Most people practice golf at a driving range, in a simulator, or hitting into a net in their garage. These three ways of practicing golf have two very glaring things in common: Hitting off a perfect lie and standing on level ground.

Then when you get out on the course you end up hitting the ball below your feet, above your feet, uphill lie, downhill lie, and once in a while on level ground. This is the strongest argument as to why most people end up with a stagnant scorecard even though they practice all the time.

I developed the Launching Pad because I had a hard time hitting the ball when it was below my feet after having both of my knees replaced. (This is pretty common as golfers get older and can't bend the way they did when younger, even if they have their original knees)

So I started this journey with a piece of plywood and a block of wood. I started hitting it pretty good, but changing the slope of the board wasn't very easy. i decided to mechanize the platform to make changing slopes easy. The first platform was made of wood and stood 16 inches off the floor. Not ideal.

The next several versions of My Launching Pad were made of steel and weighed more than the ego of the guy I golfed with a few weeks back. (That's quite a bit) Even though they were heavy, they did what I wanted and it was only a matter of time before the design came together. I moved to an aluminum frame and solved the weight problem. It became pretty easy to move around, but I still had the issue of it sitting too high off the ground. At this point, I developed a scissors jack system on each corner in order to keep the platform closer to the floor. It works great and sits only a few inches off the floor.

The final issue was with the hitting area itself. It is common knowledge that when practicing on a rubber mat, the ball hops up a bit if the club hits the mat before the ball, giving the hitter the sensation of hitting the ball square, but in actuality it is teaching the golfer to hit the ground before the ball.

That's why your experience on the course is way different than your experience in the simulator or driving range.

We have installed 3" long soft bristles to support the ball in the hitting area. This gives the golfer more of a real feel when hitting the ball. It comes off the club face exactly how you hit it, so if you are off, the ball will be off. This give the golfer more of a chance for true improvement rather than giving false feedback like a rubber hitting mat.

The only way to get better at off schedule shots is to hit a lot of off schedule shots. Period.