Great video and nice set-up. I'm doing more and more of my practice into my outdoor net, so excited about hitting off a surface that's easy on the wrists. Money I save on range balls will go to one of these strips. Once you finish your reviews and I evaluate, I'll click on one of your links.
Great video! Maybe you can answer my question. I currently hit off of a country club elite 4 x 5 mat. If I bought the Carls hitting strip would that be considered an upgrade. I’ve developed some significant pain in my left (lead) wrist. Thanks.
Thank you! I have never tried the country club elite but I have seen a TON of comments about it causing lead arm pain. I do think you would be better off with the Carl's hitting strip. I felt like the advanced version still was plenty cushioned but if your pain is pretty bad and not going away you might consider the beginner version which is softer. Also I was a BIG fan of the SIGPRO Softy and will have a video on that soon.
I don't have it anymore so this isn't exact but I think it's roughly 1.5" thick total. I'm guessing the foam was 1" thick, then 1/8" polycarbonate, then putting turf that's probably 3/8" thick.
Thanks! Between fiberbuilt grass or the advanced divot hitting strip in the hotshot mat I would go with Carl’s. I would only go with the fiberbuilt grass again if my arm pain was still terrible and that’s all I could do to hit balls. Fiberbuilt player preferred is a different story though and that will be my last mat video.
Which of the strips, including fiberbuilt grass, gives the most realistic numbers as far total carry, backspin, launch angle etc. I’m using a NetReturn Pro Turf mat at the moment (on puzzle piece foam underlayer) and I think it’s giving me less than optimal (should I say correct) numbers, so looking for something ,that more approximates my real life numbers at the range and on the course. Thanks for your concsientious content.
I don’t think I can accurately answer this because I haven’t used my launch monitors outdoors enough to compare data. I know that fiberbuilt claims their player preferred mat has accurate launch conditions compared to fairway. I would think the fiberbuilt grass and holy grail would be most likely to give different numbers from real grass just because of how soft they are and the ball probably hits higher on the club face. Overall I thought the sigpro softy “felt” most realistic of the mats I tried.
I ended up keeping the SIGPro Softy which I felt was the best all around for feel and injury prevention. The absolute safest I think would be fiberbuilt grass but you give up a little bit of realism.
The holy grail is much softer and you can’t use a real tee. That doesn’t mean the SIGPRO is too firm though, it’s soft as well. Feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions about either one.
Unfortunately Carl’s isn’t making this divot action strip anymore. I would have said both are good for the joints but the Carl’s one didn’t quite have as much of a real feel. The softy has longer turf on top which gives it slightly more “turf interaction”. It’s a small difference but something that sets the softy apart.
I dropped it into my fiberbuilt grass mat because it has a slot for a 12" wide hitting strip. You either need to cut it into your floor or another mat or buy it together with the Carl's HotShot mat.
This is the only one I've seen for sand truebirdie.com/products/simulated-sand-chipping-mat-for-golf-simulator-or-bunker-chipping-practice That's probably the hard one to find. I'm sure you could find some other type of "rough" mat to use as well.
Did I miss something? You didn't talk about fat shot realism. We all want realistic feedback on such shots and Holy Grail claims realism on this but what about Carl's?
Carl’s and the Holy Grail are essentially the same except the “advanced” version of carl’s uses firmer foam. In my opinion, the firmer the mat the more you will be punished for fat shots (usually). The Holy Grail is extremely soft so if you hit behind the ball the club will still push through the foam with a lot of speed with impact higher on the face. I don’t think that’s very realistic. The advanced version of Carl’s will likely punish a fat shot more.
Great video and nice set-up. I'm doing more and more of my practice into my outdoor net, so excited about hitting off a surface that's easy on the wrists. Money I save on range balls will go to one of these strips. Once you finish your reviews and I evaluate, I'll click on one of your links.
Thank you! Glad you’re finding them helpful.
Great video and comparison!
Thank you Chris! Glad it was helpful
Great video! Maybe you can answer my question. I currently hit off of a country club elite 4 x 5 mat. If I bought the Carls hitting strip would that be considered an upgrade. I’ve developed some significant pain in my left (lead) wrist. Thanks.
