Hotshot Hitting Mat System

In September of 2024, a big upgrade hit my golf simulator in the form of a brand new hitting mat. Not just any hitting mat either, but a full blown hitting mat system that is customizable, upgradeable and interchangeable.

I upgraded my simulator to use the Hotshot golf mat hitting system from Carls Place.

It’s a big deal to replace one of my favorite pieces of my golf simulator, as I had been using my Fiberbuilt Grass series hitting mat for the last five years and was quite happy with it. But this system from Carls place is expanding my look at what is the best golf hitting mat out there for the majority of golf simulator enthusiasts.

This is my full, personal experience with and full review of the Hotshot golf hitting mat system from Carls Place.

If you take a few minutes and watch my unboxing and setup video above you will see exactly what you get in the box. It’s a stance mat with a cut out area for hitting strips and the standard hitting strip.

The cool part is that it is modular. You can use each different hitting strip in each different sized stance mat as well as a few other accessories if you so desire.

It’s a simple in idea done well in execution. And at a very appealing price point.

Hotshot Hitting Mat System

The real key to this system is the replaceable and interchangeable hitting strips.

Carl’s used three different size hitting mats and then designed three different hitting inserts. Then they made sure that the strips were all the same dimensions and interchangeable with every stance mat.

Each hitting strip performs differently. I will get more into the three hitting inserts below, for now, let’s get the bare basics you want to know about the hotshot mat itself. Pick your size mat and then customize it to which ever hitting strip(s) you want. All strips fit all size mats.

Size Options:

• 4×5 – single sided
• 5×7 – single sided and wider front to back and left to right
• 4×9 – double sided center strip

Each mat is 1.75″ high.

You can add on some accessories like a heavy rubber non-slip base, a ball tray, and even indoor golf tee’s to finish your system off.

My Review and Rating – 4.5/5 Stars

I really, really like this mat and especially the foam flex and gel touch hitting strips. These really complete the entire setup and I highly recommend adding one of these to your build. I think you will be glad you did.

I only take away half of a star because the hitting strips do not accept a real tee or even more ideally have a spot for a semi-permanent tee like Fiberbuilt. Other than that, for me these are the ideal hitting mat solution for my golf simulator.

I know on my video of the foam flex below I rate it 4 out of 5 stars but that is only because the video editing software I’m using did not have a 4.5 star option.

My friends and I have been using this mat in my simulator for a few months now and are absolutely loving it. The ball hits so nicely off of the mat, the putts roll clean and fast and irons can hit down and through.

There is no injury or pain from the mat which is and was a priority for us. I do not want to hit off of something that is going to cause an injury or limit the amount I can play for fear of aggravating something or beginning something like tennis elbow. So far, so good. I and everyone who have played on both this mat and the Fiberbuilt mat I’ve used for the past 5 years will agree that so far, so good this hotshot mat feels great.

Hitting Strips – Replaceable and Interchangeable

Whether you call them hitting strips or inserts, this is the piece of your hitting mat that is going to take the most abuse and wear out the fastest. This is where your club is smashing into the mat and golf ball, hopefully in reverse order of that but suffice to say it is taking a beating.

The hotshot mat comes with 3 options and I am a big fan of two of them and not so much on the basic one. A hitting strip is a critical component in your overall golf simulator.

We recommend investing in your hitting strip. If you are going to go with the Hotshot hitting mat, my personal advice is to make the investment into one of their upgraded strips, they are well worth it. (see my full list of golf sim hitting strips and inserts)

Hitting Strip Options

• Standard Strip – this is the same material that the stance area is made from. It does take a real tee and it will penalize heavy and miss hit shots. I will say that on my personal setup, the basic strip is too fluffy and needs to be cut down to size to properly fit into the hitting strip area. It does not lay flat for me so it has gotten very little usage. I have hit shots off of the stance mat itself just to see how it hits and honestly it is fine. It feels ok but not nearly as good as both the Gel Touch and Foam Flex options
• Foam Flex – buy this strip. This one is fantastic. I’ve reviewed this hitting strip in depth via video below but the short answer is that the strip is my recommended strip for most of us golfers. It is super clean to hit from, forgiving and putts roll nicely. It does not take a tee or have a spot for a semi-permanent tee so that is why I took away 1/2 of a star on my rating. This is the hitting strip of choice and the one we are using in our simulator even though we also have the more expensive gel-touch strip as well.
• Gel-Touch – if want a strip that plays as realistic as possible, one that will punish fat shots and mis-hits, then the Gel-Touch strip is for you. I recommend this strip to the more serious, competitive, practice heavy sim golfers. Those who are using the sim to primarily work on their game then get this bad boy and do not look back. You can see our uncensored thoughts and review in the videos on my Play Sim Golf You Tube Channel. I do really like this strip but in my simulator the emphasis is on playing sim golf rounds and having good times with friends moreso than focusing on improving my golf game. It’s why we chose the foam flex as it is a nice mix of slight punishment and penalty of mis-hits but using the Gel Touch felt like playing the sim on full blown hard mode.

The Feels

The stance mat is slightly squishy, a bit more squishy than the Fiberbuilt grass series. It’s soft but not like you are walking on a pillow. It is dense turf. I would call like a softer fairway feel. I compare it to my FB and there is a difference in firmness.

Both feel good.

I won’t go into the feel of each hitting strip here too much (check the videos or reviews) but short answer is the Foam Flex and Gel Touch are top notch choices depending on what you are looking for in your hitting strip.

Durability

The jury is still out on that because these hitting strips and mats are new (fairly new) on the golf simulator market. At the time of writing this review, it has only been a couple months of consistent use. Not long enough to tell how long and how durable they are going to be.

I can say that after around 100 or so rounds, the hitting strip shows no real signs of wear at all. You could tell that it is not 100% brand new out of the box, but no damage, frayed pieces of turf, or anything coming apart or showing wear.

My gut feeling says these are going to be very durable, but of course time will tell. I will be updating my reviews, adding to them and adjusting them as time goes forward.

Competitors

If there is one piece of the golf simulator puzzle that consistently garners more debate, discussion and heated arguments than the hitting mats and strip’s I’d love to hear it. Maybe the launch monitor arguments of late 2024 rival in comparison, but over the years hitting mats remain highly debated.

Take a look at my comparison chart of hitting mats on the market today from many of the most popular brands.

Final Thoughts

Invest in your hitting mat and hitting strip.

I am now using this hitting mat and strip in my golf simulator. I have replaced my Fiberbuilt after 5 years of steady use to the new mat and am loving it.

I like this Hotshot mat system, a lot. I like that if and when the hitting strip wears out it can be easily replaced.

I like that the hitting strip (foam flex) feels so nice to hit off of. I like that there is no pain and no hint of potential micro injury that can add up to an injury. I want to be able to play as much sim golf as I want, whenever I want without fear of injuring myself and this fits the bill.

Price wise the mat is less expensive than many others on the market.

Take a look at my golf mat pricing chart to see what I’m talking about.