Tested & Reviewed: Breaking Ball Putting Mat

The Breaking Ball Putting Mat comes with weighted balls which replicate slight, medium, and heavy breaking putts.

Using the 11-foot mat, which has measured putts from 1-to-8 feet, you can practice 56 different putts including those 1-footers. Between left-to-righters and right-to-lefters with slight, medium, and heavy break, and straight putts, each distance offers seven different putts.

The Breaking Ball Putting Mat is an awesome training aid, for reasons both obvious and subtle, but I’ll start with the obvious. Practicing breaking putts at home instantly makes putting practice more engaging. Sure, if you have an uneven floor, you can practice putts with one break, but the ability to practice putts on seven different lines from 2-to-8 feet (49 different putts!) in one at-home practice session takes putting practice to a whole new level.

The mat works perfectly. When you line up each breaking ball on its intended line and hit it with the right pace (as indicated by the blue area beyond the hole), it rolls true and breaks perfectly over the cup. Seeing this happen repeatedly breeds some serious confidence over breaking putts.

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After countless putts practicing and testing the Breaking Ball Putting Mat with every break from every distance, here are my biggest pros and cons. I’ll go into more detail on what I like about this training aid, and what I think could be better.

It’s clear there are a ton of benefits of the Breaking Ball Putting Mat. Most golfers find putting practice to be the most boring part of their training, and may lack focus when they pratice putting, or skip putting practice altogether. WIth that said, any training aid that makes putting practice more fun and engaging is a huge win.

With the Breaking Ball Putting Mat, you not only practice breaking putts – with 49 different putts from 2 to 8 feet on the 11-foot mat, but you train your speed as well. It also sharpens your putting routine as a whole.

There are a few drawbacks with the Breaking Ball Putting Mat that you should consider before deciding if it’s going to help your game. While these are minor, it’s still good to know before you buy.

In order for each color-coded ball with the Breaking Ball Putting Mat to roll true to its line, it must be used on a level floor. You might assume your home’s floors are all perfectly level, but believe it or not, it can actually be tough to find an ideal strip of floor in your home to use this mat.

I sampled a few locations before I finally found the fall line in my hallway to get putts rolling how the mat was intended. 

To find the best spot, I used a normal golf ball and putted down the middle from the farthest distance, noting if and when it fell off the dotted white line on the mat.

When you pull the brand new mat out of the case, the black with blue accents pop, and it’s a sharp-looking mat. The problem is, that black is tough to keep clean.

As a dog owner, it didn’t take long for the mat to attract dog hair. After a quick vacuum, it cleaned up nicely, but it’s clear that to keep the mat in the best condition possible, it should be rolled up and stored between uses, especially for pet-owners.

The crux of the Breaking Ball Putting Mat are the weighted golf balls, and without those balls, this isn’t much different from any other putting mat.

However, those balls come in a standard sleeve, the same kind you’re accustomed to discarding the moment you pour out the balls. I tried preserving the sleeve, but after a couple days the top ripped off. 

It’s not a big deal to find a valuables pouch to serve as a permanent home for these precious balls, but given their importance to the mat’s performance, I was a little surprised something more permanent wasn’t included. We all know how easy it is to lose golf balls!

After logging a good amount of practice on this mat at home, I have three tips for anyone considering using the mat.

Roll some golf balls around your home to find a level space that will work for your mat. Check the length you have to work with to determine what size mat works best for you. I use the 11-foot mat and if your space allows, I highly recommend this size.

I spent 10 minutes checking out the free Me and My Golf video lessons included with the mat, and I’m glad I did. I wasn’t looking to re-tool my putting stroke, but I wanted to check out what they had to offer. I got some confirmation and tips on setting up the mat properly, and picked up a helpful tip to get rid of the wobble in my putting stroke.

To get the most out of your practice, make sure you hit putts on all seven lines from each distance on the mat. It would be easy to favor the out-to-in breaking putts, since those are typically easier for amateur golfers, but really challenge yourself on the in-to-outers, and don’t ignore those straight putts (just use a normal golf ball) either!

The video lessons recommend the “Every Putt Challenge” drill where you must make a putt from every spot on the mat. This is a great drill, and you can also create some drills and games of your own to gamify your practice.

I like to randomly draw a distance, direction, and amount of break, and hit that putt, keeping score of makes and misses. This ensures I’m not simply hitting the same putt over and over, and simulates a round of golf where every putt is different.

All in all, the Breaking Ball Putting Mat is a great training aid to replicate real-world putts, motivate you to practice putting, and keep you focused throughout your entire putting practice. If you’ve got the space in your home, and the budget to invest in a premium putting mat, we highly recommend the Breaking Ball Putting Mat.