What Should I Watch For When Practicing On Mats? (Video) - by Peter Finch
What Should I Watch For When Practicing On Mats? (Video) - by Peter Finch

What should I watch for when practicing on mats? Now a lot of people practice on range mats so at driving ranges, not out on the grass, just because they are a little bit more kind of durable, and the green keepers don’t have to keep shoveling seed and growing grass to replace the increasing amount of divots. So practicing on a mat is generally a good thing; it allows a nice consistent lie, and it allows a lot more golfers to practice a lot more time of the year because you can practice of most during the winter as well, not just the summer. However there are a couple of things that you do need to watch out for that are very specific to a mat that you won’t get when practicing off grass.

Now the first thing when you actually strike slightly heavy on a mat, so slightly behind the ball, the club won’t dig into the ground like it would on grass. So you won’t get that typically fast shot, the club will go on softer surface, glide along the mat, and actually make a half this in connection with the ball. Now this can kind of build a bit of a false sense of security with some golfers who all of a sudden find that when they get onto the course, they suddenly start hitting it far and they don’t know why, because they have been hitting it so well at the driving range. So when you are practicing just try and tell the difference between a clean strike and a strike which is slightly behind the ball, and don’t try and kid yourself, if you can feel yourself sliding along that mat after a heavy impact, understand that that will be heavy in the grass, and try and adapt your technique to actually match. Another thing which is difficult to practice on a range – on a range mat is your alignment. Most range mats form a nice perfect square around the golfer. And if you are trying to aim at different targets outside the range, you’ll automatically be dragged back to weighing with the right angles of a square mat. Always try and practice some alignment sticks, always try and practice with some clubs to make sure you are not just staying in with the mat, and then when you get on to the course all of a sudden you find you can’t aim at all. So just watch out for those couple of things. A mistake would be to make – a mistake would be to think that when you are actually hitting off mats, it’s a perfect representation of what happens on the course, because they are different materials, that are more durable, and they will not react the same way as grass. So take those two things into consideration, be careful the next time you practicing on the mat not to hit too heavy as well, because if you do start hitting heavy on a mat, it kind of sends some jarring kind of vibrations through the hands, so try and sweep it away a little bit more, and don’t kind of damage your wrist. So take those tips next time you practice on a range mat, in general they are fantastic kind of thing to use, but just be careful of how they affect your strike and be aware of those the next time you go onto the golf course as well. 2014-05-30

What should I watch for when practicing on mats? Now a lot of people practice on range mats so at driving ranges, not out on the grass, just because they are a little bit more kind of durable, and the green keepers don’t have to keep shoveling seed and growing grass to replace the increasing amount of divots. So practicing on a mat is generally a good thing; it allows a nice consistent lie, and it allows a lot more golfers to practice a lot more time of the year because you can practice of most during the winter as well, not just the summer. However there are a couple of things that you do need to watch out for that are very specific to a mat that you won’t get when practicing off grass.

Now the first thing when you actually strike slightly heavy on a mat, so slightly behind the ball, the club won’t dig into the ground like it would on grass. So you won’t get that typically fast shot, the club will go on softer surface, glide along the mat, and actually make a half this in connection with the ball. Now this can kind of build a bit of a false sense of security with some golfers who all of a sudden find that when they get onto the course, they suddenly start hitting it far and they don’t know why, because they have been hitting it so well at the driving range. So when you are practicing just try and tell the difference between a clean strike and a strike which is slightly behind the ball, and don’t try and kid yourself, if you can feel yourself sliding along that mat after a heavy impact, understand that that will be heavy in the grass, and try and adapt your technique to actually match.

Another thing which is difficult to practice on a range – on a range mat is your alignment. Most range mats form a nice perfect square around the golfer. And if you are trying to aim at different targets outside the range, you’ll automatically be dragged back to weighing with the right angles of a square mat. Always try and practice some alignment sticks, always try and practice with some clubs to make sure you are not just staying in with the mat, and then when you get on to the course all of a sudden you find you can’t aim at all.

So just watch out for those couple of things. A mistake would be to make – a mistake would be to think that when you are actually hitting off mats, it’s a perfect representation of what happens on the course, because they are different materials, that are more durable, and they will not react the same way as grass. So take those two things into consideration, be careful the next time you practicing on the mat not to hit too heavy as well, because if you do start hitting heavy on a mat, it kind of sends some jarring kind of vibrations through the hands, so try and sweep it away a little bit more, and don’t kind of damage your wrist.

So take those tips next time you practice on a range mat, in general they are fantastic kind of thing to use, but just be careful of how they affect your strike and be aware of those the next time you go onto the golf course as well.