One of the key components in setting up your home golf driving range or home golf simulator is what you are going to hit the ball off.
At Kaizen Golf, we offer 3 types of solutions - full size hitting mats, portable hitting mats and hitting strips.
P.S. For more info on golf hitting mats please feel free to check out the following pages:
If you want to be stood fairly level with the ball then your options are either to get a full size mat or a hitting strip.
In this article, we'll run through the differences between full size golf mats vs. golf hitting strips and offer our thoughts on who might be suited to each style of product.
A Bit on Full Size Mats and Hitting Strips
Before we get to the compare, let's just briefly cover what each style of product is about.
Full Size Mat
A full size Golf Mat is a single piece golf mat which is large enough for the golfer to stand on and hit balls from. They typically have a rubber base and a piece of artificial turf layer on top. For a much more in depth article on this topic please check out our our golf mat buying guide.
Just imagine the type of mats they have at your your local driving range or in the nets at your golf club and you get the idea.
Hitting Strips
Hitting strips are much smaller, purpose built hitting surfaces that are inserted into a stance mat or the floor of a golf simulator set up. See below.
At Kaizen Golf, we manufacture our own Kaizen Golf Hitting Strip/Insert which offers fantastic feel of taking a divot and forgiveness for your joints, check out our detailed review of this product for more in-depth information.
Full Size Mats vs. Hitting Strips
Now we've gone through the basics of what each type of product is about, let's get to the compare.
Key areas that we will consider include cost, lefty/righty versatility, ease of set up, portability and functionality.
Cost
Compared to the cost of a good quality large mat, the hitting strip is a much more cost effective option to purchase.
Having said that, as large mats can be rotated and offer a much larger hitting area, you will get a lot more milage for the money that you pay for a large hitting mat.
In our opinion, if cost is the main factor, a hitting strip would be a more economical option for someone who's looking at a shorter term set up. However, after around 1-2 years (depends on usage) when you may need to replace your hitting strip, there might not be a clear winner between the 2 options cost-wise.
Verdict: Hitting Strip (1st 1-2 years)
Left Handed & Right Handed
As the typical large golf mat is 1.5m long, for both left and right handed players to use it, they will have to hit from different parts/ends of the golf mat.
This will become a problem if you are using a radar based launch monitor which needs to be placed behind the hitting area. It's also a problem if you are hitting into a net and want to line up your hitting area to the centre of your net.
In a lefty/righty scenario, unless you want an ultrawide hitting mat, a hitting strip which can be inserted into a slightly raised floor becomes a much better option.
Verdict: Hitting Strip
Ease of Set Up / Portability
There's no real setting up required when it comes to the full size mat. Just put it on the floor and hit away. If you want to set up an indoor area as well as an outdoor area, you have the option of moving the mat.
The hitting strip on the other hand, would require you to either fashion a cut-out on an existing large mat, or to build a raised floor (typically with foam tiles and artificial turf) for the hitting strip to be inserted into. See photos above.
Yes you can of course just drop the hitting strip on the floor and hit away, but you will be hitting from an uneven surface, which is not ideal. Also if you tend to hit it fat, we HIGHLY DISCOURAGE using our hitting strip as a portable mat as you will hit behind the mat and cause damage to the Lexan layer (see below - ouch).
So on the whole, as counter-intuitive as it sounds, the full size mat is easier in terms of set up and portability (within your own house).
Verdict: Full Size Mat
Functionality
As the hitting strip does not need to withstand the weight of the player, it can be purposely designed and built just as a hitting surface. Therefore, we can "hollow out" the bottom and make it flex with the use of Lexan to make it simulate the feel of taking a divot and protect your joints in the process. Therefore we believe, in terms of functionality, the hitting strip is the clear winner here.
Verdict: Hitting Strip
To Sum Up
As you can see, there are pros and cons with each style of product and it really depends on what your needs are. Here's what we recommend:
- Hitting Strip is best used for permanent and high quality DIY simulator set ups, especially when both left and right handed players need to be accommodated.
- Full Size Mat may be the ideal solution if you don't want to DIY and want to have the option of hitting balls indoors and outdoors.
Do you agree with our thoughts? We'd love to hear what you think! If you would like to find out more about our range of golf mats or if you have bought one and would like to provide us some feedback, please feel free to contact us, we would be grateful for your questions and feedback!