Which, to be clear, is mostly a good thing.

But there is one downside that golfers should be aware of before it backfires.

Mats are softer and have more give than the ground, which can mask the effect of chunked shots. A club that hits the mat too soon simply bounces back up into the ball rather than sticking into the ground.

And this effect is so severe that in many cases, a chunked shot on a mat actually flies longer than a good one, because it effectively turns it into a low spin knucklebomb.

A really simple way to fix this is to put a towel a few inches behind the ball. This forces you to hit the ball first, and unmasks those chunks masquerading as good shots.