Hacker James Backyard Practice Net (and Accoutrements)

[Hacker James]

I note the "Country Club Elite" golf mat by Real Feel Mats has been recommended on this site and the reviews are positive. Their smallest is 10 X 30 and retails for around $37.00.

an alternative which seems to be of about the same quality and having the same attributes is the "Truline Golf Mat" available through Home Depot for around $22  and a bit smaller at 12 x 24 inches.  I got one the other day and am quite pleased with it so far. I glued it onto a piece of plywood leaving one edge of the plywood showing so I could drill small holes to secure it to the ground with tent pegs. This prevents it from moving, but even without that, it stays put fairly well only creeping forward a little on fat shots. The feel is pretty realistic as it resembles plush turf allowing you to hit down and through on clean shots, and giving you feedback if you chunk it.

With the plywood as a base, you will also need a stance mat, or another piece of plywood to stand on to be at the same level as the hitting mat. I simply got a thin piece of plywood and threw a piece of old carpet over it. Conversely, I suppose you could just choke up a bit to account for the height difference.

If I were to do it over again, I would have installed rubber tees in the mat before glueing it to the plywood, but it is also plush enough to hold a wooden tee albeit loosely. It will fly away, but at least you don't break a tee.

This may be old news to many of you, but I thought if it would save you a few bucks, why not mention it.

[JonMA1]

I've been looking for an inexpensive option so thanks for the info. This past winter I went really cheap and glued two welcome mats to plywood.

[Hacker James]

On 6/9/2013 at 4:59 PM, JonMA1 said:

I've been looking for an inexpensive option so thanks for the info. This past winter I went really cheap and glued two welcome mats to plywood.

Glad to help. You will find this much better.

[Hacker James]

GlobalGolf has these rubber tees that are designed to hold a wooden tee. They are rather large in diameter compared with the other mat tees which the ball sits directly on. Any recommendations before I go to drilling holes?

[Hacker James]

Although I already have a net I bought on ebay, I think I will build my own that should be more durable.

This video seems a pretty good option:

The only change I would make is to hang a heavy tarp inside as a "target area". I would use "D" hooks (Carabiners(sp) for easy take down.

[Hacker James]

Commercial hitting cage not holding up all that well.. I will build my own.  To save cost am considering using an 8 x 10 Heavy Duty Poly tarp 10Mil.  Looks pretty sturdy. Anybody ever used this?   The commercial cage I have now, has a 5 ft square center poly wall that is not even as thick, and so far it takes direct impact with driver without problem. (It is the mesh material on the rest of the cage  that gets holes).

[Ernest Jones]

I set up a makeshift in the backyard once using a tarp instead of net. Works fine if you don't mind SUPER LOUD!!! After 5 minutes my nieghbours on both sides were glaring at me over the fence. Lol.

[Hacker James]

it couldn't be any louder than what I have. Its similar material, only heavier. On a side note, we also have this fairly heavy mesh shade thing on the patio that is weighted at the bottom, I could hit into it and only makes a dull thud sound. I could use it, but SWMBO might object. I usually use the foam "almost golf" balls, but they are really not much different than the real deal other than you don't have to worry about breaking a window.

[Ernest Jones]

Foam balls will make all the difference.

Hitting a real ball into a 1 foot square tarp attached to a net is NOWHERE near as loud as hitting a ball into a +/- 24 square foot tarp. Trust me on this, it is a matter of the size if the drum so to speak. When I hung a 24 square foot tarp from my kids swing set and slammed balls into it it was loud as ****. Kinda went BLAM, BLAM, BLAM. Super loud.

[Lihu]

I set up a makeshift in the backyard once using a tarp instead of net. Works fine if you don't mind SUPER LOUD!!! After 5 minutes my nieghbours on both sides were glaring at me over the fence. Lol.

The target at the back of some nets has the same effect.

[Hacker James]

Just for heck of it, I took a look at the "Return Net" which uses a design feature of loose net. If you get one with a "target" it appears to be nothing more than an extra rectangle of netting with a visible border. The price those things is ridiculous at around $495 or something. I saw another online (actually on one of the videos I posted awhile back) where somebody made something similar out of pvc which would be easily doable using 45 degree elbows. Kinda an "s" shape if viewed from the side.  Instead of using poly, I found a large rectangle of sun shade which is not being used so I will commandeer that. When it is struck, it doesn't make much sound at all. Mostly due to being only suspended from the top, weighted at the bottom allows it to swing a little and would lessen the impact. Even on dead solid hits, the ball will make a soft thud and drop softly straight down. So bottom line, my project will come in at under $30.  It will be larger than I need, as the screen I found  is 10 ft long and I don't want to cut it.  This ain't exactly "brain surgery" but am having a little fun tinkering. (have not even bought materials yet).

