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    6 affordable at-home products to improve your game, spotted at the 2025 PGA Show

    January 24, 2025
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    ORLANDO -- There tends to be a unique trend that permeates throughout the annual PGA Merchandise Show each year as you walk across the show floor. Last year, the dominating trend was the widespread adoption of AI tech infused into a variety of different products—from simulators to game-improvement apps.

    That trend has continued, of course, but this year saw a wave of affordable at-home game-improvement products. As home simulators have become increasingly appealing to more consumers, many companies have jumped on the opportunity to offer products at lower price points.

    But a simulator is rarely a one-product purchase. Essential to a quality at-home setup is a durable and forgiving mat and a stable net. And don’t forget about a putting station. Luckily, the 2025 PGA Show displayed numerous at-home products aimed at the mass market, so you can create the golf station of your dreams for less. Here were some of our favorites.

    PuttOut AirBreak

    When pros practice their putting indoors, they often opt for tech that provides many different types of break so they can practice a variety of putts instead of just straight ones. The issue for many of us? This tech can cost five figures.

    Enter PuttOut’s AirBreak, which allows golfers to change the break on a six-foot putt for a reasonable price ($369, visit here). The mat has eight inflatable air bags that you manually pump up or deflate to create numerous types of putts, including uphill, downhill, right-to-left, left-to-right and double-breaking putts.

    “How many truly flat putts do you get out there? And if you don’t have $15,000-$20,000 for a Zen Green Stage or PuttView, which don’t get me wrong, are incredible, but are slightly out of touch for people like me,” said PuttOut’s Andrew Evans. “So we wanted to make a product that, you know, was proud of the fact that there's not much tech going on. It’s very well designed and very simple.”

    It's hard to conceive of a product that has more tangible benefits to your game, given how important short putting is to scoring. And, of course, rarely to do you get a straight six-footer on the course, so learning how to marry the line and speed of knee-knocking sliders is crucial to holing more short putts.

    To dial in your practice further, PuttOut offers a free app that reads the grade of the putt, so you can dial in just how much break you want to practice. The mat can be set for any amount of break up to 7 percent, which is more slope than any pinable location on the course, so rest assured you can practice any type of short putt.

    In testing the mat, everything was quite straightforward, with the green changing breaks with a few taps of the foot on each of the inflatable pumps. The ball-returning feature is a welcome benefit, as is the depth of the cup, which prevents balls from hopping out of the hole.

    Net Return

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    Net Return

    When constructing your full-swing station at home, the net can be an easy accessory to overlook. Anything will do, right? It’s actually far more complicated, and finding a net that is easy to assemble, will hold up over thousands of shots and will return the ball to you will all make your practice more enjoyable.

    Those are many of the reasons Bryson DeChambeau uses Net Return, which are some of the most durable nets on the market and come in a variety of sizes to suit your needs. The net uses an S-shape design to absorb the force of the ball before returning it back to you. In practice, the net provides just the right amount of return—enough so the ball is back in front of you, but not too much where you’re worried where it will fly after hitting the net.

    For those who want to move their net around frequently, the nets can be folded up into a duffel bag, offering easy maneuverability. The company’s “Home” version costs $549 (visit here), and there are numerous add-on options including a simulator screen, should you choose to slowly build up your at-home station.

    Fiberbuilt Mats

    There’s a compelling argument that a mat is the most important choice you’ll make when creating a practice station. Opting for the cheapest option could leave you with crippling tendonitis and inaccurate shot info if you’re using a launch monitor. A quality mat is a worthwhile investment.

    Fiberbuilt Golf, whose mats are found at 5,000 ranges and teaching facilities around the world, offers three choices to suit your needs. If you’re really worried about injury prevention or tend to hit down significantly on your shots, opt for the Fiberbuilt Grass Series, which is the most forgiving of the three. Key to this forgiveness is the rubber mold that each mat is held in, which dampens the vibrations of impact and keep the mat from moving around.

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    The Performance Turf (from $449) mat allows you to use real tees and has a slightly more realistic impact feel versus the Fiberbuilt Grass mat. Finally, the Player Preferred mat is best for players who are serious about their launch monitor numbers and want a realistic club-turf interaction. Some mats can distort launch monitor metrics, especially on mishits, but the Player Preferred mat is designed to minimize this to provide more accurate readings.

    Rapsodo MLM2Pro

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    Taking your practice station from a simple mat-net setup to a complete simulator can feel like a large leap given that many of the top launch monitors can run thousands of dollars. With Rapsodo’s MLM2Pro, however, you can get many of the same club-tracking metrics and on-course simulation for just $700.

    The affordability is the main reason Mark Blackburn, Golf Digest’s No. 1 Teacher in America, says he partnered with Rapsodo. The monitor tracks numerous metrics including carry, ball speed, club speed, launch angle, spin rate and many more. The MLM2Pro, the launch monitor used at Golf Digest’s Hot List Summit, pairs with your phone or tablet and provides access to over 30,000 courses.

    The launch monitor is portable as well, so when the weather warms, you can take it to the range or course to keep tracking your data.

    PuttOut Devil Ball

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    Oftentimes some of the best practice devices are the simplest, which is certainly the case with PuttOut’s Devil Ball, which has flat edges that require a square strike to roll properly. Studies have shown that face angle is the most important factor in short putting, and should you hit the Devil Ball with an open or closed face, the ball will immediately swerve offline.

    Depending on how you set the ball on the ground, you can hit putts with a variety of different levels of difficulty. At its most difficult, with the flat edge pointing toward the face, your putter face must not be more than 0.5 degrees closed or open, or else the ball won’t roll properly.

    It’s this instant feedback that makes the Devil Ball so satisfying. On my first couple of putts, I had a closed face and the ball tumbled out of balance. I made a slight adjustment to hold the face square longer through the strike and the ball rolled end over end. It’s an excellent tool to dial in your start line and costs just $30.

    Nike x Hyperice Boots

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    Improving your game while at home doesn’t need to require hours of practice—or any at all. Priming your body to move properly throughout the swing is an often overlooked essential to better golf. That’s what the collaboration between Nike and Hyperice aims to do with their compression boots, which are scheduled to launch later in 2025.

    On display at the PGA Show, the boot is a wearable shoe that uses dynamic air compression, similar to the tech found in the popular Normatec leg sleeves, which helps prime your feet and ankles for activity. Additionally, the shoe has a warming element, which drives heat into your foot and ankle, helping it feel lighter and looser. In testing the shoe, it was this heat—intense at times when at the highest setting—that seemed to prime the feet for movement.

    Before a workout, practice session or round of golf, the boots can help your feet feel lighter and more agile. A session in the boots after exercise can help you recover faster for your next activity. The best part? You can walk around freely in them, so you don’t have to stop what you’re doing while the boot is running.