Hitting off a driving range mat

BrianD3

If you hit off a driving range mat (no tee) is it more or less forgiving of an imperfect strike than if you hit from a good lie on a good fairway. Also if you hit a shot "fat" off a mat is there a risk of damaging the club.

I am talking about relatively hard mats which are like a carpet with a bit of padding underneath. Some other mats are more like a fluffy doormat and the balls tends to sit up more on those.

stockdam

In my opinion hitting off a mat is much easier than hitting off the fairway. If you hit slightly behind the ball then you'll get away with it on a mat especially with a fairway wood. However do the same thing on the fairway and the ball will go nowhere.

Hitting off a tee is easier and more forgiving. Unless you need to build up confidence then forget a tee at the driving range unless it's for the driver.

You'll not damage your club by hitting the mat first (unless you really try but then you're more likely to damage your wrist first).

ShriekingSheet

This goes double for wedges.

Practicing pitching from a mat is more or less pointless IMO. I find you get steep and will find it hard to hit a bad one because the club just bounces up into the ball. Then you take this steep move onto a course and it just chunks it.

Other than that though, for full wedges up to Driver a range is a good place to practice.

ridonkulous

Mats and driving ranges in general are bad for practice. The restrictive nature of driving bays and the forgiveness of the mats are not good for anyones game. Unfortunately there is not much else to work with in this country. Some courses have excellent grass range facilities but these are sometimes not open to the public and ones that are open to the public are open to adverse weather conditions which means that they are only usable about 3 times a year.

In my experience after a session in the driving range peoples swings tend to get steeper with every club in the bag not just a select few and once again this is due to the lack of space in the bays aswell as the mats. So what was the question again?

The lofts and lie of your clubs will be hugely affected by the mats. I dont remember the exact statistics but its something like 0.1 degree of loft is lost when you hit a shot fat on grass. I would imagine its alot worse when it is done on a driving range mat.

BrianD3

Thanks lads. Here are some more comments on this
http://www.grouchygolf.com/2006/06/avoid-golf-on-driving-range-mat.html

I find it impossible to believe that 0.1 degree is lost off a club everytime it's hit fat! I have had clubs for over 10 years, if say I lost 0.1 off the 3 iron every time I hit a fat shot it'd be a 0 iron or less after 10 years!

ShriekingSheet

BrianD3 wrote: »

I find it impossible to believe that 0.1 degree is lost off a club everytime it's hit fat!

you're right not to believe it

because it's complete anus-talk

ridonkulous

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

you're right not to believe it

because it's complete anus-talk

Sorry, maybe I should have been clearer. What I was really getting at is that a cavity back iron will not be affected in any great manner. A muscle back iron will be affected by a percentage of a degree. And a blade iron will be moved like butter if hit fat and people that play with these types of irons generally get them checked quite regularly because of this.

I dont appreciate comments like above from anybody, i dont mind anybody refuting my comments in anyway at all but not in the manner it was done above. Long story short, ShriekingSheet, shove it up your pipe and smoke it.

stockdam

I agree that hitting of mats encourages you to be a "picker" - to pick the ball off the mat cleanly. On the course you want to hit the ball then down through the turf.....this isn't easy on a mat as you may end up with a sore wrist.

If you really want to improve your striking then try hitting off a damp beach (if you live near one and can do it safely). If you hit behind the ball then you'll see the effect most dramatically. I'd be careful though as heavy sand could be bad for your wrists.

MisterAnarchy

Golf is meant to be played off grass and grass only.
Those mats are crap.
I just go to the practice ground and hit there ,off grass.
Went to a driving range once,never again,ruins the clubs.
I do my nut in every winter when my local club roll out the mats.
They are about 20 years old and like something youd see on a doorstep,fecking appalling.

copacetic

Shrieking, lets keep comments useful and helpful if at all possible. Ridonkulous, if you have a problem just report the post. Don't let anyone rile you up and get you banned for responding to them.

more tea vicar

I can't get out of the habit of not getting less than 100 balls on a driving range and knocking the merry shíte out of them with a 1 wood as hard as I can in the quickest time poss.

All the losing yer stance business to re-load the ball is annoying and wondering whther there are any driving ranges with auto-matic ball tee loaders?

Would make the job a lot easier, and I reckon ye could whack 100 balls in about 2 mins if it were all automatic and compare the ball's trajectories a lot easier in the process, as they fly past the 300 yard sign.

NY152

Mostdriving ranges have the electtrical mats, the one by the airport just got them in last week, it makes it alot easier to concentrate konwing u dont hafta bend down all the time!!!