Golf Practice Equipment

I rarely have time to hit golf balls at the driving range.  But this doesn’t mean I’ve given up on the idea of practicing. I’m committed to practicing and improving at home, in parking lots, on football fields, in open meadows, and in busy urban intersections.  Here is a list of good practice equipment that I recommend. At minimum every golfer looking to improve needs a mat, a net, and some practice balls.

Golf Mats

My take on hitting golf balls off of traditional mats.

I came to realize a number of years ago that the majority of intermediate and beginner golfers hit behind the golf ball.  Essentially, they (including myself) tend to hit fat or thin shots, which are both caused by this premature bottoming out.  The reasons that only professionals and top amateurs bottom out where they should (ahead of the ball) is to be explained in a future post.  But the importance of this fact is that USING TRADITIONAL GOLF MATS MAKES FAT SHOTS FEEL LIKE FLUSH SHOTS.  The rubber mat not only doesn’t feel like turf, it doesn’t act like it.  If you hit two inches behind the ball with a rubber mat, the club will bounce right on through and you’ll think you made good contact, especially with short irons.  I used to be able to hit my sand wedge exactly 100 yards to an island target at a driving range in San Diego (Tecolote) where I learned to play.  Then I would go out on the course and hti the ball fat.  The mat was giving me a false sense of achievement.  The opposite extreme is when the intermediate golfer makes the decision to hit balls off grass instead of the mats, but the driving range doesn’t have a lush hitting area so the player is hitting off dirt or mud, which is extremely frustrating because now you have  to make PERFECT contact to get any distance.  The new age mats below are a far better alternative to both the traditional hitting mat and hardpan or muddy lies.  Ideally, we’d all have good turf to hit from like the pros, but let’s be real here people.

TRUE STRIKE The TrueStrike is one of the new breed of golf mats. It uses a realistic gel that gives you the feel of hitting balls from the fairway.

TrueStrike Static Golf Mat

PORTABLE FAIRWAY PRO: The Fairway Pro has a sliding board that simulates the feel of a real fairway lie. The turf tray slides forward when the club make impact and simulates the feel of taking a divot off the fairway.


NET

BALLS

MIRROR

SHORT GAME

PUTTING
Tour Tempo Electric Putter

  • http://twitter.com/The_Golf_Geek Allan (Golf Geek)

    Oh my, you mean I’m *not* hitting them flush at the range?nnA fantastic point, and much overlooked. There are so many reasons why we as golfers can’t take our range game to the course, but this is one of the biggies, if not THE biggest reason for this. I’ll be investigating these mats for sure, thank you!nnI also really like Almost Golf Balls for off-range practice; they’re foam and you can hit them into a window without breaking it (I can confirm this after thinning one into my in-laws window…accidentally, of course) so they fly shorter distances but they remain aerodynamically true.nnMany thanks for a very informative post!

  • catherina 2011

    Golf balls will negatively affect your game. You must play the best ball of your particular game otherwise you may be sacrificing accuracy and consistency of a few meters. How do you know what the best ball for your ability and strength To make an informed decision, you should understand what the different characteristics of the ball means.nnnSeminarhotel Chiemsee