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  1. #1
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    May 2004
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    Hitting Down On The Ball - Range Mats

    I recently started to work on hitting down on the ball, hopefully learning to take divots and avoid hitting the ball thin. Only problem is living here in Montreal,Canada our practice facilities are a little less accomodating. Most of our practice ranges have the mats with the artificial turf. I was just wondering if it is safe or productive to be practicing hitting down on the ball using these mats. Do I risk injurying myself, and will I get a false sense of what my swing is actually doing. Any help or suggestions concerning this matter would be greatly appreciated.

    Peter

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    Mats tend to drastically decrease the amount of spin on a ball. If you are hitting tidy little draws off of a mat they will more than likely be big ugly hooks in the real world.

    Mats are great for warming up, but they don't do jack for teaching you anything.

    Use the shortest tee available and hit most shots off of that.

    Hitting down hard on a mat is really bad on the human body (wrists and hands in particular) and can even alter a forged clubs loft and lie.

    Then again, it's better than nothing in your region. Work on fairway woods and long irons and things that require less of a downward blow.

    Also, pay attention to what the range balls are looking like health wise. Most ranges only change them twice yearly and it can get awful frustrating to hit dead balls.

    At my range the balls are currently so dead that you can hit a driver that starts to fade, then hooks and then dives straight down all in the same swing. It is amusing.

  3. #3
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    I don't advise hitting on mats period, much less practicing "hitting down."
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  4. #4
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    What I want to know is how do two posters on this site have beetlejuice pics as their logos?

    What are the odds!

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Montagle
    At my range the balls are currently so dead that you can hit a driver that starts to fade, then hooks and then dives straight down all in the same swing. It is amusing.

    It's a mix of about 60/40 here for dead to good balls. It's awesome hitting solid 5 irons 175 and then a tight 110 dead duck that falls out of the air like it's been shot.

    What kind of balls are at the range there? Pinnacle Range here.....super garbage.

    R35
    "35 on the front, 50 on the back....I love this game."

  6. #6
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    Angry

    Quote Originally Posted by buddha33
    What I want to know is how do two posters on this site have beetlejuice pics as their logos?

    What are the odds!
    Well, on another golf forum, I got this message for my Beetlejuice avatar:

    "A question has been raised about your current avatar. Several members have questions as to whether the avatar is racially motivated. We reserve judgement as to the intent, but in light of the questions raised, we respectfully request you replace your avatar."

    Can you believe that?
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  7. #7
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    That is ridiculous! Why would they think it was racially motivated? Was there some discussion of race on the site?

    Regarding hitting off mats, I was hitting on a practice range that only had mats this weekend. For some reason, it put a big strain on my knee such that it was swollen afterwards. My knee has bothered me off and on before that, but there must I think the constant twisting on the hard mats must have aggravated it. Go for grass whenever you can.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by david613m
    That is ridiculous! Why would they think it was racially motivated? Was there some discussion of race on the site?
    No discussion of race at all. Just out of the blue.

    I guess some golfers are just really uptight. However, I wish that the forum's moderators would have some balls and tell these complaining members that there is nothing offensive about a black person making a funny face.

    The real capper is that I replaced the avatar with a white person making a funny face and I was told that it was acceptable. They said, "Thank you for replacing your avatar. The Moderators discussed the "just a funny face" possibility before we made our request and decided that even though it may not be racial in nature it was raising questions from other members. We, as a group, decided it was easier for you to replace the avatar than it was for us to continue to address the questions it raised."
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by david613m
    Regarding hitting off mats, I was hitting on a practice range that only had mats this weekend. For some reason, it put a big strain on my knee such that it was swollen afterwards. My knee has bothered me off and on before that, but there must I think the constant twisting on the hard mats must have aggravated it. Go for grass whenever you can.
    Yes. "Grass" won't make the the pain go away, or the swelling go down but it will take your mind off of it. It'll also make you REALLY hungry...

  10. #10
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    Nov 2001
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    I came to a discovery recently about shafts, mats, and my joints. I had used cast clubs in the past, so I didn't worry about hitting off mats. I noticed some joint pain when I had steel irons, which was improved when I went to graphite.
    Then I went to forged irons and avoided the mats, but stayed with graphite shafts.
    Later I bought a set of forged rons on e-bay with steel shafts, intending to get them reshafted in graphite. However, I played several rounds on the steel shafts, and since I never used the artificial mats because of the forged heads, I didn't get any joint pain with the steel shafted irons.
    Now, there was clearly an advantage to my wrists and elbows of using graphite shafts when I used to use the artificial mats, but now I'm beginning to think I might be able to use steel shafted irons again, as long as I use grass only. I have access to three very nice grass practice facilities within about a 10 mile radius. I really liked the feel and accuracy of the Dynamic Gold shafts when I was using them. I might go back to them in the future.

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