Fiberbuilt and real experiences on Fat Shots

[tonybrown32]

Hi all,

I've been hitting off of a 4x5 foot Monster Tee mat that lasted me now about 5 years.. it's been good to me, but never liked how "squishy" it is under foot.. so now it's time to replace it..

I narrowed my choices to a CCE mat or a Fiberbuilt. I don't want to do a DYI, I don't want another cheaper alternative, I don't want to spend the money on a real true-strike, and I don't care for the way Divot Action works. So it's either CCE or Fiberbuilt.

After reading hundreds of threads on this.. it seems the only real complaints on each are as follows:

CCE complaints:

• - "Penalizes" fat shots when playing sim golf by decreasing distance way more than real life even on the slightest of mishits
• - "Penalizes" players physically by causing some pain over time due to deceleration/impacts (mostly for those with very steep swings/divot takers)

Fiberbuilt complaints:

• - I have read countless times on how this mat may be "too good"... I assume meaning it's too forgiving and lets you get away with mishits
• - Putting can be a problem

Ok... for my intended use, I use my SkyTrak for range and hitting practice only. We use it 95% in the winter months in the garage here in northern Wisconsin. I don't have any Sim golf subscriptions and so will NEVER use my mat for putting, so any issues with putting are non-issues for me.. leaving only 1 real complaint about the Fiberbuilt mats... that it may be too forgiving.

Fiberbuilt at this point is in the lead. Seems like less chance of injury over time, and people seem to love the feel and overall performance. My only question is around these opinions I read about it being too forgiving.... what I'm looking for is any feedback from Fiberbuilt users here... when people say the mat is "too good/easy" does that mean:

1. When you hit a shot fat, you can't tell at all you hit it fat, the shot felt great, and the end results of the shot are still very good, so you don't realize it was mishit... or..
2. When you hit a shot fat, there is still enough feedback to be aware of the mishit, still know you did not strike it as well as you could have, but the end results of the shot/shot data are that you were not penalized much (if at all) for the bad strike

Which is it? I think I can live with #2 as long as I get at least some feedback. At a 3 hcp, I'm pretty perceptive about my how good/bad my strike was... #1 however is more concerning, as I don't want the mat to mask any strike issues, and pick up bad habits that I bring to the course in the spring.

If I will still get some reasonable feedback of my ball striking with the Fiberbuilt, I will go with the Fiberbuilt over the CCE. I have to say even with my Monster Tee mat, it's not pleasant when the mat grabbed my club on fat shots or even on good shots where I dug a little deep... never caused me pain or injury, but may some day with the CCE especially in the winter off season where we have sub 30-40 degree temps in my garage and muscles are tighter than nice summer days!

Opinions from Fiberbuilt users?

Thanks!

[wbond]

Have you had a chance to stand on CCE before? You may think it's too squishy as well, it's a pretty subjective thing. If you do go with it, I would get it from Costco if you're a member, that way you could return it easily if it's not to your liking.

[tonybrown32]

Thanks.. I have not been on a CCE either, but my plan was to do a separate more "firm" feeling stance mat and a CCE hitting strip or a Fiberbuilt performance hitting station that comes with a stance mat, hitting strip, and rubber base..

Yes Costco has the best price on the full CCE for sure! $36 or so for the 10"x36" CCE hitting strip and an inexpensive stance mat is even better... I have my current 4x5 mat on a 2 inch high platform that has caster wheels on one of the sides, so I can tilt it up, and roll it over and lean it on the garage wall so I can get the cars in when not in use... just traced around the platform with a big Sharpie on my garage floor, so I set it down in the same spot every time..

[CW35]

I would agree with #2. You will be able to tell when you hit fat shots. I tend to be more of a picker on my irons but can still tell when I hit it slightly fat. Where I saw the most forgiveness was with all the short game shots....chips/pitches/flops. You can get away with a lot more on those shots especially a flop since it's so easy to get the club sliding under the ball.

I've recently added a divot action insert and can tell that my short game needs more fine tuning with those delicate shots.

Hope that helps

[tonybrown32]

Yes, I bet that's noticable.... you can still try to pick one clean off the Fiberbuilt even when it's a "fluffy" lie if you want to, and it's also easy to slide a club under the ball when needed... but you can't try to slide a wedge under a tight lie when the shot calls for it on the divot action... always playing a tighter lie with that mat for the most part.. or at least not as easy to execute.

In some ways the Fiberbuilt actually offers a bit more shot flexibility that way...

[CW35]

I should also mention that one of the primary reasons I bought fiberbuilt to begin with is that I've had previous wrist issues and didn't want to worsen my symptoms with something like a CCE mat. I can hit shots all day w/o any pain.

