Hitting Irons Off Mats

I recently published a review of the optishot golf simulator in which i described why a golf simulator is not good for those looking to hit crisp irons and wedges.

Hitting irons off mats.

This creates the sense that you ve hit it clean. As we mentioned before you don t always get crystal clear feedback from your irons when hitting off a mat. The biggest benefit of hitting off a mat is not having to clean your clubs as much reducing the wear on your clubs to some extent. When hitting a great wedge or short iron you are going to hit the ball first and then hit the ground and take a divot.

The reality is if you are swinging the golf club properly strikes off the mats should feel pure. Do not hit off mats. Obviously creating a divot is impossible when hitting off of mats without using a tee. But if you were in natural grass you d have a much different shot.

If you are hitting a long iron shot from the mat or a driver off the tee you won t notice much difference as compared to practicing on grass. If you hit it a little behind the golf ball the forgiving surface of the mat allows for a little bounce. The ball flies further off the mats. One of the most common objections to hitting off mats is that it does not do this.

If you are new to golf and learning how to hit short irons and wedges do not hit off mats. Hitting behind the ball for example doesn t result in a chunk shot. For several years i would hit terrible shots off the mats yet did just fine on the course. Hard mats can possibly affect the lofts of your forged irons honestly don t know if this is true or not but many have told me this and i see how this can be the case.

Maybe a degree off if you hit many many hundreds of balls over the winter. Another often cited problem with mats is it causes soreness and pain in a player s wrists arms and shoulders. Instead the club bounces off of the mat and you ll hit a relatively good shot. Mats are known to be more forgiving than grass.

They may not make the pure sound that tight fairways do but in your hands a proper strike will feel pure. The biggest difference from a long iron perspective is that you have a perfect lie every time on the mat with the ball sitting up cleanly. On the other hand when you re working on your swing bouncing into the ball isn t a good thing.