Need help. I’m so confused.

[EricOtown]

I need some advice and help from the experts on here. I am brand new to launch monitors and simulator golf. Right now I just have a hitting net and mat in my garage. My mat is a Gorilla Perfection Reaction hitting mat. It seems fine as far as fairy realistic ball striking for good and bad shots but it’s destroying my body. I have severe tendinitis in my shoulders, elbows, and wrists.

I just ordered a GC2 with HMT and I want to set up a full blown golf simulator/practice area in my garage, but my set up needs to be portable because we still need to park a car and golf cart in there and when I want to play golf I will move them out and set up my golf stuff and when I’m done, i will need to break down my good stuff and move the car and cart back in. I am going with Par2Pro’s new remote control retractable 16 X 9 sports screen with impact scren, but I need a new hitting mat. I could use my current 3 X 5 mat as a stance mat and just buy a hitting surface or I can buy a new mat that would serve as both a hitting mat and stance mat in one.

I have spent countless hours researching mats and reading lots of information here, but I don’t think I have yet found the perfect solution yet.

So here are key things that I’m looking for:

1. Must be easy on my joints.

2. Realistic ball flight metrics for launch monitor for simulator golf and for training. With that said, I am willing to live with some degree of unrealistic forgiveness on fat shots if that’s what it takes for the mat to be super easy on my joints. #1 on this list is vital because if my tendinitis doesn’t get better then I can’t play golf at all.

3. Relative portable mat that I can set up and break down in a few minutes and store out of the way in my garage. I was all set on buying a Fiberbuilt 4 X 7 Performance Studio Golf Mat or the Fiberbuilt 4 x 5 Performance Golf Mat because they met my needs for #1 and #2 above, but then I read how heavy they are, not easy to set up and break down, and not really portable, so now I’m back to square one. I keep reading on here that people just used small sections Fiberbuilt hitting turf and dropped them into a stance mat, but I don’t see on their website that they sell individual pieces of Fiberbuilt. I just see combined stance and hitting matts: 4 X 5 Performance Golf mat and 4 X 7 Performance Studio Golf mat

4. I don’t want to have to move my GC2 & HMT between shots with woods, irons, wedges, and putter, although I could buy the Position Track launch monitor track by Custom Design Golf to move my GC2 & HMT parallel to my target line, but that’s an extra expense that I would like to avoid if possible, but not a deal breaker.

4. I want to be able to putt fairly accurately. I am willing to putt on the hitting surface or the stance surface, but I don’t want to have move my GC2 & HMT perpendicular to my target line to hit off my stance surface.

5. I’m not big on doing DIY projects. I’m super busy and I would rather spend the money to buy a good ready-made product made by the experts, however I am handy enough to do some basic DIY stuff if that’s definitely my best option to meet all of my needs.

6. Only righthanded golfers will be playing.

In addition to Fiberbuilt I also strongly considered Divot Action. I thought I found the perfect solution with their 48" PositionTrack™ DivotAction™ & SandAction™ System 5' x 6' Single Stance Mat with fairway, first cut, deep rough, and Sand hitting surfaces all in a single mat, then but then I read a bunch of posts on here about the divot action mats plexiglass breaking and the turf wearing out quickly.

CCE is definitely out because they’re way too hard on the joints. TrueStrike sounds great did joints, but way to forgiving on fat shots.

So I’m back to square one. What do you guys recommend?

[BWJones]

I went thru multiple mats myself setting up my simulator. I ended up with a true strike setup and am happy with it. It also comes in sections so it is “mobile” for your needs. I have GC2 and hit all my shots off the same spot. I don’t think this mat is that forgiving on a fat shot. That is better than causing issues due to a hard hitting surface.

[StuartG]

If the tendonitis is that bad, I'd recommend considering getting some graphite shafts for your irons (in addition to a better mat).

[FirGir]

I've had my TrueStrike mat for a month now and it's great on my body. I also don't think it's too forgiving on fat shots. With the help of BirTee and Tomahawk tees I can hit every shot from the same spot on the gel strip. I ended up with the Academy model which has 5 sections and I wouldn't want to break it down very often to get a car in the garage because it's heavy and a bit cumbersome to break down and put together - but that may just be me. Just buying the hitting strip may be an option tho. My prior mat, which was really squishy, actually caused residual pain in my feet too and that's why I chose not to use it as a stance mat. The old mat is now catching balls as they drop from the screen.

[Mike90210]

If you read more on this forum, many will recommend the a Fiberbuilt mat if you have experienced injuries before. I would recommend them personally as well. Best of luck in your search!

[EricOtown]

If the tendonitis is that bad, I'd recommend considering getting some graphite shafts for your irons (in addition to a better mat).

