The Carl's Place HotShot is the mat most of our simulator customers buy, and it starts at $499.95 for the 4' x 5' with the standard strip. Its hitting strip lifts out and a different one drops in, so you change the feel for $79.95 instead of buying another mat. If you want the softest landing on a concrete floor, the SIGPRO Softy starts at $999.99 and its hitting strip is 2 1/2 inches thick. Softy LITE starts at $739.99, sits 1 1/4 inches thick, and does not take a real tee. If you want a real wooden tee and no removable insert to replace, the Real Feel Country Club Elite starts at $479. If you want the premium studio build, Fiberbuilt studio mats start at $1,249.

Carl's Place builds every HotShot mat and strip 1 3/4 inches thick, and Shop Indoor Golf builds the SIGPRO Softy hitting strip at 2 1/2 inches. Thickness is also a launch monitor setting: the ball starts higher off the floor than the manufacturer assumed, so recalibrate after the mat goes down. On a concrete slab, look at how the hitting surface and the base under it are built to absorb impact. Thickness on its own does not settle how much shock the mat takes out.

No, but a replaceable strip is what keeps a worn hitting zone from turning into a new mat. Carl's Place describes its standard strip as the versatile choice that takes a real tee, the foam strip as the most forgiving on your joints, and the gel strip as the most realistic of the three, one that reacts closely to real turf and punishes chunked shots. Fixed-turf mats like the Real Feel Country Club Elite have no strip at all and nothing to swap. Compare the three divot systems.

Start with your bay width, not your room width, then take off 5 to 6 feet for swing clearance. A 10-foot room fits a 5-foot-wide mat such as the HotShot 4' x 5' at $499.95. Carl's Place puts the hitting area off-center on the 4' x 5' and centered on the 4' x 9', so a 14-foot room fits the 9-foot-wide HotShot 4' x 9' at $779.95 and gives a right- and left-handed player one tee zone to share. Full room size guide.

Buy the HotShot if you want to tune the feel yourself: three strips, one channel, $79.95 to $279.95 to change your mind later. Buy Fiberbuilt if you want a modular rubber-base studio mat with a choice of Player Preferred, Fiberbuilt Grass and Performance Turf surfaces. Fiberbuilt says it is the only manufacturer offering multiple premium hitting surfaces, and it states that the Player Preferred Vibration Absorption Layer absorbs 94.7% of clubhead vibration at impact. Read the full comparison.

Yes. A slab has no give, so the mat and whatever sits under it do all the shock absorption. Thickness alone does not settle that, so look at how the hitting surface and the base are built. The SIGPRO Softy from $999.99 has the thickest hitting strip of the four brands here at 2 1/2 inches. Softy LITE from $739.99 is 1 1/4 inches thick and does not take a real tee. The HotShot with the foam divot strip starts at $649.95 for the 4' x 5' and Carl's Place calls the foam strip its most forgiving option on your joints. A landing pad from $224 covers the slab around the mat.

Replace the strip when the turf in the hitting zone has flattened or opened up while the rest of the mat still looks new. That is the point of a strip mat: Carl's Place sells HotShot strips at $79.95 standard, $229.95 foam and $279.95 gel, against $499.95 and up for a whole mat. SIGPRO Softy strips run $219.99 to $399.99. Carl's Place notes that golfers who often hit behind the ball may see faster wear on the gel strip.

Mat height changes where the ball sits relative to the read zone, so recalibrate after the mat is down, especially with an overhead or camera unit. Turf that has worn unevenly in the hitting zone is the other variable, since the club is no longer meeting the same surface twice. Fiberbuilt says its Player Preferred hitting surface is launch monitor tested and that the Vibration Absorption Layer removes false positives from clubhead bounce. Shop Indoor Golf says the Softy strip delivers ball flight that aligns with launch monitor data.

A landing pad is the turf flooring that covers the rest of the simulator floor around your hitting mat. It stops the mat sliding, protects the floor from tees and mishits, and finishes the room. The Tour Golf Simulator Landing Pad starts at $224 for 4' x 8' and is cut to order up to 8' x 17.5', with an optional cutout for the mat.

Yes. Affirm is available at checkout with monthly payments, and 0% APR may be available depending on eligibility. Shop Pay installments are offered on the same cart.

Top Shelf Golf is an authorized dealer for every brand on this page. Fiberbuilt repairs or replaces products that prove defective in workmanship or material within one year of purchase, gives stance and turf mats a one-year limited warranty, and gives its rubber bases a five-year limited warranty. Real Feel backs its mats with a 3-year limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use. Shop Indoor Golf covers SIG and SIGPRO mats and hitting strips for one year against manufacturing defects and excludes normal wear and tear. Carl's Place publishes no warranty on HotShot mats or strips and treats them as wearable goods, which is why the strip is sold as a replaceable part. All three published warranties cover defects, not wear in the hitting zone, which is the reason to buy a mat whose hitting zone is a replaceable part. Terms and claim routes differ by manufacturer, and we can help you follow the right one if a covered defect occurs. See our return policy for returns and exchanges.