Do practice range mats screw with your ball striking? What to do?

[Ernest Jones]

8 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

What the **** does "tour hands" mean?

Its been long enough since I wrote that that I don't even remember what I meant to say prior to the erroneous autocorrect.

I figured you meant sore hands, but I wasn't totally sure. 

[Dave325]

I have two driving range options near me.... One has a choice of mats or fairway grass, while the other is a bar that has fairly normal grass... Some a bit thin and rough. I prefer the later since it provides a lot of options to terrain (like my course). I did notice that the mats force me to stay down and keep a steady head... It seems that every mistake is magnified. And, it's maybe good practice to hooting those hard pan fairways (shrug). However, on bad weather days I use a strip of carpet in my garage with a net which is very much like the mat.

[Ernest Jones]

13 minutes ago, Dave325 said:

I have two driving range options near me.... One has a choice of mats or fairway grass, while the other is a bar that has fairly normal grass... Some a bit thin and rough. I prefer the later since it provides a lot of options to terrain (like my course). I did notice that the mats force me to stay down and keep a steady head... It seems that every mistake is magnified. And, it's maybe good practice to hooting those hard pan fairways (shrug). However, on bad weather days I use a strip of carpet in my garage with a net which is very much like the mat.

How much height do you have in your garage and how long of a club can you make a full, comfortable swing with? I'll be shopping for a new house in the next few years and really want to make sure I have a winter practice area. 

[Dave325]

8 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

How much height do you have in your garage and how long of a club can you make a full, comfortable swing with? I'll be shopping for a new house in the next few years and really want to make sure I have a winter practice area. 

I have a two car garage that affords me most shots up to my hybrid. I haven't tried a driver in there. I have a tall ceiling, but just have to position myself between the garage door opener and the kayak that is hanging from the ceiling. I unplug the opener, so the family knows to use the front door in bad weather (hehe). Oh, I also use the foam balls in the garage to keep from getting nailed on rebounds.

I would prefer to move to the warmer climate, but the golf is affordable in my area and brave out most cold weather. So, if it's not raining, I move to the backyeard for practice.

[Ernest Jones]

1 minute ago, Dave325 said:

I have a two car garage that affords me most shots up to my hybrid. I haven't tried a driver in there. I have a tall ceiling, but just have to position myself between the garage door opener and the kayak that is hanging from the ceiling. I unplug the opener, so the family knows to use the front door in bad weather (hehe).

More than 10'?

[Dave325]

9 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

More than 10'?

Good question.... I just ran out and measured it... It's at 9' 6"

There is not a lot of tolerance on the backswing and follow through.

[Mr. Desmond]

To reiterate, I suffered from golfer's elbow using mats. They can tear up your body, so for me, they are not good long term for a golfer's body. If you have the funds, purchase mats that attempt to mimic grass.  The less you can reduce shock on your joints, the better your long term probability of avoiding injury.

[Golfingdad]

3 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

I figured you meant sore hands, but I wasn't totally sure. 

That works ... I'm thinking it might have also simply been "your hands."

Either way I'm a doofus. :P

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

How much height do you have in your garage and how long of a club can you make a full, comfortable swing with? I'll be shopping for a new house in the next few years and really want to make sure I have a winter practice area. 

Kind of depends upon your height and swing. I used to hit inside my back house which only has 9 foot ceilings. 10 feet would be nice even though 9 feet barely is probably fine.

Now I have an outdoor net in a 10 foot cube volume, but haven't used it for a while because I get free range balls and morning golf with my monthly fee.

To the OP, mats are really painful if your swing is too steep.

[Dave2512]

If the mats are good I actually prefer that to a hacked up grass range. We have great mats at the home course, don't hurt or help me and I know when I do something wrong. They leave them out on the concrete strip all year. When the range is empty in the summer I use the mats.

[zero]

Well, played my first round in a month and have been practicing with mats for a couple months now. I'm in the Pacific NW so there's no grass range options this time of year. 

Anyway, yes, my irons have suffered because if it. Not horrendously but it did take several holes to get near my summer striking. I wonder what's worse, not practicing irons at all or using the mats... 

Chipping was even worse. Just awful considering how far I'd come over the summer. :(

[Dave2512]

Sounds like rust. Could be an expectations thing as well. What is your handicap? 

[zero]

I don't have a handicap yet, I'm generally a bogey player with occasional disasters and greatness. I guess since I probably have enough scores recorded I could get a handicap?

Edited December 31, 2015 by zero

[Lihu]

5 hours ago, zero said:

I don't have a handicap yet, I'm generally a bogey player with occasional disasters and greatness. I guess since I probably have enough scores recorded I could get a handicap?

I think he just wanted to gauge what your expectations should be. . .

If you want to calculate your handicap, you can use this. You can also use Golflogix. I use Golflogix to store the raw data, but GHIN to post to 9/18 scores. You can also post 7/13 scores when you have a handicap established.

[Dave2512]

11 hours ago, zero said:

I don't have a handicap yet, I'm generally a bogey player with occasional disasters and greatness. I guess since I probably have enough scores recorded I could get a handicap?

I asked because a golfers skill often sheds clues about what they expect. My experience was I thought I was a better golfer than I really was when I was playing bogey golf. 

I don't think practicing on mats is your problem. Also wouldn't read too much into one round. For example my best to worst round in my last 20 is a 14 stroke difference. When I was playing bogey golf I was more erratic.

My advice don't gauge your game on your best days or worst days and consider keeping a handicap and tracking stats. Then you can see what you are really doing. Progress can accommodate bad rounds as long as you improve over time. 

[Righty to Lefty]

On ‎12‎/‎27‎/‎2015 at 2:15 PM, JapanDave said:

I take quite a big divot each time I hit an iron from 6-7 iron up. 

 

How about these mats? http://www.realfeelgolfmats.com/

I never hit off of the hard rubber mats at the range and will only step on them if I am hitting off of a tee. I learned the hard way after screwing up my wrists, neck and shoulders, and back from hitting off of them both right and left handed. Not to mention they change the loft of your clubs over time.

The real feel mats were the solution for me.  I got the combo stance mat and 20 x 36 mat and if I was ever forced to hit off of a mat I would go and pull them out of my trunk and bring them to the range because they are portable since they are two separate mats.  I think I paid $177 for them and they are very durable and still look brand new.  Even when they are sitting on top of a concrete surface you can hit down on the shot like normal and you don't get that jarring affect when the club rebounds back off of the mat.  I strongly suggest this hitting mat as no one swings shallow enough to hit off of the junk mats that most driving ranges have. 

[Hacker James]

On ‎12‎/‎31‎/‎2015 at 3:03 PM, zero said:

I don't have a handicap yet, I'm generally a bogey player with occasional disasters and greatness. I guess since I probably have enough scores recorded I could get a handicap?

okay, tried again....here is what I use:  http://1drv.ms/1MS64zg   caveat: not official, but for your own perusal.

[zero]

23 hours ago, Hacker James said:

okay, tried again....here is what I use:  http://1drv.ms/1MS64zg   caveat: not official, but for your own perusal.

Nice, thanks! I'll pump some recent rounds in there and see how ugly it is :)

Had a great couple of practices at the range lately off the mats. Nice ball flights, hitting targets, even drawing at times. I just don't trust at all that what I see from the mats is what I'll see from grass, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.