Thank you! I have never tried the country club elite but I have seen a TON of comments about it causing lead arm pain. I do think you would be better off with the Carl's hitting strip. I felt like the advanced version still was plenty cushioned but if your pain is pretty bad and not going away you might consider the beginner version which is softer. Also I was a BIG fan of the SIGPRO Softy and will have a video on that soon.
Thanks for the review I'm trying to decide to buy from carls or build my own. How thick is the mat? How thick are the foam pieces?
I don't have it anymore so this isn't exact but I think it's roughly 1.5" thick total. I'm guessing the foam was 1" thick, then 1/8" polycarbonate, then putting turf that's probably 3/8" thick.
Great video! Fiberbuilt or Carl’s Hotshot?
Thanks! Between fiberbuilt grass or the advanced divot hitting strip in the hotshot mat I would go with Carl’s. I would only go with the fiberbuilt grass again if my arm pain was still terrible and that’s all I could do to hit balls. Fiberbuilt player preferred is a different story though and that will be my last mat video.
Which of the strips, including fiberbuilt grass, gives the most realistic numbers as far total carry, backspin, launch angle etc. I’m using a NetReturn Pro Turf mat at the moment (on puzzle piece foam underlayer) and I think it’s giving me less than optimal (should I say correct) numbers, so looking for something ,that more approximates my real life numbers at the range and on the course. Thanks for your concsientious content.
I don’t think I can accurately answer this because I haven’t used my launch monitors outdoors enough to compare data. I know that fiberbuilt claims their player preferred mat has accurate launch conditions compared to fairway.
I would think the fiberbuilt grass and holy grail would be most likely to give different numbers from real grass just because of how soft they are and the ball probably hits higher on the club face.
Overall I thought the sigpro softy “felt” most realistic of the mats I tried.
I see you have your ball flight setup off center. is that done on GSPro or on Foresight itself?
It’s done in whatever software you use. You can do it in both GSPro and foresight software.
what are you using more of? best for joints etc? i'm about to pull the trigger
I ended up keeping the SIGPro Softy which I felt was the best all around for feel and injury prevention. The absolute safest I think would be fiberbuilt grass but you give up a little bit of realism.
Trying to choose between the Holy grail and the SigPro Softy
The holy grail is much softer and you can’t use a real tee. That doesn’t mean the SIGPRO is too firm though, it’s soft as well. Feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions about either one.
How would you compare Carl’s divot action to SigPro Softy for both realism and joints?
Unfortunately Carl’s isn’t making this divot action strip anymore. I would have said both are good for the joints but the Carl’s one didn’t quite have as much of a real feel. The softy has longer turf on top which gives it slightly more “turf interaction”. It’s a small difference but something that sets the softy apart.
What size Carl's enclosure did you go with?
It’s 8x10.5 with the premium screen
How did you get the hitting strip to lay in flush with the mat and the turf in front?
I dropped it in my Fiberbuilt Traditional mat base and the turf in front is sitting on 1" thick foam tiles from amazon.
What is holding the mat in place? Whats underneath the hitting mats?
I dropped it into my fiberbuilt grass mat because it has a slot for a 12" wide hitting strip. You either need to cut it into your floor or another mat or buy it together with the Carl's HotShot mat.
off topic a bit but how did you setup the set practice distance on GSPro range?
There’s a slider on the top left of the screen. It defaults to 400+ yards but just grab it and slide it closer to the green.
Does anyone offer sand and rough turf options like golfzon that can be cut into standard mats for a more realistic simulator experience?
This is the only one I've seen for sand truebirdie.com/products/simulated-sand-chipping-mat-for-golf-simulator-or-bunker-chipping-practice
That's probably the hard one to find. I'm sure you could find some other type of "rough" mat to use as well.
Did I miss something? You didn't talk about fat shot realism. We all want realistic feedback on such shots and Holy Grail claims realism on this but what about Carl's?
Carl’s and the Holy Grail are essentially the same except the “advanced” version of carl’s uses firmer foam. In my opinion, the firmer the mat the more you will be punished for fat shots (usually). The Holy Grail is extremely soft so if you hit behind the ball the club will still push through the foam with a lot of speed with impact higher on the face. I don’t think that’s very realistic. The advanced version of Carl’s will likely punish a fat shot more.
Is Carl's closed now?
Definitely not. But they did stop making this divot action hitting strip unfortunately.
@@friendly_golfer Gotcha, clicked the link and couldn't buy it so I was wondering lol