Me and My Golf were two of the early pioneers who took to the internet to share their wisdom about how to improve your golf game. Their latest venture sees them enter the market with a selection of training aids and tools. Here we review their Breaking Ball Putting Mat.
We dive into analyse the putting mat’s trueness, speed, value, and usefulness before we wrap up with who this will suit and who should consider looking elsewhere.
Me & My Golf Putting Mat review
Trueness
A key separator between a bad and a good putting mat is trueness. Does it roll straight and does it roll true straight out of the box, or do you need to spend endless amounts of time flattening down corners and humps?
Here the Breaking Ball Putting Mat performs well. Straight out of the box your putts will roll pretty true and with a few stretches, you’ll be able to get rid of the few humps and putt straight across the entire surface.
This is in part down to the width of this putting mat, but also the heavy-duty underlay used on the mat.
Speed
This is a medium to quick putting mat, ranging from 9 to 11 on the Stimp metre. The speed you’ll end up with is dependent on the surface you have under your mat – thick carpet will slow the mat down, whereas hard flooring will result in a quicker mat speed.
Whichever setup, it’s a great putting surface and one which will help you translate your new skills onto the golf course.
Size
We were testing the 11ft x 2.2ft (3.4m x 66cm) Me and My Golf putting mat. There is also a smaller, 7.5ft version, available. Both the Break Ball mats are considerably wider than alternative putting mats like the PuttOut and Perfect Practice mat. A good thing??
Portability
This extra width does add to the weight of the mat, but this isn’t a big issue. You’ll find a drawstring bag included with your mat that will allow you to store this away when needed, or take this away with you.
Another key factor with portability is that this mat can be re-rolled out and ready for true putting without any extra faff or pressing down of corners.
Technical development
One of my favourite uses of a putting mat is to work on technical fundamentals of alignment, aim, path and face angle. This mat takes a different approach, as we’ll see in the next section, and as a result, this isn’t the best in the market for working on your putting fundamentals.
If you’re after a putting mat with a straight line to help with alignment and give feedback on start direction and swing path, then you’re best to look elsewhere.
The putting mat also features a hole-sized blue circle to represent the putting hole, rather than a sunken hole. This isn’t quite as realistic as the real thing but does give you a good sense of accuracy and how far the ball would have rolled past on successful and unsuccessful putts.
Skill development
As you may have guessed from the name, the usp of this mat is the ability to practice breaking putts. This is how the visuals on the mat are laid out, and the putting mat comes with Me and My Golf’s patented Breaking Balls.
The putting mat comes with three weighted balls that simulate small, medium and larger breaking putts. The gif below is a putt being hit with the green (small breaking) ball.
The mat’s visuals help golfers start the ball on the ideal line for the ball to roll just past the hole. And the coloured line around each golf ball helps you aim the ball on the correct start line and align your putter head correctly.
These breaking balls are cool and good fun but in my humble opinion are not that useful for golfers wanting to improve.
The key challenges golfers face are taking in visual cues and calculating which way and how much a putt will break. All of these cues are missing in this scenario and the golfer is instead working on how pace will affect break with a weighted ball.
This is of some value, but not to the same level of practicing pace and line on a real-life sloping putting surface.
Value
The 11ft Breaking Ball mat is the most expensive putting mat (£139.99 / $169.99) on the market among comparable products. The next closest is the Perfect Practice mat at £129, but that does come with a much fancier setup (2 holes, return mechanism and wooden structure).
The 7.5ft model comes in slightly cheaper and just under three figures (£99.99 / $129.99), but these are well above the most comparable mats in the PuttOut and WellPutt.
The Breaking Ball mat is a great quality putting surface, but comparable, not above the listed competition. With this in mind it feels like we’re paying a lot extra for the breaking balls and the Me and My Golf branding.
I should note, there is also a short video series that comes with the mat (available via a QR code). This covers some useful tips, including the difference between the start line and the apex of a put when green reading. However, I don’t feel this mini-series is a big value add.
Golf Insider verdict
This is a very good putting mat, with good speed, trueness and build quality. If you’re after a long and wide putting mat this is a great choice, but there are other comparable mats in the market for less.
The breaking balls are good fun and offer a little more challenge, but the lack of real-life slopes and green reading mean I would not endorse them as the best way to improve your ability to hole breaking putts and lower your scores.
Me & My Golf putting mat alternatives
We’ve covered the Break Ball putting mat in detail, but what else might be worth looking at on the market?
Perfect Practice mat
I’m not a huge fan of Perfect Practice’s marketing, but that aside, this is a great product if you’re in the market for a putting mat. It’s a quick, true surface which works well as there is a ramp to putt up.
However, the real wins are the clear alignment aids and the 1/2-sized hole for upping your practice difficulty. It is less portable and needs flattening down at the end when it has been rolled up, but for slightly less money than the Me & My Golf mat, I feel you get a superior putting practice mat.
You can read a detailed review of the Perfect Practice Putting mat here.
PuttOut Mat
The PuttOut mat came along a few years ago and added new life into the market. High-quality and a considered design are present throughout their product range, and their PuttOut mat is no different.
This mat is a slightly slower pace than both mats above but is highly similar to the Me & My Golf mat in terms of quality. The PuttOut mat offers clearer visuals and is available in a range of sizes at a lower cost. You can check out a full review here, or check prices below.
