Heavily padded ground - Truestrike, Fiberbuilt or others?

[cheeseburger1]

Almost done with planning my first simulator built - last major item on the list is the hitting mat.

Room has wood flooring and will be layering 2” gym mats, plus 2” turf on top of that. Hitting mat will be placed on top of all that. In short, have quite a lot of absorption underneath the hitting mat.

Highest priority is to prevent injuries, with realistic feedback from strikes a close second priority.

In this situation - would I need a truestrike or fiberbuilt to achieve that or could I get away with a lower cost option? And among the premium options, would fiberbuilt or truestrike (these are the only 2 I have easy access to) be a better option?

[jasonreg]

There are quite a few recommendations on the site if you search around a bit. Personally I have used both the fiberbuilt grass series and the Bullseye hitting strip. Both are very well designed and quite excellent wrt to the injury prevention priority. Personally I would give the edge to the Bullseye hitting strip based on cost and the way the club sits on the surface during set-up, but either would be a great choice.

I will say that any of the high quality hitting strips are quite thick (almost 2 inches in some cases) and I don't think you would be pleased with the results just placing the strip on the top of both gym mats and turf. My (strong) recommendation is that you consider cutting the hitting strip into the turf, and adjusting height to get as level a surface as is reasonably possible. Again, the hitting strips you mention (and specifically the ones I mentioned) are designed to prevent injuries without the extra padding.

My two cents.

[cheeseburger1]

Appreciate that. Interesting to learn that too much padding might not lead to the best results!

[Timmy5under]

2" gym mats AND 2" turf? I'll be honest, I didn't even know they made that but I'm guessing they can't be cheap. In my opinion you're going about this the wrong way by spending the money below and settling for a lower cost hitting mat. The high end mats are designed with realistic hitting and player safety in mind. If you check this site there are a lot of threads on what the safest mat is, Fiberbuilt is one that seems to come up most often. I bought the Player Preferred series and built my base up to that height, roughly 1.5", hit countless balls, and have no issues. The downside is that they do cost so much but if you surf this site you'll see a lot of guys who use strips and have just as much luck with them.

[Dax]

Fibrebuilt and Truestrike have hard plastic bases. Thus, your extra padding would likely not help.

[TGNgolf]

There are quite a few recommendations on the site if you search around a bit. Personally I have used both the fiberbuilt grass series and the Bullseye hitting strip. Both are very well designed and quite excellent wrt to the injury prevention priority. Personally I would give the edge to the Bullseye hitting strip based on cost and the way the club sits on the surface during set-up, but either would be a great choice.

I will say that any of the high quality hitting strips are quite thick (almost 2 inches in some cases) and I don't think you would be pleased with the results just placing the strip on the top of both gym mats and turf. My (strong) recommendation is that you consider cutting the hitting strip into the turf, and adjusting height to get as level a surface as is reasonably possible. Again, the hitting strips you mention (and specifically the ones I mentioned) are designed to prevent injuries without the extra padding.

My two cents.

I was trying to do my setup a light budget and it comes up and between uses, so much different use case than you…

But I tried everything. Got sort of addicting, haha. I would second the Tartan Turf Champion / Bullseye hitting strip. If you contact Tartan, they can connect you with a local rep and can you probably see or demo the product ahead of time. If you building a permanent sim, either cut a hitting strip into set up or get the Fiberbuilt or Tartan base with replaceable hitting strip. Based on posts from jasonreg you can interchange the bullseye and Fiberbuilt hitting strip, so you could have options too if you’re unhappy after a while

I would trust Fiberbuilt is the ultimate Nth degree of impact protection, but you sacrifice some realism. Tartan/Bullseye is not far behind and it play more naturally… so wins for me too. I went with the 5 x 5 full mat though

[cheeseburger1]

Thanks folks - great info for me.

Original intention of going with lots of padding was to reduce noise (in an apartment and don’t want to disturb the neighbours too much). Looks like it won’t help with cushioning impact much and could even be detrimental and will experiment a little

Appreciate the suggestions on mats also. Will go with a premium mat. Looks like these are generally quite solid and hard to pick out a clearly superior one. Might come down to other factors such as cost and aesthetics then!

[Stetson]

That base is crazy! I can’t imagine the gym mat is doing much under turf that thick.

[cheeseburger1]

That base is crazy! I can’t imagine the gym mat is doing much under turf that thick.

Have a buddy that owns a business supplying all sorts of floor overlays and asked for the thickest stuff he could find!

Will report back on the results

[WaffleHouseTour]

If you are still taking input- I’ve had the True Strike set up for three years. Really like it. No injuries or pain. Definitely tell when I catch one fat - no faking it. The unit sits nicely in the middle of my putting green (hit outside into a net that sits on the green).

[cheeseburger1]

Haven’t pulled the trigger on any yet and definitely appreciate the input!

If you are still taking input- I’ve had the True Strike set up for three years. Really like it. No injuries or pain. Definitely tell when I catch one fat - no faking it. The unit sits nicely in the middle of my putting green (hit outside into a net that sits on the green).

[darbysan]

I'm just getting my sim started, but did a lot of research on mats because I suffer from Golfer's Elbow. I finally settled on the Mega Mat. It's thick ( 1.75"+), has a thick foam base, holds a regular tee, and provides a good feel. No issues so far with the elbows. One feature I like about this one is that it does not transfer any of the "Green" mat material to the club, like you might find on some of the cheaper models. Worth adding to your list for research.

https://simturf.com/product/mega-mat/

[darbysan]

I was also thinking about your being in an apartment with wooden floors. The sound of the ball impacting the floor after hitting the screen could drive the people below nuts. For that reason, I understand the need for the thick pads on the floors. If you haven't chosen a screen yet, you might consider something that captures the balls, rather than lets them drop. I had a Spornia Net for a while, and it was excellent at not letting the balls hit the floor. Not as classy as a full sim build, but practical, especially from a ball noise point of view. Net-return also comes to mind, and I think they have a simulator screen build as well.

Whatever you choose, please return and let us know how it works out.

[cheeseburger1]

I was also thinking about your being in an apartment with wooden floors. The sound of the ball impacting the floor after hitting the screen could drive the people below nuts. For that reason, I understand the need for the thick pads on the floors. If you haven't chosen a screen yet, you might consider something that captures the balls, rather than lets them drop. I had a Spornia Net for a while, and it was excellent at not letting the balls hit the floor. Not as classy as a full sim build, but practical, especially from a ball noise point of view. Net-return also comes to mind, and I think they have a simulator screen build as well.

Whatever you choose, please return and let us know how it works out.

Absolutely minimizing noise is critical in my setup. Currently going with a thick archery net and curtains behind, going well but still experimenting.

Will definitely share more once build is complete!

[TGNgolf]

I'm just getting my sim started, but did a lot of research on mats because I suffer from Golfer's Elbow. I finally settled on the Mega Mat. It's thick ( 1.75"+), has a thick foam base, holds a regular tee, and provides a good feel. No issues so far with the elbows. One feature I like about this one is that it does not transfer any of the "Green" mat material to the club, like you might find on some of the cheaper models. Worth adding to your list for research.

https://simturf.com/product/mega-mat/

FWIW, I contacted Simturf with my search and they pushed the EZ Tee over their own mat... not sure why? haha