Thanks for the advice. I’m not sure how foregiving they are for my joints, but I already have some pretty high-end graphite shafts for all of my irons, but they aren’t traditional graphite so maybe that’s an issue. For all of my irons I have Aerotech SteelFiber i110 regular flex shafts which have a traditional graphite inner core with a ultra-thin outer layer of steel carbon filament micro-fiber.

My fitter told me that the SteelFiber shafts have the same joint-friendly vibration dampening of typical graphite shafts, but the ultra-thin steel micro-fiber coating provides more consistent ball flight that is typical of traditional steel shafts. According to him you get the best of both. Now I realize that is a marketing pitch and it may or may not be 100% accurate, but all I cared about at that time I bought my new clubs, was the fact that I hit the ball the better with the SteelFiber shafts than all of the traditional graphite and steel shafts that I tried during my fitting.

I just made a substantial investment in a full set of SteelFiber stafts for my new PXG 0311XF irons just a few months ago, so I will start by getting a new joint friendly mat and see how it goes with my tendinitis.

I think the other factor that is a major contributor to my severe tendinitis is the fact that I am 45 years old and I didn’t play any golf for over a decade. I just started playing again 3 months ago and I caught the bug bad. So in the past 3 months I’ve been going to the range at least twice a week, hitting balls in my backyard and garage off my mat at least 4 days a week, and playing a full round about twice a week.

So I’m clearly suffering from a serious case of overuse, compouned by a very unforgiving mat. Also with me being very rusty, I’ve been hitting a lot of fat shots digging holes to China on my mat and on the hard ground that we have in Florida this time of year when the grass is thin in many areas of the fairway.

[EricOtown]

Thank you for all the input.

Have any of you just placed. hitting strips of Fiberbuilt or TrueStrike into a cutout section of your stance mat?

My current hitting mat is only a few months old and it’s on great shape. It has the perfect amount of cushion to serve as a stance mat and i can use real tees with it. It’s also super quick and easy to pick it up and lay it on the side wall of my garage out of the way.

I think the optimal solution for me might be to cut out a section of my existing mat and replace it with a hitting strip of Fiberbuilt or TrueStrike, but I’m not sure if that’s possible because of the plastic tray mounting systems that they both use.

Hell, if I’m just buying a 24 X 12 or 36 X 12 hitting strip, I would probably buy a strip of both the Fiberbuilt and True Strike. I can try them both and see which one works best and keep the other one as a backup.

Has anyone done this with a Fiberbuilt and/or TrueStrike and if so can you share a little about how you did it and any DIY work that was required? Where did you buy just Individual sections of Fiberbuilt and/or TrueStrike vs. an entire hitting mat with the mounting tray, stance section, and hitting section?

Thank you guys again for alll your help.

[EricOtown]

Just spoke to Teresa at FiberBuilt. She was extremely helpful. You told me that they no longe use the cumbersome and complicated mounting system with rubber and polystyrene panels connect by zip ties. She said they use simple rubber panels connected by rubber inserts. She said their 4 X 7 and 4 X 5 Performance hitting stations can be assembled and disassembled in just a couple minutes. If I get tired of assembling and disassembling my mat every time I want to play in my garage, I can always mount the rubber base panels to a piece of plywood with screws and then I can move the entire thing as a unit.

She also said that she can sell me a FB hitting strip for $219 for 3 X 1 and $249 for 4 X 1 and it should work fine inserting it into a cutout in my existing mat. I think I’ve decided start with this relatively low cost solution. If I really like FB grass then at some point I may upgrade to one of the complete Performance hitting stations.

If I can also do this same hitting strip into a cutout with truestrike, I might also buy one of those and try it out head to head against the FiberBuilt.

[Mxwoodman]

I have both Fiberbuilt or TrueStrike strips in CCE mat.
I used a multi tool saw to cut out a hole for the strip, but you can use sheetrock knife.

TheTrueStrike gel mat is 3/4 to 1" wider than the Fiberbuilt both about the same length.

I got the Fiberbuilt mat from fiberbuiltgolf.com and forgot where I bought the

TrueStrike but there are a few places you can buy it from online. You'll need to call

fiberbuiltgolf to get the insert.

[EricOtown]

I have both Fiberbuilt or TrueStrike strips in CCE mat.
I used a multi tool saw to cut out a hole for the strip, but you can use sheetrock knife.

TheTrueStrike gel mat is 3/4 to 1" wider than the Fiberbuilt both about the same length.

I got the Fiberbuilt mat from fiberbuiltgolf.com and forgot where I bought the

TrueStrike but there are a few places you can buy it from online. You'll need to call

fiberbuiltgolf to get the insert.

Thanks. Which one do you like better in terms of easy on your joints and also accuracy for good and bad shots?

Has as anyone used the FiberBuilt Rough insert?

I’m contemplating whether to use 3 FB fairway inserts or use 2 fairway inserts and 1 rough insert?

