Up here in Dallas, we have the Golf Ranch. They would be the perfect place to place the mats will all the bays they have.

We have talked to 3-4 places like The Golf Ranch… Not them specifically…

A few problems surfaced…
1. The ranges are "for profit" entities and in our conversations it became pretty apparent they weren't willing to invest because, at the end of the day, they didn't really care about the experience being better.

They were happy as long as people were coming in, even if they were *****ing about the quality of the hitting surface…

2. There's 45 million golfers in the US and only about 12k-15k potential range facilities… If you COULD sell to the facilities, there would be zero reason for any golfer to purchase the device…

I've been following your updates here, was thinking all along it was a new mat but it's actually a device you'd have in addition to a mat? You place this on top of an existing mat?

In my early 30s with young kids so don't get to practice a ton but would definitely want something like this if I had a practice area or simulator room.

I would look into social media buzz. Tons of YouTube golfers out there that would be willing to try something and post a review of it.

TJH -

Yeah, it's a simple practice aid that holds the bottom apex of the ball 3/32" off the mat creating the "zero resistance grass blade gap".

It gives virtually any mat a gentler fairway-grass, sandy soil feel that allows you to hit "down and through" the ball without the traditional mat bounce and grab - and without shocking your hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulder joints.

Comes with a lifetime warranty…

Send me an email to thedivot@golfmatssuck.com and I can shoot you some pics…

Maybe partner with a simulator company?

First, does he have a website? If not he needs to get that addressed ASAP. From there he can work on social media outlets. Getting buy-in from already established golf influencers would be big. He can sell direct to customers through his online presence. He should push this direction before engaging with the online firms promising the moon. If he's trying to get into golf facilities/driving ranges, maybe approach someone who already sells to those outlets and have him/her add it to their product line. I have a close friend from college who does this, been in the business for over 25 years and covers all of Texas.

DfwAg11 said:

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I would look into social media buzz. Tons of YouTube golfers out there that would be willing to try something and post a review of it.

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This is the first thing I thought of. There are a bunch of YT golf personalities who do product reviews as a change of pace from their usual swing and course strategy content. This could be a cost effective way to get views and meaningful demo content. Mr. Short Game is a prime example, with about 500k subscribers.

https://youtube.com/@mrshortgame?si=RZdiXVG3uAouzQ6U



There are lots of others, notably Mark Crossfield and Rick Shiels with over 3.5 million subscribers combined. Those guys put out content constantly, including new product reviews.

There is some risk, though. These are "honest reviews", not paid advertisements. If the product doesn't work or isn't as helpful to amateurs as claimed, they're not shy about saying so.

Emailed you

In line with Aggie369 suggestion above, maybe reach out to the indoor golf shop: https://shopindoorgolf.com/

They sell all kinds of home set-ups and hitting mats. Wouldn't hurt to pay Golftec a visit as well since all of their instruction is indoors using mats.

Good luck!

maroonthrunthru said:

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TJH -

Yeah, it's a simple practice aid that holds the bottom apex of the ball 3/32" off the mat creating the "zero resistance grass blade gap".

It gives virtually any mat a gentler fairway-grass, sandy soil feel that allows you to hit "down and through" the ball without the traditional mat bounce and grab - and without shocking your hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulder joints.

Comes with a lifetime warranty…

Send me an email to thedivot@golfmatssuck.com and I can shoot you some pics…

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Not trying to be a Richard and maybe I'm just not understanding, but isn't what you're proposing a "tee" (albeit a really short one)? And I'm skeptical that the average golfer's swing is so finely tuned that elevating the ball 3/32 off the mat significantly changes their impact with the mat. I mean, when I get that jarring sensation from a mat, it's usually because I made a terrible swing.

Again, not trying to be a Debbie downer but I'm not following what you're proposing.

Agree with JCA. A photo of this device would be helpful.

I was just about to post the same question. It sounds like you have to have a "picker" type golf swing for this to work. Basically the kind of player that picks the ball cleanly, without really leaving a divot.

He have a patent on this thing?

Reach out to golf influencers like the YouTube folks, Tik-tok, and Instagram. Find some people that have a decent following but maybe not crazy, they all have a price but some of the solid lower follower dudes might be cheap or do a few videos for free for free product. Especially some of the midwest/northeast guys that hit in sims all winter.

I don't have a connection, but I'll watch and consider supporting anything Roger Steele does. HTH.

He needs to head up to Minnesota ASAP and work the indoor sim places. As you can imagine we have a TON due to our seasonality. Some of the chains have mats with auto dispensers for balls and all that but there are still plenty of places with basic mats who this would be good for.

Mats are absolutely brutal for my joints with my swing, would love something like this.

1. Get extremely clear on who the customer is. Work with ChatGPT or any other tool to help you generate a buyer persona for this thing.

2. Based on the buyer persona, generate a decent video that will work well for short format like TikTok, Reels, YT Shorts.

3. Create a simple landing page where it is as frictionless as possible for people to buy this thing. I don't know what it takes to enable ApplePay but I think it'd be worth it.

4. Run social media ads on relevant platforms that link back to your landing page.


Everything I described above can be done for very cheap. Not sure what online firms you were referring to. If you're talking about digital marketing people, you're right to be suspicious. Most of the ones I've run across have ranged from incompetent to outright crooks.

But at some point, your friend will probably need some help.

Where a lot of people mess up with these marketing people is not being clear and specific about what you're doing. If you call up one of these people and saying "I want help marketing" you may as well set your money on fire. Speaking from experience here.

Where they CAN be useful is if you say "I've been running ads on TikTok for a couple months and I'm getting 1 site visit every 1000 views and 1 purchase for every 50 site visits -- I want to improve those numbers by X."

And with respect to influencers, I say go ahead and try to start connecting. Doesn't hurt anything. But I think he'll get better traction if he can share a product that people are using and like rather than something that's basically a prototype.

If I were him I'd try and connect with the Good Good kids in Frisco, period. Have them test it out and get it out to their followers. Hell, they are buddies with Bryson who has been out at The Tribute and Old American with them.

They live out at the Tribute and are members.

DfwAg11 said:

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Up here in Dallas, we have the Golf Ranch. They would be the perfect place to place the mats will all the bays they have.

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Golf ranch would be great. They have really good social media as well so would be a great partner.

So it's a tee