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Showing results for tags 'mat'.
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Hi, recently I've been hitting my irons poorly from fairway. Duffs, tops, also hitting the ball "all over" the club face. But on the driving range, I can hit bucket after bucket with almost no bad shots. (And fairway woods shors are pretty good from both mat and grass.) I know that the mat "hides" bad shots, especially duffs, but is there any drill I can do on the mats? It's not easy to find a driving range that allows you to play from grass where I live. Or can this be a mental thing? When going from practice to play? Any advice is welcome!
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Product Name: Tee Claw Product Type: Rubber Tee Replacement and Training Aid Product Website/URL: teeclaw.com Cost: $14.95 (list) Ratings (out of 5): Quality: 5 Value: 5 Effectiveness: 5 Durability: 5 Esthetic Appeal: 4 My Member Review I hate those stupid rubber tees when you’re forced to hit off mats at the range or indoors. They are never the right height; they frequently rip or get torn; and once worn, they won’t support a ball any longer. I tried to solve this problem in the past by packing the tee hole in the mat with cardboard and sticking a regular tee in that. It works, but not for long, and you have to continually repack it. That’s one reason, I was pretty stoked to try out the Tee Claw. The first thing you notice when you open the Tee Claw package is that there is more in the box than expected. (At least, if like me, you start out thinking of the Tee Claw as a rubber tube tee replacement.) There are tees (makes sense), but also four elastic strings, which it turns out help you keep from losing your tee claw. Starting with its most obvious use, rubber tee replacement, the Tee Claw is near perfect. The Tee Claw has prongs on the bottom that screw into the mat to give it some grip. Then you stick a tee into the top, and you are basically ready to go (though you might want to add an anchor line as I’ll explain in a moment). My first experience with it, I just popped one out of the pack, gave it a quarter-twist into the mat, stuck a tee in, and started hitting drivers. Though it dislodged a few times, it never went far (generally a few feet backwards) and I was able to retrieve it. Typically, the tee stayed in the Tee Claw (and didn’t even change height), but claw and tee sometimes dislodged as one. How often it dislodges depends on how well the mat accepts the Tee Claw as well as on the extent to which the player makes contact with the claw and the tee during the swing. That was indoors, though, and into a net. On a crowded range, and especially if the wind is blowing, I highly recommend using the elastic keepers that come included. The Tee Claw itself is lightweight and even a moderate wind could catch it in the air and blow it out onto the range or into your neighbors. Happily, the Tee Claw designers thought of that. Just stick one end on the Tee Claw and the other on a tee to create an anchor, then tuck that tee end under the mat. This way if the Tee Claw dislodges, and it will from time to time, you can easily (and safely) retrieve it. As other reviewers have noted, you do need to use shorter tees than normal. When inserted in the Tee Claw, the point of the tee is still sitting above the surface of the mat so you have an extra 1/3 to ½ inch of effective tee height. This can easily be addressed by using old, broken tees of appropriate, cutting down some new wood ones, or buying a small pack of shorter tees than normal just for use with the Tee Claw. (As noted earlier, each pack comes with three tees of varying lengths, but chances are you’re going to lose them at some point.) The second, less obvious use of the Tee Claw is as a training aid. With the aforementioned elastic strings, you can set up all manner of path and alignment aids for both full swings and even putts, though you won’t want to, and don’t need to, screw the Tee Claw into those felt like putting surfaces. I was able to create most of the guides that I typically set up with alignment sticks and golf balls. I suspect that many of us who use golf balls as path guides have from time to time got the tolerances too tight, clipped the guide, and fired a chili pepper or two down the line. True story, I once clipped a guide ball that hit the pile of balls next to the tee ground and sent them flying everywhere. That will shake your confidence. Substitute a Tee Claw for a golf ball, even on real grass, and you’ll be far less likely to have to apologize to those around you on the range for endangering their well being. I gave the Tee Claw all fives (except esthetics), because I think it's a great solution to the problem it addresses. That said, a few caveats... The Tee Claw is not going to wow you in the quality of materials. It's made mostly of fairly lightweight plastic, which is perfectly appropriate for what it does and the price at which it is offered. While my Tee Claw is still "like new" after a number of range trips, I suspect if I took to hitting irons directly off the top (which is an advertised feature) I suspect it would show wear fairly quickly (especially the way I'm swinging right now). But frankly, I very rarely practice irons off a tee anyway. As for esthetics, the tee claw looks a ton better than a rubber tube tee, and I'm not sure how I'd improve it. But to say it blows me away right now on looks alone, would be a lie. Then again, I don't need it to. This device is about function (and price) and it's just about perfect on both. The Tee Claw does its job with aplomb. It’s a simple, useful solution to a common pain point for golfers. If you hate rubber tube tees (and who doesn’t?) or if you need a flexible alignment guide, the Tee Claw works (and works well) for both.
