Farway Mats

LOS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2015
Local club/country
England
#1
Due to the groundkeeping staff no longer being able to use their normal insecticide to kill off "Leaterjackets" the commitee decided that on a "Voluntary" basis we would use faiway mats to reduce the number of divots and hopefully reduce the damage caused by birds looking for the leatherjackets. The starting date was today and they have been issuing mats free of charge https://www.fairwayproductsonline.co.uk/winter-fairway-mat/multimat .I took one out to the practice ground this morning and hit quite a lot of hooks with my 6 iron using the flat side and was much better with the other side though it felt like I was hitting from a slight uphill lie. It will probably take a while to get used to this.
Does anyone else use these on their course in the winter?
 

zombie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2012
HCP
Dunno
Local club/country
Craigmiller Park in Edinburgh
Irons
Need replaced
Driver
Working well
#2
Not my course fortunately LOS. I realise I'm lucky to play a links course that rarely has a winter tee, let alone a winter green in sight. Some other courses close to me have introduced mats though - Dunbar for one which is also coastal links.

I've never liked mats and would rather not play to be honest.
 

PaulBoy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2012
HCP
WHS 7.0
Local club/country
Army GC
Irons
Mizuno Pro 223 (4-AW) Modus3 120s
Driver
Titleist TSi2 Graphite Design Tour AD XC-50s
#3
Not sure it would stop me playing completely (like the Z man!) but I wouldn't be too impressed if my clubs adopted this policy
It does remind me of my first experience at Ballyliffin GC in Donegal (host of this years Irish Open) - I took my son & 2x pals
from work over for a mid-week break there several years ago & had never played the course before - It was end of winter /
beginning of spring - When we booked in, the Pro told us "Winter rules are in play - Along both sides of every fairway there
is a white line - If your ball is between the white lines (i.e. on the fairway) you have to place your ball at the nearest point
outside the white line (i.e. off the fairway) and play from there!" - To this day I have never played anywhere where this version
of winter rules was played? - That said, when I have played Ballyliffin away from the winter months, the fairways have always
been in fantastic condition, as was reported at the Irish Open...
Paul
 

DCB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2009
Location
Midlothian
HCP
15
Local club/country
Midlothian, Scotland http://www.merchantsgolf.com
Irons
My ReHab Bag - Mizuno JPX 900 HM 5-GW A Shafts, JPX EX 4H, JPX 900 5 & 7 Wood Orochi RL Shafts.
Driver
JPX 900
#4
We used mats like the one in the OPs post, not great, but, they did save a lot of damage to certain areas of the course. best mat I ever had was an offcut of 40mm 3G carpet from a sports pitch we had laid at one of our centres. It was like playing off a lush fairway. I could play almost every club in the bag off that mat. Someone eventually liberated it when I wasn't looking :-(
 

HAIRY ESSEX BLOKE

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Location
Fabulous Frinton on Sea ESSEX
HCP
12.2
Local club/country
Fabulous Frinton on Sea ESSEX
Irons
MP53 4-PW MPT 10 51 & 54 deg various fairways & hybrids plus MX23, MP18MMC, MMC hi fli CLK hybrids T7 wedges
Driver
Mizuno MX700 JPX EZ ,GT & ST180 & ST180G
#5
I found a tool called Divotend it looked strange, but is R&A approved and strange as it seems you do not change your swing to use it and you actually enjoy more spin it seems. The best device I have seen and used.
 
Likes: PaulBoy

PaulBoy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2012
HCP
WHS 7.0
Local club/country
Army GC
Irons
Mizuno Pro 223 (4-AW) Modus3 120s
Driver
Titleist TSi2 Graphite Design Tour AD XC-50s
#6
I found a tool called Divotend it looked strange, but is R&A approved and strange as it seems you do not change your swing to use it and you actually enjoy more spin it seems. The best device I have seen and used.
Looks a lot better than the multimat in the original post - See HERE
I like that you can use a tee with it - Some of the mats you have to use round here in winter can be a nightmare to tee the ball up on (?)
Paul
 

LOS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2015
Local club/country
England
#7
That looks a better size to carry round but I doubt that the club would pay the extra for those. We are allowed one initially and if it breaks they will replace it so they have bought, or prepared to buy, a lot of these. There are 2 Tee holes, one for castle type tees. mat1.jpg mat2.jpg
 

HAIRY ESSEX BLOKE

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Location
Fabulous Frinton on Sea ESSEX
HCP
12.2
Local club/country
Fabulous Frinton on Sea ESSEX
Irons
MP53 4-PW MPT 10 51 & 54 deg various fairways & hybrids plus MX23, MP18MMC, MMC hi fli CLK hybrids T7 wedges
Driver
Mizuno MX700 JPX EZ ,GT & ST180 & ST180G
#8
I have a feeling if a club contacts the supplier they are given a special rate on bulk purchases, if you have the chance to try on do so you will be amazed at how natural it is to swing on. Good luck mate.
 

Varry Hardon

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2013
HCP
10.5
Local club/country
Dukinfield
Irons
H5 long irons, Takomo 101T, S23 wedges
Driver
ST-G
#9
This is why I don't play at my club over winter.
Cannot be arsed with fairway matts at all.
 
Likes: zombie
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