Practice at home: Quattro Mat and 7x7 Golf Net Review
01 Jul 2020
by Pete Wlodkowski of AmateurGolf.com
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We've all swung a golf club (and yes, taken divots out of our lawns) outside. These days, it's my always-swing tinkering 19-year-old son who can be found swinging a club outside most often, usually after watching the latest YouTube instruction video.
The isolation brought on by the pandemic means that all of us are spending more time at home, and several of my friends have come up with creative practice solutions -- usually involving an outdoor net.
So I decided it was time to up the ante on my home golf practice game, and my friends at Wittek Golf helped me get started. I've known Wittek for over 20 years, attending the PGA show in Florida and always marveling at their wide assortment of golf course equipment. Everything we take for granted when playing, from club cleaners, to range pickers, and everything in between, can be found on Wittek's website.
In a recent article on Covid-19 Best Practices for Golf Tournaments, I suggested personal rakes for carts, and Wittek had them available by the thousands.
I'll quickly break down the two pieces of equipment I got from Wittek.
QUATTRO MAT
A lightbulb went off in my head when I laid out my new Quattro golf mat. 'Why did I wait so long to get one of these?'
I've hit off of strips of artificial turf (they moved around a lot) and from mats that are rubber connected to a strip of turf (a little better, but lacking in the real-feel department). But the Quattro mat is the real deal. It feels like the perfect fairway. Not too soft but a little bit springy.
The Quattro is a professional grade product designed for the golf industry (courses, ranges, learning facilities, etc.) but affordable enough for home use.
As the name implies, there are four layers which make Quattro so nice to hit from. The grass is woven to an intermediate layer that allows it to withstand shot after shot. Beneath that is a dampening system -- kind of the "secret sauce" of the Quatro. Highly elastic polyurethane fibers absorb the impact of the club; an elastic vinyl mat underneath provides extra comfort when placed atop a hard surface.
I can tell it's going to hold up well against the sun and rain -- I would recommend you take it inside during the winter if you aren't lucky enough to live in San Diego like I do.
7x7 PRACTICE NET
The range mat, of course, should be coupled with a practice net, to produce your own outdoor (or indoor) golf studio.
I received a 7x7 net from Wittek, which arrived at my doorstep in a box too small to believe. Inside were the components for an easy-to-install net system, complete with target, all inside a bag for easy storage.
I immediately found a place in my small yard, where the mat could go on a flat brick surface, and the net could be securely staked to the lawn. Within minutes, I was hitting balls at the target and realizing that this is something I need to be doing every day.
HOW TO ORDER
Wittek is offering AmateurGolf.com members a $100 discount on the Quattro mat - visit www.wittekgolf.com/amgolf and enter promo code AMATEURGOLF for customers to receive Quattro mat for $299.99 plus shipping ($399.99 plus shipping originally). You can also order a mat/net bundle package or purchase the net separately.