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Hi all,

so here is my problem. I have been hitting quite a bit of balls at the range. Shots seem pretty solid, distance control is pretty consistent. When I take my game on to the course, I realized that I am hitting my shot fat more often than not, taking away some yardage from what I see at the range. Obviously something is wrong with my swing. Now the range I go to only offers range mats, and I don't really get to practice on grass turfs. I was wondering if range mats are not as responsive when you hit your shots slightly fat. I am not talking about chunking the shots, but just a bit fat, just enough to make a 10- 15 yard difference for mid to long irons, which results in missing greens and such. I did not notice this problem until I switched to muscle back, perhaps the lack of forgiveness also contributed to the problem. Any advice on how to fix this? Maybe it's just my swing and the mats have nothing to do with it, but it is just frustrating that I can't repeat the shots I hit on the range when I am on the course. Please comment.

-Bubba

If you hit the ball first before the ground (i.e. take divots in front of the ball) it does not matter if you practice on mats and play on grass as they give the same results. But as you said you hit the turf before the ball and so it reduces your club speed and coat your club face with grass and soil by the time your club makes contact with the ball.

So probably focus on making clean contact with the ball? Is that the same as hitting down on the ball/ back spinning? And does that affect ball flight? This has been happening more when I am trying to hit a ball with a lower flight by placing the ball slightly on the back of my stance. And any drills I can use on the mat to practice hitting down on the ball?

-Bubba

Range mats can be very forgiving. Now that you are ready to take your game to the course, ideally you should find a range where you can practice off grass.

If you hit the ground 1st, it doesn't matter if you hit hybrids, musclebacks or cavities, you are not hitting the ball at the sweet spot.

Do you hit endless balls with just one club at the range? Rehearsal swings (rake and hit) are different from when you're on the range versus playing on the course, since you are hitting the ball once. Try simulating a round at the range but hitting different clubs based upon result. That helped me.

Hard golf mats can bounce the club into the ball when you hit just behind the ball. You could have a hard time noticing that you hit the mat first, because the shot may feel solid even though you came in low. You could either hit balls off the rubber tee and then feel and hear when the ball hits high on the face (which would be a fat shot on the ground) or you could hit off a Long Golf mat which gets out of the way of the clubhead, so it feels like hitting from a tee.

I agree with the above poster on the hard mats disguising what could be a fat hit. I had lots of trouble this year transitioning from mats to the course. But finally I am settling down.

Now I try to play more than go to a range - I'm afraid they really aren't helping me. Well - except for clubs I can hit off a tee....