bad driving ranges

[GolfClubbas]

what does anyone think of driving ranges without artificial mats and rubber tees. i don't like them, we went to one once not knowing what it was like and we had to walk all the way back to the pro shop (which wasn't right near it) and BUY TEES!!! we would have had some but we were on vacation and didn't bring our bag just 3 clubs. before we bought tees we tried a couple shots with the driver and after the driver and 3 iron the grass looked something like this

[SavvySwede]

People prefer to hit off of real grass because it actually simulates playing conditions and won't allow you get away with poor contact like a mat does. You're the first person I ever heard complain about getting to hit off of real grass.

[Osnola]

I do not like to hit off artificial grass/mats....really prefer real grass...Mats Will Mess You Up!!!!!!!

[nevets88]

I would take that over mats, even the ones that punish your fat shots, for that any day. Maybe we're not seeing enough of the surface area in play and everything is just all divoted out and there's no place to stand evenly though. A grass range that's all beat up is no fun either, but looking at the photo, a place well kept like that usually moves the in play boundaries.

[GolfClubbas]

ya know....its not the grass that i didn't like its the fact that we had to buy tees. they should have given us some

[Golfingdad]

ya know....its not the grass that i didn't like its the fact that we had to buy tees. they should have given us some

Why?

[nevets88]

Consider yourself lucky. I'd kill to have access to a range like that where I don't have to drive an hour or find and tag on to a member of a private. I have no choice but mats and so I make due, it is what it is.

I have hundreds of broken tees I picked up from playing and a tee if you buy in bulk costs what, 1 to 5 cents? If that's your complaint, you have a good life, golfwise, compared to those in concrete jungles.

[isukgolf]

I would never expect the driving range to give me tees ... I will not go to a range that has artificial matts, just don't like them. I did rig up a tee with a kite string once to keep it from getting lost so easy

[GolfClubbas]

i couldn't find a picture of it but it was the fortress in frankenmuth. the course looked nice and it was at the end of the day but i'm just used to hitting off a mat

[newtogolf]

ya know....its not the grass that i didn't like its the fact that we had to buy tees. they should have given us some

Why?

Why would you expect them to give you free tees?  I've never heard of any public driving range or course give away tees.

[Mr22putt]

ya know....its not the grass that i didn't like its the fact that we had to buy tees. they should have given us some

Post of the year.

You're on vacation spending $4,000 - $8,000 and you're complaining about $1.50 for a bag of tees...LMAO.

I think a course should give me a sleeve of ProV1's when I pay for a green fee cause I might lose up to and leave behind 3 ProV1's or other premium urethane balls during the round.

[Mr22putt]

You're the first person I ever heard complain about getting to hit off of real grass.

This

[Yukari]

I am speechless at some of the expectations that people have.

Everyone I know prefers grass over matts and no one that I know expect a driving range to provide you with tees.

I am surprised you didn't expect driving range to give you a free bucket of balls too.

[Gator Hazard]

what does anyone think of driving ranges without artificial mats and rubber tees. i don't like them, we went to one once not knowing what it was like and we had to walk all the way back to the pro shop (which wasn't right near it) and BUY TEES!!! we would have had some but we were on vacation and didn't bring our bag just 3 clubs. before we bought tees we tried a couple shots with the driver and after the driver and 3 iron the grass looked something like this

Am I to understand that you were hitting your driver off the deck?  That might be your first problem.  BTW I can see two tees in the picture just lying there.

[Patch]

I never practice off mats, Mats will hide swing/impact faults. To my way of thinking, in the OP's picture, there is plenty of grass to hit off between the divots. Most courses I practice at have divot filler available to the user to be used when the practice session is over.  In this case it was either not available, or a lazy person(s) were using the range.

Sometimes when the course has to use mats to repair the driving range, I still don't use them. I have a couple square miles of dry lake bed just a few more miles down the road that works quite well, and allows me to take divots.

[Dave2512]

Mats don't bother me, at least good ones don't. I'd prefer to hit of mats than a hacked up range. The people that hack up the ranges in the OP pic are the same people that wonder why they can't take their range game to the course because the roll the ball around using every piece of perfect grass to fool themselves into thinking they are hitting great shots. It's stupid.

[rkim291968]

@GolfClubbas - I am guessing you are probably a foreigner vacationing to US?     If so, that's a good range for US range standard, and you are expected to bring your own tees.   If not, what others said already.

[GolfClubbas]

i am not foreign but we didnt have room to take our whole bag on vacation so i guess its my fault for not bringing tees but all the driving ranges around me have artificial turf.