I guess if I went with the latter, I would have to move my GC2 & HMT each time I hit off the rough or I could buy or make a track system so that I don’t need to worry about the target line adjustment.

The only other issue that im not sure about is the fact that my existing mat is only 5’ X 3’. If I put the FB insert at the far end of the mat closest to my GC2, I’m not sure that I would have enough room to hit teed up driver and wood shots off the area of my existing mat closest to the FB and GC2. It would be really close because my driver has a 45.5 inch shaft.

The other option would be to leave about a feet of my existing mat closest to the GC2 for teed shots and putting and place the inserts of FB closer to me, about 12 inches from the edge of the my stance closest to the GC2. So i would have the GC2, then 1 foot of stance mat for, then 1 foot of FB grass, and then 3 more feet of stance mat.

[Mxwoodman]

Well I had a frozen shoulder from tears in rotator cuff and it took around year before I could hit balls, I still have

rotator cuff issues I can still play. I really like the CCE mat but my shoulder hated it. I had the TrueStrike complete mat before and it's ok but gave it away, but I started again with the TrueStrike it's ok and it seems ok on my shoulder and I used it for a year, but I wanted to try the

FiberBuilt, I'm glad I did, it seems way better on my shoulder - I like how slows the ball speed down on fat shots without the punishment like the CCE mat.

I have two mats together one to stand on and other to hit off of. I have my GC2 on the hitting mat.
I think you might want to get one of the FiberBuilt 7' wide mats instead of cutting in a insert in 5x3 mat, not sure how heavy it is, maybe just buy the insert put it in the existing mat and buy another mat to stand on.

I don't think the rough insert would be needed the sim software is already adding some % of penalty to the shot.

[StanMI]

I have three mats. 5 STAR Mat, bought one at an indoor driving range and the Fiberbuilt.

5Star mat was advertised as "The only mat that lets you hit, down and through, the ball". I never got "down and through" the ball before it bounced the club so hard back up at me it killed my wrists and shoulders.

Driving range mat was great for disrance but it was so hard on anything even slightly fat (I hit that shot a lot) it hurt my back.

Fiberbuilt mat (I can't remember anything difficult or cumbersome to assemble) is perfect foe me. To me it represents the closest thing to hitting off real grass.

YRMV.......JMT's

[StuartG]

My fitter told me that the SteelFiber shafts have the same joint-friendly vibration dampening of typical graphite shafts, but the ultra-thin steel micro-fiber coating provides more consistent ball flight that is typical of traditional steel shafts. According to him you get the best of both. Now I realize that is a marketing pitch and it may or may not be 100% accurate, but all I cared about at that time I bought my new clubs, was the fact that I hit the ball the better with the SteelFiber shafts than all of the traditional graphite and steel shafts that I tried during my fitting.

Well "the best of both worlds" is a marketing pitch - but he's right about the steelfibers being generally as joint friendly as most other graphite/composite shafts. There is one caveat though, they do tend to run a bit stiff to flex and for some people (small percentage) a stiffer shaft can make them feel like they have to swing harder to load the shaft - which could put additional stress on the tendons. Unlikly the case if they feel good to you but it's something to be aware of.

[EricOtown]

Well "the best of both worlds" is a marketing pitch - but he's right about the steelfibers being generally as joint friendly as most other graphite/composite shafts. There is one caveat though, they do tend to run a bit stiff to flex and for some people (small percentage) a stiffer shaft can make them feel like they have to swing harder to load the shaft - which could put additional stress on the tendons. Unlikly the case if they feel good to you but it's something to be aware of.

Thanks. Makes sense. I’m not sure if it’s because of my steelfiber shafts, but I definitely swing the club too hard. I take a few perfect tempo and speed practice swings and then I proceed to try to kill the ball and more often then not this causes me to hit the ground before the ball, skull it or top it, or hit off the toe of heel.

I’ve been working hard to swing at about 75% power and have good tempo on my back swing. For me it’s easy to do when practicing, but very hard to do out on the course when my mind keeps telling me I need to kill the ball to get max distance.

[EricOtown]

Update: I ordered a 35” FiberBuilt grass insert. I am planning to try it first by just placing it adjacent to my 3 X 5 hitting mat and using the FiberBuilt for irons and wedges and use my existing mat with real tees for woods. From what I hear the 36” FB insert is heavy enough that it will be stable and won’t move around. But if that downstairs work, I will cut out a section of my existing mat and insert the FB grass.

[frodaddy00]

When I first got my sim I also liked the idea of wooden tees being able to poke them into the ground. Then reality hit me. Those tees fly all over the place and are sometimes hard to track down.

A lot of people end up using plastic/rubber tees that just sit on top of your mat. Tomahawk tees are a good example but there are more.

edited: Actually Tomahawk tees will NOT work with Fiberbuilt..sorry I didn't read carefully. I use rubber tees that sit on top of my Fiberbuilt with no issue.