Strike Absorber: A new weapon for your golf practice arsenal

Strike Absorber is a new practice tool on the market, allowing every golfer to practice striking down on the ball – and creating the classic divot – without relying on the thin, hard mats we find at too many ranges.

Every once in a while you see a new product and say, wow, this could help people. That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the Strike Absorber.

From the name, it might be easy to think it’s a new Star Wars weapon, something that lets you take out your opponent invisibly. Nope. That’s not it. It’s also not a super absorbent paper towel, and it’s definitely not a punching bag.

Strike Absorber is a new golf practice mat with what looks like better impact absorbing qualities than just about anything else you have seen, including dirt. It’s unique enough to be patented. In fact, this looks so good, there’s a chance it should be mandatory for golf professionals or avid practicers who often get injured wrists, elbows and shoulders from taking divots or just hitting the ground.

For instance, at the recent Ryder Cup, both Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were suffering from wrist injuries. Spieth and Thomas were not alone in that experience in 2018. Last January, Brooks Keopka injured his wrist so badly that he was out for three months and missed the Masters. Those are just three examples of top-level golfers who have injured themselves with practice. We’ll never know the number of injuries that aren’t revealed.

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Practice might make perfect, but tons of practice can also lead to sore wrists, elbows and shoulders. If you are an avid golfer — not necessarily good, just avid — you hit a lot of balls. And if that’s the case, chances are, at some point in your golfing life, you’ll end up with this kind of injury because it’s likely that you go to courses and ranges where the standard procedure is hitting off of mats. Often, that’s little more than a thin layer of rubber placed over concrete.

That’s exactly what happened to the inventor of Strike Absorber, Zane Sites. He was trying to learn how to hit divots. He was determined to learn the technique. And instead of finding a place where he could hit soft dirt, he tried to hit down on the practice mat. The result was a wrist injury that kept him from practicing and playing.

He figured he probably wasn’t the only one who had a wrist injury from practice and decided to do something about it. The result was Strike Absorber.

The Strike Absorber, at least from appearance and description, looks like it can reduce the chance that you’ll have a wrist, elbow or shoulder problem from striking the ball. It looks like a turf topped mat, but it’s special because it’s inflated with air. So, when you hit down on it, it’s a little more like hitting off of a marshmallow or a hot water bottle than hard-packed dirt.

The Strike Absorber has a hollow space built inside, under the hitting area. The hollow chamber is filled with air – courtesy of your standard bicycle pump — and the air takes the energy of the golf club impact and dissipates it, reducing the chance of over-practice injury in hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders. It can’t claim to eliminate those injuries altogether, but you have to believe it significantly lessens them.

The mat is covered with synthetic turf for that just-like-grass feel. And tees can be put into it, just like dirt. According to Sites, Strike Absorber simulates the feeling of hitting the ground and gives golfers correct levels of spin.

The mat can be adjusted to the desired level of resistance with more or less air. That allows for custom levels, soft to firm, within reason.

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Using it is not a guarantee that you won’t have injuries, but it’s probably an improvement over most places you’ll hit balls. It’s totally portable so you can take it to the range and use it there. If you can talk your buddies into lift, clean, place and mat, you might be able to take it to the course. Or if you have a foursome of Strike Absorber users, everybody can agree to use it except in the rough and sand.

Strike Absorber comes in a rectangular shape or a round shape. It happens to be on sale right now at https://strikeabsorber.com. The cost ranges from $99 to $125, depending on shape.

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