Range v grass

[pieface]

Does anyone on here struggle hitting from range mats? I've read many posts where people say you can get away with a bad shot more on mats but for me I find the total opposite.
I am not a very good golfer but my performance is ten times better on the course that it is on the range, does anyone else find this?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Depends. I do find a club can slide on a mat and a shot that would be fat off grass will skid and give a half decent strike. Grass is the best way to practice if you are lucky enough to have a club with a grassed practice area or a range that has a grass area you can use. No hiding place in terms of strike off grass and a good way to learn a variety of shots

 

[spongebob59]

Luckily one of my local ranges has both.
The only downside is that they sand it heavily so I won't practice with my game set there and have an older driver and fairway for this.

 

[duncan mackie]

If you accept that there's no right, or wrong, AOA with irons (other than 'slightly down at impact') it follows that someone who has a steeper angle will struggle on a tight unforgiving surface - whilst someone with the shallowest won't.

I agree 100% with Homer, although I might add soft grass. Firm grass can be as forgiving as a matt with a shallow AOA.

The real issue with mats is that it's easy to get into bad habits; especially if you don't cross over to the real thing enough!

 

[apj0524]

I find that mats mask a poor shot with a hybrid or fairway wood more than an iron, in my experience a cleanly struck iron of a mat has a different sound than a poorly struck iron shot, I can definitely hear when I am catching my irons a bit fat at the range

 

[jim8flog]

I am someone who takes fairly substantial divots. Therefore the shortest club I will use on a range mat is a 6 iron (I only take smallish divots with mid irons).
My problem with mats is that they alter the way I strike the ball as I wish to avoid shaft brakeage. I also tend to use a practice club on them rather than my playing clubs.

 

[PJ87]

I cant wait to test my new range in the summer. It has a bit of range you can use that's grass but in the winter is a bit of a bog.. so looking forward to the summer to grass practice

prefer practicing my chipping on grass. However in this sense im lucky, the range has a chipping green on grass and the par 3 course so can do real life situations out there if I want

Irons and Driver I don't mind grass or mats

 

[hines57]

Depends. I do find a club can slide on a mat and a shot that would be fat off grass will skid and give a half decent strike. Grass is the best way to practice if you are lucky enough to have a club with a grassed practice area or a range that has a grass area you can use. No hiding place in terms of strike off grass and a good way to learn a variety of shots

+1 for this

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Depends. I do find a club can slide on a mat and a shot that would be fat off grass will skid and give a half decent strike. Grass is the best way to practice if you are lucky enough to have a club with a grassed practice area or a range that has a grass area you can use. No hiding place in terms of strike off grass and a good way to learn a variety of shots

I agree with you, Homer.

Grass is best. I find range mats encourage me to hit down on it too much, meaning that then on grass if I don't get the contact perfect I dig in behind the ball.

There is a range near my in-laws that has a really good grass range area that is open all year. The soil is mostly sand because of how the range is maintained, which although not great for the clubs (doesn't bother me as mine are a bit old and tatty anyway) is very good for practice as it shows up if you've caught the ball even slightly heavy. I use that range as a good acid test of whether any work I have done on the range over winter has paid off as it's a far more realistic test of my striking.

 

[pinberry]

Seems a lot of you complain that a fat shot on a mat will still "fly", compared to the same shot on a grass range. Try to practice with a towel / tee / something thin positioned 3/4 inches behind the ball - it will give you immediate feedback on fat shots. Plus, it's a great way to learn to hit ball first.

 

[Orikoru]

Does anyone on here struggle hitting from range mats? I've read many posts where people say you can get away with a bad shot more on mats but for me I find the total opposite.
I am not a very good golfer but my performance is ten times better on the course that it is on the range, does anyone else find this?

True of me as well. It wasn't always true, but at the back end of last year I had two incidents in the space of a couple of weeks of going to the driving range and getting the shanks something awful - which is not something that ever happens to me on the course. In fact in between those two range sessions I had one of my best rounds of the year. Consequently I've pretty much stopped practising at the range altogether.