Fairway pro divot simulator

[Shifty]

Got my Fairway Pro today. Dont have a ton of time, will add more thoughts later.

- Chips and flop shots feel SO MUCH BETTER on this mat compared to CCE. Very realistic feeling. Flop shots are much easier to hit (I cant hit them on CCE...too tight of a lie for me). I struggle with chipping in TGC, partly because of how tight a lie the CCE provides. Fairway Pro really feels good.

- Fat iron shots are more penalized on the Fairway pro than on CCE. I was expecting the opposite. I guess on the CCE, a club will bounce off the turf more on a fat shot and still provide decent carry. On the fairway pro, it just kills the carry on fat shots.

- Well struck shots feel about the same. I think CCE has made me change my swing to hit less down on the ball. I will need more time to say if Fairway Pro allows me to hit more like I hit on grass (with a shallow divot..I dont hit very far down even on grass).

- I will need to spend more time with it to say if it is less jarring on your body. I am playing injured right now, so every shot hurts..cant really judge it at the moment. But it was not a night and day difference between Fairway Pro and CCE. Fat shots are still much more punishing than they are on real grass.

- The turf doesnt lay flat on the fairway pro. Hopefully it will settle with use, but right now its kind of like a Divot Action turf. Its bubbled up in the middle. It might actually be a good thing, as the turf has a little extra give to it when struck.

- It seems like a nicely built item. The spring mechanism is nice and tight. No squeaks/creaks/cheapness to it.

- The bottom of both sides (hitting mat side and the side you slide under your stance mat) both have anti-skid rubber. It does a decent job. The mat did slightly move on a couple of really fat test shots. I have it sitting directly on concrete.

- I dont think I will be able to use the fairway pro with TGC. Putting with it is something I dont think I can get used to. Since it springs forward when hit, you cant put a putting surface flush with the fairway pro. Putting off a raised mat felt very wrong. Putting in TGC is pretty good, but I think a raised mat will kill all realism and make it crappy.


- Testing with a pitching wedge, Skytrak numbers were a little different with FairwayPro vs CCE. Overall distance was shorter with Fairway Pro (I think it does punish fat shots more). And I was seeing some strange curvature that I normally dont see with my wedges. A couple big 20 yard draws with a strange floaty path. I dont know if the fact that the turf is moving is throwing off the Skytrak. And I dont know if its the forward movement of the turf, or the fact that it is slightly bubbled up in the middle and drops down when struck. I am hoping the difference in numbers is caused by me not being accustomed to hitting off the Fairway pro. Hitting off a smaller surface did feel a little strange..claustrophobic in a way.

CCE = 120-125 yards carry. Very consistent 0-5 yard draw. 7-8k spin.

Fairway Pro = 115 - 120 yards. Alot more right to left movement than I normally see..0-20 yard draw. 7-8k spin.

*** Disclaimer, I only hit about 20 wedge shots to gather data and I am currently injured. I will update this when I recover, and provide the actual skytrak data. I am also not a very good golfer, so my data may not be of any value to begin with ****

Thanks for all the good info, hope it helps with your elbow. I never considered putting. So ya love the mat, but may look at other options for the putting thing. Too bad.

[Shardak]

I sent the Fairway Pro back to amazon.

In the end, I found it was not much more forgiving than my CCE on fat shots. I think the only reason it felt better than CCE was the fact that the turf doesnt lay flat. It raised up a bit in the middle, so it gives when the club hits it. Given that discovery, I think I will be trying Divot Action mats next (since that is exactly the selling point of Divot Action).

Also, I can putt on Divot Action.

[golfer1161]

I sent the Fairway Pro back to amazon.

In the end, I found it was not much more forgiving than my CCE on fat shots. I think the only reason it felt better than CCE was the fact that the turf doesnt lay flat. It raised up a bit in the middle, so it gives when the club hits it. Given that discovery, I think I will be trying Divot Action mats next (since that is exactly the selling point of Divot Action).

Also, I can putt on Divot Action.

Yes, I think the Divot Action is definitely the way to go.