In our forums, our members have been discussing forged irons and whether hitting the clubs off of artificial mats will affect the irons in any way. WRXer ‘Brenkj’ is concerned about the potential issue and asks members what exactly hitting forged irons off of artificial mats will do to the club – and our members have been having their say in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- jeffrey r: “Yes, mats will affect forged irons if used on a regular basis. As you say, potentially loft, lie angle, etc. could be affected. All of that is fixable of course, but you’ll need to be more on top of it than if you were hitting cast irons. Mats are also harsher on your joints. Forged irons or not, I would never hit a ton of shots off of mats, but that is me. Proof will be in the pudding if you start noticing changes out on the course with their performance. If they are playing fine despite practicing off of mats, then just roll with it as long as you can.”
- SubaruWRX: “I hit my forged irons on my mat at home all the time. I’ve never had an issue. Had them checked after regular rounds and hitting them at home all the time. In 3 years one or two irons loft were off by half a degree. Lie angles were all correct. Maybe it’s worse for someone that has a steep descending swing that tries to take divots out of the mat. But I take shallow long divots on the course and never had a problem with mats.”
- bnperrone: “Basically, your club lie angle will creep upright over time. All else being the same, the softest forged metals will naturally move the fastest. Make friends with a club builder who has a bending setup.”
- Nard_S: “I don’t generate beaver pelts with my divots, do tons of forged on mat practice. Have had maybe one set that went out of whack and that took three years to do it.”
Entire Thread: “Hitting forged irons off of artificial turf mats”