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I'm a beginner to this game as of the last 3 months, but I want to get more serious because the guys that I go out with are pretty good. Previously I would just go out with my buddies with no serious practice but for the last few weeks I've been going the range a few times a week. I have a few ranges that I go to that I like to practice at. The range by my work has the those turf pads and I can hit with my irons on those all day long. The range by my house does not have the turf pads, but has grass to hit off of. When it comes to the grass I can't hit the ball consistently. I'm topping the ball a lot and hitting the ball fat as well but I will still be able to get off some nice shots. I want to get more consistent with hitting off of the grass. I do plan on taking classes soon, but in the meantime does anybody have any suggestions?

Keep practicing off the grass and stay away from the artificial turf until you have your swing down well. Real grass and dirt shows off your faults and mats only mask inconsistant ball striking. If your topping and hitting low then you are more than likely changing spine angle when you are coming into the hitting zone. Try and swing smoother and relaxed and let the club work for you instead of trying to make the club the club work if you know what I mean. Sometimes when one tries to hit too hard they lift or shift off the ball which causes erratic contact; hence, a topped shot, low balls, inconsistant distance and ball flight, and once in a while a great shot. Good luck and the sooner a person gets lessons they generally are helped much quicker and have less aggravation.

Set up with the sun behind you. Watch to see if you are head bobbing.
If you are hitting both thin and fat it can mean your arms are breaking down, you are pulling down with your shoulders or coming up at the bottom of the shot (any combination included). The object of your irons is control not distance. You want to be able to hit them the same distance every time. Concentrate on a smooth swing, sliding the club under the ball and look at the spot where the ball was until the back shoulder pushes you up. Try not to force an extra yard and focus on the direction of the pin.
Good Luck.

Get some lessons! I have been playing for years and my irons were horribly inconsistent until I saw an instructor and he instilled some solid basics...it is the only way to go IMO...

I just wanted to second this advice from coralpro here. The reason you probably look decent on the mat but not grass is because when you hit behind the ball on the mat, the club will bounce or slide along the mat until it encounters the ball and then the ball takes off on a reasonably normal trajectory. And, then you think "that was a pretty good shot," especially as a beginner. Compare that with dirt/grass: when you strike the ground behind the ball on dirt/grass, the club digs in and you throw a lot of sod around and the ball goes about 15 feet-ish. Well, I don't know of a single golf course built on a mat, so you have to practice on real grass to get better.

The same sort of thing happen on the thinned and topped balls. Again, if you hit them too high on a mat, they bounce of the mat, and it doesn't look too bad. But, you just smoother them into the ground on dirt/grass, and again, the poor result.

Once you get a fair amount of experience, you'll be able to feel those thin hits and fat hits and know that even though the ball flight wasn't terrible, it was a poor shot.

As some of the other posters have said, a lesson may be a really good start. The longer poor fundamentals are ingrained, the longer it will most likely take to work them out. That said, there are a lot of people who like the personal challenge, and frankly, if you look at a lot of the tour swings there are many very good players who certainly don't have textbook swings. But, if your goal is to get better faster and/or you don't like the personal challenge of working it out for yourself, then seeing an instructor should be very high on your priority list. Like anything, shop around and find one that is good and reasonably priced. (I'll give you an example, the two closest instructors to my house: one charges $40 for an hour of one-on-one instruction and the other charges $25 for a half hour of group instruction. It pays to shop around.) An instructor will give you a solid base with which to work, give you all the fundamentals, start you on the right path, and in all likelihood save you a lot of frustrations.