The ifrothgolf review
A thin, portable mat with a colour-changing top sheet. You hit shots off it (or rehearse swings just clipping the surface) and the club leaves a coloured mark showing exactly where the low point of your swing was and which direction the club travelled through impact. It is a diagnostic tool, not a hitting mat for full sessions, the point is to read the marks between swings.
What's great
The feedback is genuinely honest and immediate. Most golfers think they hit the ball first when they are actually bottoming out behind it, and this drags that truth into plain sight in one swing. It shows path direction and where on the face you are striking too, so it doubles as a path and contact trainer. It is light, packs flat, grips carpet and range mats well, and works indoors so you can drill ball-first contact at home year round. As a tool for fixing fat and thin strikes it is one of the few aids that actually changes behaviour because you cannot argue with the mark.
Worth knowing
The pad is a consumable. Hard, fat strikers can wear one out closer to 1,000 swings, and replacements cost most of forty pounds, so the real cost is ongoing rather than one-off. The surface is fairly narrow, so a big sweeping divot can run off the edge and leave you guessing at the full pattern. Marks can partially rub off during a session, and extreme heat or cold can dull the colour change, so it is happiest at room temperature. It is also a diagnostic aid, it tells you what is wrong but not how to fix it.
The verdict
If you struggle with fat and thin contact, this is one of the most useful training aids you can own because it makes the invisible visible. Just go in knowing the pad is a running cost and the board is narrow. For honest strike feedback at home or on the range, it earns its place, lesser strikers and casual users may not justify the price or the replacements.
