RukkNet Portable Driving Range Review

“The harder you practice, the luckier you get.” – Gary Player

For the majority of us, our spare time is both precious and fleeting.  Finding the time to just get a haircut is difficult enough, let alone setting aside the time necessary to get to a driving range and work on your game.  And when you finally get to the range, and the weather cooperates, you will be limited by the size of the bucket you buy.

On the other hand, you could get yourself a RukkNet Portable Driving Range and practice your ball striking whenever and wherever your spare time should allow.

Thus far I’ve used the RukkNet while watching my son’s soccer practice, at the park across the street from my building, at another park while killing time in-between appointments, and as a warm-up before heading to the first tee at a course that didn’t have a driving range.

First Impressions

This isn’t some mesh net attached to a couple polls by Velcro.  It’s well-constructed, very sturdy, and the netting is thick and strong.  It is built to be used often and last a long time.

The three turf portable hitting mat is also of high quality and easily fits in the carrying case.  I was a little concerned about the thickness of the mat as I thought it would noticeably raise the ball off the ground, but I never had a problem with it.

The Specifications

Clearly there has been significant thought put into the RukkNet design.  It’s the perfect size when packed up in the included carrying case as well as when fully set-up.

When in the case, it weighs 16 pounds and is about two and a half feet around.  It fits perfectly in my Jetta’s trunk behind my clubs and next to my golf shoes.  Also, something I immediately noticed when putting the net and turf mat away, you don’t have to be perfect in your re-packing efforts.  The case gives you some room for human error, which is much appreciated.

Out of the case and fully set-up, the net is seven feet tall, nine feet wide, and five feet deep.  The height and width was comforting to me since one of my initial concerns was missing the net entirely.  Once I realized I wouldn’t miss the net, the size allowed me to run through my clubs from driver to pitching wedge without having to adjust my distance from the net.

Set-Up and Breakdown

Set-up was a little awkward the first time or two, but even while figuring it out on the fly it took less than a minute to have it set-up and ready to go.  Basically, you pull the thing out of the bag, grab two sides of it, and it just flips open.  From there it’s all about figuring out where the front of the net is and getting it into position.

As for the breakdown, next to the actual hitting of golf balls into the net, it’s probably the most fun part of the entire session.  The net is clearly labelled to help fold it up and within three steps the thing is back in its original circle shape and ready to slide back into the case.  It amazes me how easy it is every time I pack it up.

Rukknet Golf Sports Net Easy Folding Video – New & Improved

The RukkNet golf net available from Rukket Sports, www.rukket.com, is now even easier to fold! With our new technique you can even fold the RukkNet with one hand! Simply fold the net flat, walk down the side with instructions, grasp the black strap at the bottom and walk back to the Fold to Here.

Overall Use

The net and mat will allow you to work on your swing anytime, anywhere, which is great.  The mat has three kinds of turf: fairway, rough, and tee.  Yes, you can stick a tee into the turf and hit a driver off it.  It’s great.  None of the turfs showed any wear after a few sessions, and more importantly, I didn’t notice any wear or coloring on the bottom my irons.

While you won’t be able to track the flight of your golf ball using the net, there are some things you can do to really improve your ball striking while using it.  The first thing I did, once I got past the novelty of the whole set-up, was put blue painter’s tape on the face of each of my clubs.  Now I’m getting immediate feedback on where the ball is hitting the club face.

The other drill I made up as I went along was putting the golf ball towards the back of the mat.  This forced me to strike down on the golf ball.  If I released the club early or “casted,” I would hit the back of the mat. So it turns out the mat can be used as a teaching aid, too (don’t do this indoors)!

And if you combine this set-up with a camera phone and tripod, you’re about to become the most popular guy on your block.

The Verdict

The whole kit from case, to net, to mat is well thought-out, well-designed, and of very high quality.  The quick set-up allows you to get to practicing right away and the incredibly easy breakdown has you moving on in a handful of seconds.

While some may hesitate at a price tag of $230, I would ask, on average, how much do you pay for a bucket of balls and how many buckets do you buy a year?  Almost any answer points you back to this product.  If your answer is “about twenty buckets at $10 a pop”, you should buy one of these.  If your answer is “I wish I was able to get to the range more often”, you should buy one of these.

And really, the reason we play this game in the first place, just imagine after a long day, after the kids are finally in bed, you can head down to the basement or out to the garage and decompress by hitting some golf balls.  I mean, come on.

Basically, you should buy one of these.

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