Home-made low-impact mat

[wjf67]

Hi,

I built a low-impact mat as I have been suffering pain down my left (leading) side.

I thought I would share with the forum.

It incorporates two philosophies: a flexible board that will give; and a silicon gel pad that also flexes.

Materials: impact resistant plexiglass (Perspex in UK), silicon gel pad, artificial grass, contact adhesive, 4 small screws, small timber battons and some sponge.

You will also see from the pics that my fixing screws (adjoining the plexi glass / Perspex to the timber footing) protrude. This is a deliberate design feature to
hold the mat in place, onto my artificial grass surround.

I have seen these things retail for a couple of hundred £ / $. The materials cost me £30 ($35). Took 30 mins to build.

I’ve jus t started using it, and it feels like I am taking a divot after the ball. It’s a good feel too - more like grass than a mat. Longevity and robustness will need to be tested over a much longer time.

I hope this is useful.

[Shankz]

Nice, hope it ends your issues. I did something similar with a double layer of closed cell carpet padding attached to 1/2” plywood with some outdoor grass glued on top.

[dci981retro]

Hi - do you mind sharing where you got the materials from? Looking to try something similar myself!

[dudley286]

Very nice... cant wait to hear some feed back on how it has handled the wear and tear a few months down the road.

[schwame]

Very nice. How is it holding up?

[wjf67]

no problems whatsoever.

[brockndsu]

What turf are you using? I have something similar, but turf wears after a month or 2 of heavy play. Mine is a poly putting turf from Menards.
Thanks

[Daniel.Armenio]

I did something similar as well. I used a piece of turf from Synthetic Turf Depot (stdepot.com). I was able to get a remnant of the material for $1.30 a sqft and it has shown absolutely no signs of wear over 6 months of pretty regular use. https://stdepot.com/product/pro-golf-15/

[jeffreylight]

I've been looking all over for some kind of silicon gel pad like the one you used to build your awesome mat. Where do I find such a product?

[wjf67]

sorry for the delay. with the exception of the gel pad, the materials were easy to get online, through google or amazon searches etc. make sure that the perspex / plexiglass has 'high impact'. The gel pad same from China so it took about 3 weeks to arrive. Just search 'silicon gel mat, and hopefully you can source more locally to you.

[Brettster]

wjf67 - this is ingenuous, can you tell me what the sponge is used for in your build? It looks like you've glued the turf directly to the gel pad which is then screwed to the 'flexible board'. What size are the board pieces?

I could see this being very useful especially because it just lays over the top of any previous turf you have setup, but now that I think about it - would that cause some problem as it's not exactly level with the turf you're standing on? I may have to cut out a piece of subfloor/underlayment where I would choose to place these type of low-impact mats (I plan on 3 versions: fairway, rough, heavy rough) all with gel mats underneath. Also, you can buy nice size 12"x12" samples from PurchaseGreen.com - as I've done that before and they have about 50 different kinds of turf you can buy samples of.

Now, that it's been almost another year since you posted it was fine - I'm also wondering how it's holding up?

[14MPH]

I’ve been looking to build something like this too and picked up some suggestions from different places like
1) use polycarbonate not plexiglass if possible as it’s more accepting of heavy impact
2) use nylon turf and not polyethylene turf as this second one will leave green stains on your clubs
3) the sponge helps retain shape of elongated poly sheet and/or elongates the time period before sag may become an issue. Then you can easily replace the sponge if it has lost its shape.
4) fixing turf to polycarbonate - seek advice on adhesive to use as turfs with a polypropylene backing may not easily stick to polycarbonate sheet. Been reading back of different glue products at local store and they call this out specifically on quite a few products. Maybe screwing a glued turf+gel pad combo to polycarbonate sheet avoids this?

I’m still searching for Nylon turf locally so can’t speak from experience on any of this as I’ve not built one yet.

The HG strip does not have the gel pad so am curious whether that is needed or not. (Lowers cost even further if this is not needed).

[Brettster]

14MPH thanks for the research. I have some questions though about what you refer to: 1.) what do you mean the HG strip does not have the gel pad, what is the HG strip you refer to? I've seen other strips (divot action, etc) that do not have gel pad, but if you look up here for gel you will find several posts on how to make one from motorcycle seat gel, etc, and I really get the feeling that is the best way to go.

2.) That's the first I heard that polycarbonate is better than plexiglass, where do you find that material at? 3.) Does the sponge go for the entire length and width of the polycarbonate? Like to see your finished product 14MPH maybe some pics, please?

Just this past week testing out a Full Swing simulator at a local course - the mat was SOOOO HARRRDDD - I almost caused injury with 5 or 6 swings and my shoulders and elbows hurt. I know that I get relief from Fiberbuilt, and do plan on that being on my ProTee sensor and have already hit off of it and know it's perfectly fine - though I'm not sure the ball flight reacts properly on fat shots, I can live with it to save my joints....

So, that being said, I feel this type of 'gel pad' / divot action type of strip will really be useful for me, I take deep divots, and I don't want to harm my joints, or my practice by trying to 'pick the ball' off of a mat!

[14MPH]

Brettster HG = Holy Grail hitting strip - https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum...-hitting-strip sold by Gunghogolf if you want to buy it. Also picked up info from the SkyTrak FB group where earlier versions of this "DIY Divot Action" strip evolving into the HG strip is discussed. Between that and the golfsimulatorforum thread (link shared in this post) discusses some of this as well. HG does not have a gel pad from what I can see - I think the "give" of the polycarbonate sheet bending upon impact is enough. I too was going down the gel pad route and then stumbled across the HG strip. Seems much more simpler to construct on one hand (HG strip is only sold/shipped in US so I have to go down the DIY path). The sponge strips run the length of the hitting strip - the Gunghogolf website also has some pics as does the thread of the url link posted here.

[Brettster]

14MPH I've seen the HG and it's page on Gunghogolf. It looks promising, but as this thread's author mentions:

I have seen these things retail for a couple of hundred £ / $. The materials cost me £30 ($35). Took 30 mins to build

- and the HG strip runs around $150 by itself. The home-made version of this is much cheaper and includes an option for me to make one of these strips with deep-rough, or first-cut rough (or both side by side) to allow me to hit shots from different rough over time while playing in the sim, rather than every single shot being on perfect fairway-cut, which is not at all like IRL as I don't hit 100% of my fairways.

If was going to consider I might by the whole HG mat, but it's too thick for what I want to start with. I'm trying to keep my floor height to a minimum to give me maximum hitting height (around 9'6" to 9'7" should do it).... which means I'll likely just turf my entire floor with 1/2" or 4/8" pile putting turf, and something like this hitting area will have to be 'recessed down into the floor (1/2" plywood sheets on top of 2" insulation board).

[14MPH]

Lexan is the productised name but the material is polycarbonate- it’s stronger than plexiglass. Should be available in any hardware store.

[bubbtubbs]

Any window and glass retailer/installer will also be able to cut a sheet for you. I had one done for our reclaimed wood dining table a year ago because the kids are both under 3 and I figured it'd be quieter in the short term than having them bang utensils on tempered glass.