Potential very easy option to improve Divot Action, Holy Grail, etc

[stunted]

Divotaction is pretty good, but I was still feeling impact pain sometimes for heavy shots. Also bothered me because it was so loud compared to a normal mat.

So to solve this, I cut some thin foam and raised the back a tiny bit. Probably 5 degrees or similar amount to the angle of attack. This makes it so hitting the mat is like a skier landing down a ramp. The result was that pure shots had ZERO impact harshness, basically an air divot. If I hit it heavy, the impact harshness is similar to a flush shot on a normal divotaction. But I mean you still definitely know you chunked it, so I guess the goal is to go for a clean sweep with this setup. It also has the added bonus of being harder to hit since it's a downhill lie, so it could improve your ball-striking.

Possible drawbacks could be not sure how much it affects ball and club data. Might at first think it would lead to a lower launch, but I guess if you swing normally it should give you normal results since ball doesn't really compress against the ground. But it made me naturally tilt my shoulders a little down with the slope so need to remember to setup normally. And also the ball and club data should be relative to the launch monitor's level, and not the ground level right? Maybe need to position it a few mm higher. I didn't hit with the LM on, but I'll try tomorrow. But yea, could be an every session option, or just to practice more on days your body isn't feeling right.

[stunted]

Other ideas I thought of:

- Getting a FB strip, attaching a thin layer of mat on the back half of it (like Allturfmats is really thin). So heavy shots are punished and you get more realistic contact, with the benefit of the FB soft divot:

- DIY Divotaction sort of but you set the ball on the edge of it. In front of it is just a straight drop to the ground. Add thin turf on top of the ground for extra protection. A true air divot:


- DIY Divotaction with a harder plastic that doesn't flex. Then put hard foam in the back, soft foam in the middle, and really soft foam in front, so that hitting it has no digging (which I think happens with DA). Instead at impact the board will just move at a firm downward angle. Like the above picture, just imagine the ball in the middle of it, and no drop-off in front of the DIY divotaction.

[stunted]

After some tests with downward slope and the air divot, downward slope wins. On solid shots they're pretty much the same, on heavy shots impact pain is less.