[tonybrown32]

Injury is definately a consideration here too.. my body can't take the jarring that it used to. I have had some tendonitis in the past that flares up from time to time, and my daughter had a couple of wrist injuries during the tournament season this past summer, so don't want to aggravate anything for either of us over the winter months...

Closer and closer to going Fiberbuilt for all these reasons...

[inorkuo]

I was using a fiberbuilt hitting strip for a good long while and recently changed over to a diy true strike (gel under turf) because I found I was getting away with thin shots. I've spent most of my time golfing in my garage but when I do manage to get outside, I noticed that every time, I would start out hitting it thin. eventually I would adjust, but I attributed it to the very perfect lie that the fiberbuilt gives me in my garage.

[tonybrown32]

Interesting... don't hear much from users about the forgiveness of thin shots...

In general, would you say you could tell when you hit them thin on the Fiberbuilt, but the end results of the shots work work out fine? I can't imagine not being able to feel when you hit a shot even just a little thin... I always know when I hit one even a groove or two low on the face. I can however see where you might not always know you hit one slightly fat on a fluffy lie or on the Fiberbuilt due to the lower resistance of the fibers... shots a groove or two higher on the face tend to still feel pretty solid, where thin shots usually have that distinctive stingy feeling..

[inorkuo]

I can feel the thin shots in my hands but the result is much better off of fiberbuilt. I was surprised when similar feeling shots on grass wouldn't even get airborne.

[msg]

I have hit off Fiberbuilt mats at our local range and at a Golf Town store here in Canada. I currently own a CCE mat. If I would do it all over again, I would go with Fiberbuilt in a heart beat. CCE is too punishing for my liking. When I hit it flush it is nice. But when I hit it fat, forget about it. I have never feared hitting it fat ever in my life until I got the CCE mat. With Fiberbuilt, I can still feel when I hit a shot thin or fat. I never had issues with is masking my shots when I go to the real course. For what it is intended for, practice, I would say Fiberbuilt is friendlier than CCE. I actually brought my ST unit at a range that uses a Fiberbuilt mat and all my thin shots were indeed low and thin and my fat shots were all fat and lost distance but minus the pain and excess distance loss.

I am actually planning on getting a strip of Fiberbuilt and use it with my CCE mat. The other difference I noticed is that with Fiberbuilt, you cannot rest your club on address, otherwise the club will "sink" into the grass. CCE on the other hand is so lush that you will never experience that. But that is no problem for me since in real life, I don't put pressure on the club and rest it on the grass anyway.

Hope this helps you in your decision making.

[tonybrown32]

Excellent information thanks!

Yes I also thought about resting the club on the Fiberbuilt grass at address.. that might take some getting used to. I do ground the club at address but not that firmly. Will be something to think about but not sure it would be a dealbreaker... other benefits you mentioned may outweigh that inconvenience.

[cmckelvmi]

I had a similar scenario where I ended up choosing the Fiber Built Flight Deck. I have a 4' x 8' sheet of flooring that has an oval cut out for the FB. The surrounding area of the 4' x 8' has a remnant piece of carpet with padding underneath. I had bilateral tendinitis and took 12 days off in between playing an actual round of golf and 14 days off in between practicing on the ST. My tendinitis appeared to be healed after the length of time resting, plus I switched to the Fiber Built.

However, my tendinitis flared up again with the FB and I am in the process of resting again. However, I am in the range of 15-17 hcp and I am sure my tendinitis is resulting from poor strikes and not the actual mat. With you being a 3 hcp, I am sure your strikes are more often pure than not.

I don't think the FB is too forgiving, I can still feel when I hit the shot fat and I think ST displays an accurate reflection.

[tonybrown32]

For most shots, I definitely think the Fiberbuilt is less punishing... but I also know I've hit a couple sooooo badly that I impacted the bottom of the hard plastic fiberbuilt base... not pleasant but I still feel like even though it hits hard, my club keeps moving on the fiberbuilt.... kinda like hitting hardpan... with other matts, the club feels like it got a little more "stuck" and could feel that in my back more than anything..

Still loving the Fiberbuilt.. it's holding up extremely well, and have now hit easily more than 1000 shots between myself and my daughter... still looks new.

[gnomike]

"...still looks new..."

I'm sure you noticed that FB advertises that their mats are guaranteed to over 300,000 swings.... which is pretty impressive. In real life terms, though, you might find my example kinda cool... I have a dozen or so golf courses that I deal with in my business. Recently, while speaking with a superintendent , I noticed a few FB hitting strips that had been retired from range use after several years... not because of wear, but because of a range overhaul. Since I just bought a hitting strip from FB, I couldn't help checking them out. Wow. That's all I can say. I could tell that they weren't new, of course, but in terms of condition they were in amazing shape... even after years of use and being out in the elements!