Review: Jagmanjoe's soft shell cover + turf review for Optishot

This review has been a long time coming. Joe asked me to test his urethane cover with both his turf offerings (Lite version and the Fiberbuilt grass panel). His website is http://www.slickthings.com/optidd.htm for those who are interested in seeing pictures or for ordering.

Just to give you a bit of background:

I started off with modifying my Fiberbuilt stance mat by cutting out the sensor slits and hitting off that. This worked fine except for the following issues:

1) hitting into the rear sensor slot cause tearing and more importantly it really hurt the wrists. This didn't happen to often but when it did...it really hurts.

2) No easy option to replace the hitting area once it wears out.

In the optishot thread, Joe was looking for someone to test his cover and turf and I was the lucky one that he picked. Joe was awesome in taking my comments and suggestions and incorporated most if not all that I pointed out.

Lite Version review:

The urethane cover goes on very easy and I immediately could see that it would provide some give to taking a "divot". The turf is decent enough with good wear. Joe has done alot to address the issues when one happens to hit into the rear sensor slot but I think that over many hit it might still tear. No fault on Joe's part, just how the mat is constructed...it cannot sustain multiple hits into that area. Taking divots feels great on the wrists and the integrated rubber tee works great. This was an improvement on my modified stance mat and 300% better than what comes with the optishot.

Fiberbuilt grass panel:

Very similar urethane cover with the difference being that you are able to change panels to the rough or sand panels on the fly. I haven't been able to test this feature but the panel is very easy to remove...just don't have the money to buy the different panels currently. One word to describe the mat....perfection! I have no worries about hitting into the rear sensor...and even if I did, the way the Fiberbuilt grass panel is constructed...it will not tear or hurt. Feels almost like hitting off of real fairway. I would definitely say to just spend the extra money and buy this option.

I am hoping to get my hitting platform built sometime soon...just have to find the time and motivation. I'll post pics when I have it started and complete.

If anyone has questions about the mat and cover please don't hesitate to PM me. Hope this review helps.

Seems great. I am a big fan of the Fiberbuilt mats. Post some pics when you get a chance or perhaps Jag can post some pics.

Thanks for the review thorin33. I'm leaning toward the fiberbuilt mat. It looks 100 times better then the stock mat. I was wondering how big the hole where you place the ball is? Does the ball sink in like its in a depression or is it a small enough hole that it doesn't make a difference? I don't like how with the stock mat, the ball will be a little below the turf. I find it makes me hit the ball thin..so I've put in a little rubber tee that keeps the ball level with the turf but I don't want to have to do this if I purchase this mat.

It comes with a rubber tee so the ball is not below the turf.

Qnub: Just place the ball forward of the hole. It does not make any difference for the dd measurement.

Hope it's ok to jump in on this thread for the P3Pro Jagmanjoe's soft shell cover + turf review. I just got mine and it read as a soft shell lite but so far I would say it's better than lite.

The turf is about 7/8" thick and you can stick a tee in it anywhere and tee your ball with no wobble. The P3Pro pad fits very snug in the shell and with just a couple of hits off it, I would be giving thumbs up so far. I need to test for a few weeks but just thought about the tee and the hole for the tee issue but on mine there is a hole there for the rubber tee holder but you really don't need it unless you put your tee in that exact spot. You can't see the hole as the turf covers over it but the tee slides right down because of the hole under.

I assume that the Premium Soft Shell cover does not come with the Fiberbuilt fairway mat correct? Where do you purchase the Fiberbuilt fairway, rough and sand mats that fit this cover?