[Hacker James]

A little update on the impact tarp I built. I used a heavy, weighted, shade cloth suspended on an EMT conduit frame. This works quite well and I like the dull thud the impact of the ball makes. One problem however, although most of the time, the ball will hit and drop softly straight down, once in awhile if hit on an angle, or the shade cloth is blown by the wind so that it does not present a square face, the ball may deflect off to the side. To correct this, my intention is to use an actual #21 nylon mesh net (1 inch diamond pattern). Hopefully, I can incorporate just enough slack to "capture" the ball.   If anybody is curious as to what it looks like, you can see what I am using now in my member swings post.  I've only got around $38 invested in it so far. The new net will cost about $42.    or I might just build a new frame, and continue using the old set up as a side barrier ( for those wicked duck hooks).

[djren12]

I found an old driving net of CL for $10 and it was worn pretty bad. I just hung an old beach towell near the sweet spot and bingo no noise and it even spits some balls right back to me.

[rehmwa]

Loose Layers wins the day -

a heavy duty tarp (from Fleet Farm, or where ever) will get a hole in it eventually - but it makes a good back layer - you can pull the sides towards the golfer also so the stray shots get contained.

then just hang an ordinary blanket in front of the tarp itself - leave a gap between the layers.  Don't let the bottom of the blanket touch the ground, don't tie off the sides, just hang from the top only - it gathers shots more softly that way and is less stress on the blanket.

the soft blanket holds up better, is very quiet, and really hard shots will push back to the tarp also to help the blanket gather the ball in

I think the big mistake most make is to try to "fix" the tarp around its entire perimeter - you don't want a trampoline...you don't want to punch holes through a target.......you just want to catch and stop the balls - so the first blanket needs to be able to fold up around the ball.  with this, it even works with glancing shots and shots near the edge because it snags the ball, rather than just stops it.  Ball drops straight down as the blanket unfolds

it works great

[Hacker James]

On 8/6/2013 at 6:31 AM, rehmwa said:

Loose Layers wins the day -

a heavy duty tarp (from Fleet Farm, or where ever) will get a hole in it eventually - but it makes a good back layer - you can pull the sides towards the golfer also so the stray shots get contained.

then just hang an ordinary blanket in front of the tarp itself - leave a gap between the layers.  Don't let the bottom of the blanket touch the ground, don't tie off the sides, just hang from the top only - it gathers shots more softly that way and is less stress on the blanket.

the soft blanket holds up better, is very quiet, and really hard shots will push back to the tarp also to help the blanket gather the ball in

I think the big mistake most make is to try to "fix" the tarp around its entire perimeter - you don't want a trampoline...you don't want to punch holes through a target.......you just want to catch and stop the balls - so the first blanket needs to be able to fold up around the ball.  with this, it even works with glancing shots and shots near the edge because it snags the ball, rather than just stops it.  Ball drops straight down as the blanket unfolds

it works great

my current set up works pretty well now.  the tarp is suspended from the top and is weighted at the bottom so it swings freely. Since I added the Poly target ,while  noisy, it is loose enough to gather the ball, but as you said, I can always hang a narrow carpet runner between the target and the tarp/sun shade.. I still want to get an actual net eventually. I posted a photo on another thread.

[Hacker James]

tried my hand at laying in artificial turf. Pretty labor intensive project, but came out okay I guess.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2015 by Hacker James
remove photo

[billchao]

5 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

tried my hand at laying in artificial turf. Pretty labor intensive project, but came out okay I guess.

 

 

Looks great! Did you set up spots to film your swing from? What kind of netting did you use? Total cost of materials?

[Hacker James]

set up spots?  not really and I have found that filming my swing is not all that beneficial (to me), as I seem to be too aware of the camera. I might film a swing from time to time if I am having a particular problem to see just what it is.  I realize that I am just not going to get any better with age, just trying to maintain and have fun. The netting was purchased on line as were the 3 way corners. The pvc was from Home depot, and I attached castor wheels. The front bottom is removable. The reason I posted this photo was for comparison purposes from months and months ago. The turf was purchased from Home depot and measures 53 ft x 16 feet. Most of the labor was in preparation, removing existing grass, digging, leveling, compacting, raking over and over (did not use a sub base as you are supposed to, but the existing dirt compacted fairly well and has withstood several rain storms).  There is also about 3,000 pounds of rock laid in on the edge. It was a fun project.