Driving Range Mats: Good For Your Swing?

Driving range mats seem to be the norm today at golf courses, but are they good for your swing?

It may be a cost effective move for golf courses, but in my opinion they do not help the average golfer.

Unlike grass, driving range mats are firm causing different ball flights. Also, your feet seem to have a tendency to slip out from under you.

When hitting irons, you can't take a divot. Instead you are picking the ball which creates a shallow swing. You are creating a bad habit.

A divot is created on regular grass when you go down into the ball, striking the ball first. You can't get the same result off of artificial turf. So, you are not getting the proper feedback that you need to correct any mistakes.

The whole purpose of practice is to get feedback and correct mistakes. You are not going to be able to accomplish this by hitting balls off of artificial turf.

You want to fine tune your game instead of creating bad habits.

Another problem I seem to have is that after a session on these mats my wrists ache and my club heads are green and scuffed up.

The only positive I see might be hitting your driver off of the rubber tee. If you can control your balance then I see nothing wrong with practicing with your driver.

My recommendation is to find a grassy area to practice or play a 9 hole course. This way you won't be picking up bad habits from hitting golf balls off of driving range mats.

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