The 10 Best Putting Mats
Special Honors
Birdie Ball Ultra Durable Outdoor The Birdie Ball Ultra Durable Outdoor is available in two widths, 39.5 and 78.5 inches, and lengths ranging from 8 to 18 feet. As the name implies, you can set it up in your backyard without worrying about it being damaged from a bit of rain, and it is equipped with heavy rubber bumpers to keep the ball on the green. The company also makes custom mats built to specifications if you have a very particular layout in mind. birdieball.com
Editor's Notes
July 15, 2021:
We're happy to relay that out previous selections are still the best on the market, so we've made no notable changes today. To gamify your technical practice and get fun and lasting results, the WellPutt 10135 is a great choice thanks to its versatility. If you're looking more for fun and realism, the Boburn Training Mat is almost certainly the right choice, and it comes in variety of sizes and configurations to suit your space.
July 28, 2020:
Putting is often regarding as one of the most important parts of a good golf game. In fact, you might not realize it, but nearly half your shots in an 18-hole round are putts. Luckily, unlike when working on your drives, you don't need to go to a range to practice putting. Simply grab your favorite putter and set up one of these portable greens in your home or office, or in the case of the Boburn Training Mat, in the backyard if you want, and get ready to shave a few strokes off your game.
If you prefer something that resembles a real green in looks, you may want to turn to one of the plain models that don't contain any markings, such as the Putt-A-Bout Grassroots Par Three, Boburn Training Mat, Shaun Webb Signature Indoor, Callaway Odyssey Deluxe, and Callaway Executive. The Putt-A-Bout Grassroots Par Three and Shaun Webb Signature Indoor both have a slight upwards slope as you get closer to the hole, which some feel helps teach you to putt slightly past it. Conversely, the Callaway Odyssey Deluxe and Callaway Executive are just basic flat models, however they allow you to place the cups anywhere you want, which may offer slightly more versatility. Of all the options on our list, the Boburn Training Mat is the largest, coming in at a massive 5 x 10 feet.
Though the plain models may look the most like a real green, that doesn't mean they will be the most efficient mats to practice on. The ProAdvanced ProInfinity, WellPutt 4M-S2, ProActive Sports Varispeed, PuttOut Pro, and Sklz Accelerator all have integrated training aids that may help you improve your game quicker. For example, the ProAdvanced ProInfinity and ProActive Sports Varispeed both let you vary the speed, which means you can practice on different green types, and the Sklz Accelerator has markings that indicate how far to hold your putter away from the ball when beginning your stroke to generate the correct amount of power.
April 22, 2019:
Golf games are often won or lost on the green, so it is important to fine tune those putting skills. It doesn't matter how close your irons or woods get you to the hole if you can't actually sink the ball. If you are on a mission to improve your putting, we recommend the ProAdvanced ProInfinity or WellPutt 4M-S2. Both of these come with training books and feature a lot of activities to help increase your skills. If long-distance putts are your weak point, take a look at the 77tech Simulator and Callaway Odyssey Deluxe, which measure 10 and 11 feet long respectively. The Putt-A-Bout Par Three, Shaun Webb's Indoor, Sklz Accelerator, and Jef World Of Golf Hazard all have a slight upwards slope near the hole to help teach you to follow through with your putts. Whichever model you choose, make sure to take size into consideration, so you don't buy one that is too large for your home or office.
How To Improve Your Putting
Once you have the ball on the green and within a few paces of the cup, your golf swing becomes more about rolling the ball than hitting it.
Far too many golfers have known the agony of ruining their score through poor putting. You can watch a hole turn from eagle to par to bogie and beyond as you knock a golf ball inches past the hole in a painful series of missed putts, or you can practice your putting until it's one of the most reliable aspects of your game.
Great putting is all about steadiness and control, or in other words, about lots of practice and repetition. Unlike a power drive, which requires strength and flexibility, putting can be mastered by golfers of almost any age and physical ability. Mastering your putt is a great way to compensate for a weaker tee shot or fairway drive, and there's another benefit to focusing on putting as well: unlike practicing tee offs or driving shots, you can practice your putting almost anywhere, indoors or out. All you need is a putter, a golf ball, and a putting mat.
Before we discuss which putting mat can help you get the most out of your practice sessions, let's talk about basic putting technique. Once you have the ball on the green and within a few paces of the cup, your golf swing becomes more about rolling the ball than hitting it. Putting involves a gentle, steady touch that pushes the ball toward the hole, letting gravity and terrain help as much as possible.
If you're close enough to the hole, you should be gripping the club more with your fingers than with your palms. There's no reason for a firm, fist-style grip when it comes to a gentle putt. Stance is also very important when putting. Your non-dominant side (i.e. left arm for righties and vice-versa) serves as the guide, your dominant arm serves as the slow and steady propulsion provider. Try to move your putter through your ball as opposed to moving it to the ball; imagine a line that is traced from the ball to the hole and move your putter along this line. Many golfers achieve this by aiming not for their ball itself, but for an invisible point a few inches closer to the hole than the spot at which the ball actually rests. Aiming for this imaginary point will help you move the putter "through" the ball, thus sending it along the right trajectory to sink the shot.
Choosing A Putting Mat
When choosing the right putting mat for you, first consider why exactly you want a putting mat. If you are buying the mat just to have some fun in the office or in your living room, then it's hard to buy a putting mat that won't get the job done. If you're interested in a putting mat that will serve as a genuine practice tool -- one that will hone your skills and help you unlearn anything you're routinely doing wrong -- then you need to be much more critical when choosing a mat.
If you are buying the mat just to have some fun in the office or in your living room, then it's hard to buy a putting mat that won't get the job done.
Let's assume for our purposes that you are more interested in improving your golf game than sinking putts for fun while on a conference call.
As even the smallest decent putting mat takes up a fair amount of floor space, considering a modular mat (some can be assembled and disassembled like puzzle pieces) or rolling mat is a fine idea when space in your home or office is at a premium. However, these mats can present various issues, too. A sectional mat may have little ridges or valleys between its pieces that can interfere with your shots, potentially making it hard to tell how well your are actually putting. Likewise putting mats that roll up for storage may have creases or bumps that prevent accurate putting.
Many putting mats have sloped surfaces, often with the cup set into a little hill at the far end of the green. These can be beneficial for practicing those difficult uphill putts, but they can also be limiting; after all, most greens are relatively flat, so it makes sense to practice on a flat putting mat.
Using A Putting Mat
Many modern putting mats feature detailed information printed right onto their surface. The lines and markings on a given mat can help you learn how large your putt swing should be from a given distance, they can help you study proper angles, and they can let you see what you're doing wrong by helping you to see where your ball consistently ends up (assuming it's not in the hole).
The former improves your chances of accurate putts; the latter will extend the mats's lifespan.
To make sure you are getting an accurate assessment of your putting prowess, make sure the conditions under which you use your mat remain as constant as possible. Set the mat up in the same place whenever possible (assuming you have to put it away at all, that is) and on the same type of surface, i.e. wood floor, carpet, cement, and so forth. It's important to control for variables when practicing a specific putt.
You can also use your mat on varied surfaces to create a variety of practice greens, moving your putting mat onto the rug, the kitchen floor, or even onto gravel or other exterior surfaces; just make sure to practice putting regularly on each surface, so you know how you feel on many types of terrain and avoid both false positives and false negatives.
And of course make sure to keep your putting mat clean and dry. The former improves your chances of accurate putts; the latter will extend the mats's lifespan.