With winter well and truly upon us, now is the time to buckle down and get some practice in so you come out firing once the season starts back up in the spring. With daylight hours dwindling, getting the chance to head to the driving range after work is slim and so one of the best ways you can keep your game sharp is by purchasing one of the best putting mats and working on your stroke.
The thing that makes a putting mat one of the best golf training aids around is that they will fit almost anywhere in your home. Most putting mats are around 8ft in length with some spanning upwards of 15ft. 8ft is the distance in which a PGA Tour player is just as likely to make a put as miss a put and so if you can improve from this distance and in, you’re likely to see your scores come down quickly.
Putting requires very little physical strength, speed or flexibility making it the one part of the game literally everyone can get better at. So is it worth purchasing a putting mat and do they help you improve your putting? I recently tested a wide selection of the latest mats and have highlighted some of the key things to think about when purchasing a putting mat.
They Provide A Quality Surface
Whenever I talk about indoor putting practice to people, the majority don’t actually own a putting mat and rely on finding the one part of carpet in their house in order to squeeze a few repetitions in. This is fine for a very make-shift putting surface or if you’re purely focusing on the strike or putter path but the ball is likely to wobble and roll unevenly on standard carpet. When I think about putting, I believe it’s roughly a 50/50 split between stroke mechanics and self belief. That said, it’s kind of crazy to think you’d be willing to practice on a surface that will have you guessing whether it’s you or the surface that is creating the ball to roll off-line.
The thickness and speed of carpet varies a lot, so the chances of you practicing on a carpet that replicates the speed of a true green are slim. Almost all of the best putting mats run between a 9 and 11 on the stimpmeter, so you can be assured you’ll likely reap the rewards from any pace control work you put in on your putting mat once you get back onto the golf course. If you play on very fast greens that run above 11 on the stimpmeter, I recommend the Eyeline Golf Roll The Rock putting mat. This has proved to be one of the quicker mats during my testing.
Provide A Realistic Experience
While this links back to the previous point by having a playing surface that is true to the speed and roll of a real green, there are other features on putting mats that should be taken into account before making a purchase. Putting mats vary in price and that price tends to be related to the features on offer.
The more budget putting mats such as the PuttOut putting mat are fairly basic, offering a decent surface, albeit on the slower side, and have a few distance markers across the mat. This mat comes to retail at just under $60 whereas the PuttOut AirBreak putting mat, that gives you the opportunity to practice breaking putts, is available to purchase at around the $400 mark. This clever mat has been designed with eight foot pumps to alter the putting surface so you can create any breaking putt you’re likely to face when on the golf course - even double breakers! This mat is very much at the premium end of putting mats, alongside the PrimePut putting mat which offers a synthetic grass playing surface and real-life lip out cups that replicate those on real greens. Matching up both pace and line is imperative when looking to hole putts on the course and so it should be no different in practice - even if you are inside!
Your Putting Stroke Will Become Bulletproof
Putting in the hours on a putting mat is the same as spending hours honing your swing on the range or in a golf net. You’re likely going to iron out any poor mechanics and build a repetitive and reliable putting stroke that you can rely on when the season comes back around. Many putting mats have markers on them which help you set the putter face square at address and even have lines to help you line up your feet and shoulders. The Me And My Golf Breaking Balls putting mat is a great example of having multiple alignment features for both clubface and start line.
While your putting mat alone isn’t going to transform your stroke, this putting mat actually comes with a QR code that provides you with a series of video lessons from Piers and Andy at Me And My Golf to help you along the way. You can also add some of the best training aids such as putting mirrors to your practice to really help sharpen your set-up and the path of your stroke. Once you’ve spent some hours doing this throughout the winter, you’ll be deadly on the greens upon your return to the golf course.
Gain More Confidence Than Ever
Nothing will truly replicate the pressure you come under when facing a 5ft putt on the course to beat your friends or to win the club championship, but repetitions on a good surface, where hopefully you’re holing more putts than not, will increase your confidence levels.
While at first glance it may seem as though you’re just hitting the same putt over and over again, I like to challenge myself by giving myself either a make percentage out of 50 putts or having to make a certain amount of putts in a row before I can leave the mat. If you do this with a family member or friend and you're half as competitive as me, a straight 6ft putt all of a sudden looks a little longer!
There’s no denying the answer to the main question asked at the start of this article is an unequivocal yes. If you’re serious about improving your golf this winter and want to come back sharper in the spring, then putting mats are certainly worth the investment. With around half of our shots taken on a golf course coming on the greens, it’s arguably the area of the game all golfers should spend time practicing most throughout the year and a putting mat lets you do just that. Find a mat that has the features and quality you desire and that fits in your budget and you’ll only be questioning why you didn’t purchase one sooner.
