In this article we’ll review the PuttOut mat and PuttOut Pressure Trainer. To finish the article we’ll look at how you can use both to optimise your putting practice at home.
Table of Contents
PuttOut Mat Review
The PuttOut mat provides a high-quality putting mat for golfers looking to improve their putting at home. It is small, compact and packed with some great features to improve your putting performance.
First impressions
The PuttOut putting mat comes in a nifty bag and rolls out with no fuss — a little flattening of the corners was required first time.
The putting mat has some great alignment guides for your feet alignment, ball position and putter face. Allowing you to keep on top of your putting basics during your indoor putting practice.
Putting mat length
The putting mat is 240cm by 50cm ( ~7.9 x ~1.64 feet). Small, compact and perfect to keep setup in an office or spare room. Six feet is the distance between the back set of alignment markers and the target putting circle. You can putt from further back, but 6-feet is the place where you can take full advantage of the alignment aids on the putting mat.
Practicing your putting from this distance is great for your stroke mechanics and adding in the PuttOut Pressure trainer can add an extra layer of challenge to your practice.
Putting mat speed
If you read the PuttOut putting mat reviews you’ll see some mixed feedback, and I think I’ve figured it out. Puttout produce this mat to run at 10 on the stimp metre.
However, the true speed depends on the surface under the putting mat (carpet or hard floor). With fluffy carpet under the mat, the mat slows to under 8 on the stimp metre. Use it on a hard-level floor and you’ll be closer to 9.5 – 10 on the stimp metre.
Either setup results is a well-paced putting surface.
Putting mat trueness
Just like the section above, the break on your putts will reflect the slope of your floor. That aside, the PuttOut putting mat is one of the truest surfaces out there. The thick, heavy duty rubber base keeps the putting mat flat and true to the ground below.
From time to time you’ll find the nap of the top surface sometimes adds a little deviance into putts (see the video below). This can be quick resolved with a brush of your hand or a vacuum of the surface up or down the putting mat.
Putting mat alignment
The simple alignment aids on the putting mat are ideal. The line to square up your club face is complimented by a perpendicular line which fits in with the line on the back of your putter.
The edge of the mat works as a great guide for your feet, and if you wanted to go all out you could combine this with a putting mirror to check your shoulder and eye alignment.
Personally, I would like the middle line to continue all the way to the target, which would provide better feedback on the start direction of putts. However, the current setup works great for keeping on top of your putting basics.
Puttout mat review – Summary
All in all, this is one of the best putting mats out there, especially for the price. The alignment guides make keeping on top of your putting basics a breeze and, as we’ll see below, combined with the PuttOut trainer you will get a lot of useful practice out of this mat for many year.
*Update – 12 months on and this is still the putting mat I have in my office. It’s a great tool.*
If you want a great quality putting mat with a little extra distance then check out the alternative putting mats below
Alternative putting mats review
The one downside to the PuttOut mat is the 6-foot range you are limited to. This is fine and is the best option for the space I have, but if you want a putting mat of similar quality, but with a range of 10 or 13-feet check out the WellPutt putting mat range here. Or check out our Perfect Practice Putting Mat review.
If you want to learn more check out our full WellPutt putting mat review. Or for a full rundown of the best putting mats check out this review. That concluding our putting mat review, next onto a great putting aid you can use when you practice putting indoors.
Puttout Pressure Trainer review
The Puttout pressure trainer is one of the hottest putting training aids on the market. It aims to simulate the way a golf ball interacts with a real golf hole, allowing a simple way to practice putting at home.
The parabolic curve simulates a real golf hole – putts that enter the side of the ramp, at too fast a speed, fall away just like a lipped-out putt. Only putts that hit the middle of the ramp, or well-paced putts that hit towards the side of the ramp will roll back to you.
The second useful aspect of this ramp is that putts are returned to you the same distance that they would travel past the hole. This gives you some additional feedback on your pace putting.
Golf Insider geek – This is a really nice feature of the Puttout Trainer. It’s not vodoo science, it’s simply the conservation of energy and free-fall equations. If we throw a golf ball up into the air/roll it up the ramp the golf ball’s kinetic energy (movement) is stored as potential energy (height). This energy is then released as the ball falls/rolls back down – no energy is lost. If we want to be really pedantic we would say the Puttout Trainer returns the golf ball the same distance it would have travelled past minus lost energy (friction, noise and heat) which means we lose a fraction of distance than if it rolled straight past. Overall, it provides great feedback on pace putting.
An additional feature is a small hole located within the Puttout Pressure Trainer ramp. This mini hole will only hold the golf ball when it is hit dead-centre at a perfect (slow) pace. I’m not sure I agree with this concept of a perfect weight putt being just past the hole, however, I love the extra challenge it can provide.
Overall, the Puttout pressure trainer provides an excellent and realistic way to practice your putting away from the golf course. The mini hole adds a great level of difficulty and feedback when needed. Check out this link below if you wish to find out more on why challenging practice is important for improving your golf game.
Puttout practice games
To finish off with we have two fine practice putting games to play with your new Puttout tools.
3 lives Puttout challenge
Grab three balls, set up your putting mat and pressure trainer and put yourself at the back station (6-feet). Your aim is to hole each putt into the small hole on the ramp.
If you miss the ramp (or it rolls over the side) with any putt you lose a life (that golf ball). If you get any putt to finish in the mini-hole you gain back a life (golf ball). How many putts can you get to before your three lives (golf balls) disappear.
Total putts hit is your score to track. See how high you can go.
Perfect inside 6-feet
This second challenge is tough. Set up your Puttout mat and trainer and grab 2 or 3 balls. Begin at the 1-foot marker (closest set of lines). Aim to get the ball to stop in the mini hole. Once you are successful move back to the 2-foot marker and, again, keep hitting putts until you get a ball to finish inside the mini hole. Complete this same process all the way back to 6-feet.
Your score to track is how few balls it takes you to complete this challenge (all stations 1 to 6-feet). Or alternatively, how far back you get (i.e. 3-feet) before you give up and go grab a beer.
Enjoy
Puttout summary
I hope you’ve found this review helpful. Both the Puttout trainer and mat are excellent pieces of equipment for any golfer wishing to get better. The two Puttout games should certainly keep you occupied for a while, both will provide you with some structured, challenging practice and a way to track your progress.
If you would like more putting drills for the putting green check out this article, or click this link to head back to putting home.
Happy golfing – Will @ Golf Insider UK
Hi Will, I would like to say one thing though, putting is nothing like the other shots required in golf. Off the tee and use of irons define your talent in golf. When it comes to putting, well, take a million people including nomads from Tibetan Plateau and a few golf pros for a 3 feet putt and the average success rate would be same thru all groups of people.
Hi Ravi,
Thanks for getting in touch. I agree up to 2-feet, however between 3 & 12-feet there is a notable difference between varying standards of players and the affect on score is directly measurable. As you state, little athletic prowess is required for putting, and few golfers practice putting well. Therefore it seems a great way for most players to invest in their golfing development. However, I do agree with you – if a player is taking 6 to get to the green they are best focusing their efforts elsewhere.
I hope the golf is going well.
Will