Having tour images posted on social hasn’t hurt PuttOUT’s cause either. Those began showing up last year and have remained steady emanating from a variety of stops worldwide, including the PGA Tour and European PGA Tour’s. Prominent has been the mirror and gates. The Slim Putting Mat has the same markings are the Medium Putting Mat: a target at one end, markers at every foot, and some alignment help arounds the three, five, and six foot range. Paired with the PuttOUT Pressure Trainer [review HERE], it makes practice fun, easy, and effective. I use mine almost every day that I’m home. As we all know, a real-life situation compared to training is a whole different beast. We hope our stuff helps to motivate and get you to prepare as best you can for when the real five-footer to birdie the last for a career low actually shows up.

PuttOUT released the original Pressure Putt Trainer four years ago and they’ve sold more than 400,000 units. Now known as the Classic Pressure Putt Trainer, it wasn’t broken so they haven’t had to fix it. Well, herein lies the problem with all products meeting the online market today: you make something cool and sadly the inevitability is that someone will rip it off — no innovation, no improvements, just lazy reincarnations. The new PuttOUT Large Putting Mat and Slim Putting Mat give golfers the ability to get a pure putting surface regardless of how much space they have. Social media has proven a dependable platform to push brand awareness. Engaged in a variety of digital content, the messaging with PuttOUT is ingrained with the idea of ‘hey, we’re doing cool stuff that can help golfers,’ not ‘buy this and you’ll become Tiger Woods.’ It’s also allowing the company to interact with consumers globally – lots of them. Mark was the catalyst. We showed him the Pressure Putt Trainer, sent him one, and he said, guys, this is great. Let me do a video for you. That was it. “That was the launch pad,” smiles Clift.

Our original target was 5,000 units,” laughs Cam Slaughter, PuttOUT’s marketing manager. “Its exceeded expectations.” While that doesn’t take the drudgery out of practicing three and six-footers 1999 Open Champion, Paul Lawrie believes you’ll be more inclined to do it if you’re aiming at something and using stuff that works great and appeals to the eye.

It’s been almost four years since PuttOUT released their original Putting Mat [review HERE], and taught golfers that they didn’t need to spend a fortune to get a flat, true putting surface in their home. Now, with the introduction of the Slim Putting Mat and the Large Putting Mat, they’re offering more options. Whether you have limited space or want to vary your putting practice, PuttOUT has a mat for you. Another small but significant change is the addition of three mid-way dot targets. Not only do they provide something easier to focus on, they also help account for the break when you’re putting on an uneven surface. So it’s a fair point — putting on a perfectly designed surface doesn’t take into account all the imperfections and variations we take for granted on a real course. Another difference is the way that the target is opened. On the original, there was a hinge; on the Premium, the dot gets pushed in (see above). This was done so players could see the target, even when it’s pushed down. From the moment I got my hands on one in 2017, the PuttOUT Pressure Putt Trainer [review HERE] has been my most-used training aid. It’s permanently set up on my PuttOUT Putting Mat [review HERE], and I use it almost daily.We haven’t had confirmation yet, but I’m going to go out and say 99 % credibility goes to us,” Slaughter added with a wink. Not coming from a typical golf company or from a big brand that releases anything then relies on its name for it to be successful intrigued Crossfield. Therefore’s two-plus decades of being immersed in product design every day meant an elevated standard to the working aspects of PuttOUT and what it could do to help golfers. I’ve been using the original PuttOUT Putting Mat almost daily since it was released, and it’s still in wonderful condition. The longevity of the mat itself is outstanding. However, our view of an indoor setup is that it strips away all of the intangibles and takes you down to just the bare bones of your putting stroke and you. As in, if there’s something going wrong it’s going to be directly from what you as the player are doing, not an outside agency (awkward lie, wet grass, pitch marks etc).

Especially perplexing for Riddiford were the fiddly short putts after a layoff. What he and the golfers at Therefore envisioned was a more effective putt return product, one without a requirement for electricity or batteries that could be used anytime, anywhere. Three years ago, Riddiford and his team at Therefore became its own client, carving themselves out a niche in the golf training aid and accessories market by building a better mouse-trap for golfers.

However, our view of an indoor setup is that it strips away all of the intangibles and takes you down to just the bare bones of your putting stroke and you. As in, if there’s something going wrong it’s going to be directly from what you as the player are doing, not an outside agency (awkward lie, wet grass etc). More than a 250,000 PuttOUT units sold (and counting) since the original Pressure Trainer debuted in January 2017, PuttOUT is now its division at Therefore. That came about purely out of necessity. All three sizes of PuttOUT Putting Mats roll at a smooth 10 on the stimpmeter without any bumps or irregularities. Knowing that makes and misses are entirely on you is critical to good putting practice. No distributor likes a one-product scenario. Ours up in near Royal Lytham, Second Chance Ltd, kept pushing us to think bigger,” Clift said. “We realized that we could engage in other products like the mat and mirror by building them to the same high standard we use for everything else. We’re not golf pros; we work with pros. What we do is provide the best tools to allow golfers to take on their practice.” Crossfield Champions the Cause…

To summarise, although an artificial environment has its flaws, it’s more the simple fact of giving yourself the opportunity to improve what feels right for you (beyond constant lessons, tech and frankly a lot of talent, what more can you do?). The Trainer, we feel, gives you the push to take that first step in doing so. That begs the question: what’s next? For PuttOUT the transition to more customized colors of the Pressure Putt Trainer and putting gates, a provision for a multiple-gate set-up, as well as the aforementioned potential for larger versions of the mats, all make business sense. So too does researching and developing other putting specific training aids using the assets and support Therefore can provide.The other thing was that it looked great. Lots of stuff in golf is engineered brilliantly. For example, it takes a lot of engineering effort to get you hitting that PING G425 driver longer and straighter than you have ever driven the ball before. But the design verges on brutalism. On the other hand, PuttOUT complements your decor with a style more reminiscent of a classic Eames chair. This is not your grandpa’s battery-powered ball returner. London-based Therefore Design Consultants have created a form that has real appeal. Bored of social distancing and the impact it’s having on your golf game? Try practicing at home with the new PuttOUT Premium Pressure Putt Trainer. A Stimpmeter reading of 10 offers users a medium to fast roll while the addition of alignment lines and pace targets helps make it a more functional part of a practice station. Each PuttOUT Putting Mat comes rolled up in a cardboard tube inside of a drawstring bag. This keeps the mat clean and free of bends or folds during transit. One thing Therefore already had a good barometer for is the high expectations and demands of the golf demographic. TomTom’s award-winning GPS devices have been built exclusively by the company since 2003.