Here at Kaizen Golf - as our name suggests - we are constantly trying to improve on our product offerings for our fellow Australian golf enthusiasts.
One of the products that we have been looking at adding to our product line up is a Golf Net Target Sheet or Target Cloth.
It's basically a piece of cloth or material that is attached to the front of a Golf Practice Net and it typically has a target printed on it.
It does make a lot of sense as an accessory to your Golf Practice Net, specifically it offers the following advantages
- It gives you something to aim at - we all know that golf is a target sport and the golf swing is just a means to an end (hitting the target). So having something to aim at when practicing with a Golf Net can only be a good thing. It will move your focus to a target as well as help in giving some feedback in terms of your alignment as well as start direction.
- Similar to the above, if you are using a launch monitor - having a target to to aim at will significantly help with alignment. We all know how vitally important true alignment is when using a golf launch monitor.
- Most importantly, and this is probably the primary reason for their existence, Target Sheets offer protection to the Golf Practice Net itself. So it will significantly improve the shelf life of your actual net as it will absorb most of the impact/fraction.
So why don't we have them yet?
We have been reluctant to bring out a target cloth as an accessory to our Golf Practice Net because our experiences with this product have not been great, so we wanted to take the time to find the right product for our customers.
Before Kaizen Golf came into existence, my first ever Golf Net had a polyester type target cloth, which simply did not work, not only was it extremely loud, the straps which attached the target to the frame snapped broken after only a handful of shots (you can read more about the evolution of my set up here).
Also you only have to do a quick search on YouTube to find reviews of Golf Practice Nets which had really badly made target cloths. Here are a couple below for your entertainment - see how both YouTubers ended up taking the target cloths off.
So for the time being we have not brought a target sheet into our product line up. Instead we have a really high quality net which offers superior strength and durability - see our detailed review of our Golf Practice Net here.
The Search Begins
So as we plan out our product range for 2022, the humble target cloth has come back onto the agenda. Although there might be some dodgy products out there, we believe that the concept is really good, we just need to get the right product.
The first design that we tried was a polyester/oxford cloth product. We've initially gone with this design/material as it's very light so it will go hand in hand with the portability of our net. In addition, it has the following features
- Adjustable straps which will allow you to hang it on a wide range of golf nets. It will also allow you to adjust it to your preferred height.
- It's made from very dense oxford product, and judging by how it's manufactured, it should withstand pretty high ball speeds (unlike Mr Short Game's version).
So how did I go?
Let's go through the positives first:
- Easy attachment and adjustment - the adjustable straps were great, it was easy to adjust the length as well easy attachment with clips at the end.
- Having a target to aim towards really added an additional dimension to a practice session into a net, and the target provided instant feedback on alignment and starting direction.
- Unlike the target from Mr Short Game's net, after a few sessions with the target cloth with irons, woods and driver, I'm yet to make a hole on the target.
So far so good...but here are some shortcomings
- It was LOUD - my backyard golf practice area sounded more like a gun range - not great if you have neighbours.
- The build quality had some issues. Materials on the edges where starting to come loose after a few sessions.
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
So did the Oxford Cloth/Polyester Target Cloth make the cut? Unfortunately not - although the manufacturing quality can be improved, I'm now convinced that the material itself is too loud and we are not comfortable with putting our logo on this product.
Also if you are on the market for a golf practice net, whether you go with us or with another product, I would not recommend getting a product which offers this type of target net, especially if you need to pay a premium for it.
So the search continues and we will be testing a few more designs to ensure we find the right product for our valued customers. Watch this space... :)
UPDATE: we now have a product, see a full run down of our Canvas based product here - Product Review : In depth look at the Kaizen Golf Large Target Sheet