame when I hit the ball too blurred. Maybe a sunny day will make the frames sharper, so far I have only tried the light at home.

[iacas]

My smartphone camera makes the crucial frame when I hit the ball too blurred. Maybe a sunny day will make the frames sharper, so far I have only tried the light at home.

So? You're not looking to measure the actual impact dynamics or anything, you're using it to get high-speed footage of your golf swing so others can help you.

You're at the same time overthinking this, and under thinking it, in a way…

Also, please multiquote: .

[ryunin]

So? You're not looking to measure the actual impact dynamics or anything, you're using it to get high-speed footage of your golf swing so others can help you.

You're at the same time overthinking this, and under thinking it, in a way…

Also, please multiquote: ​ .

Great, if a crappy video can reveal major mistakes, I can post it later. Thanks.

[dkolo]

My smartphone camera makes the crucial frame when I hit the ball too blurred. Maybe a sunny day will make the frames sharper, so far I have only tried the light at home.

The iPhone 6 and its 240 fps slow-motion camera is the only reason I upgraded to it from the 5S. It's ridiculously good.

[DrvFrShow]

The S5 can record at 120 fps in slow motion. It's still very smooth. You should be able to see what is going on.

[ryunin]

I have just posted a video of my short swing that I am working on. It is pretty bad quality but as far as I know someobdy has suggested I post it no matter how low the video quality is. It is a kind of working in process where I am trying to have the shaft in the correct position at the impact and not flip at the ball, there should be descent to the blow. No idea if it is possible to see these things in my video, I ll  try to get a better camera.

[Play4Fun]

You never know how you swing look until you have a video of yourself, it's humbling True test of ball striking is real grass. It's humbling If you want feed back find a 2mm piece of soft pvc plastic make a channel put ball just ahead of the channel you will know if you hit it behind. You can feel compressed even though hitting it behind. Soft Matt you can actually dig into the mat and the ball struck pretty center while flipping yet feel you compressed the ball. After all that most probably realise golf is hard and look at the nicest golfer besides your Bay and you want to copy them. You then get better maybe but tommorow you come back you lose it all Then you browse the Internet and you tube looking for the best tip, Then after running in circles you realise.... Deja vu of beginners, welcome to the world of golf

[ryunin]

Well reality my swing off real grass with an 8 iron. Distance about 90 m. Fat shots 10 %. Divot starts under ball continues in front 40%. Clean hits without divots 30 %. Thid is the real situation with my swing now. Mean full swing. All I eant now is move divots a bit further ahead.