The hardware that turns a garden or garage into a practice bay: a net you can hit driver into, a mat that doesn't wreck your wrists, a chipping net for short-game reps and the impact screen for a full simulator build. The FORB net and Tri-Turf mat are the value sweet spot, with foam balls for indoors. Honest note: cheap mats can be brutal on your joints off a hard floor — pay up for a proper turf mat if you'll hit a lot of balls.
The FORB Pro Pop-Up net in the 10x7ft size, a simple flat-panel hitting net for back garden practice, aimed at anyone who wants to bash balls at home without a full cage.
What's great
For a basic net it does the main job well. Setup is genuinely quick, three poles into angle joints and you are hitting in a couple of minutes, and Golf Monthly found it stable even in strong wind. It stopped every shot they threw at it, and the wide 10ft span gives you a bit more margin for a stray heel or toe than the squarer 8x8. The 420D 3-ply knotless mesh and steel base feel solid for the money, and the carry bag means you can fold it away or take it to a mate's garden.
Worth knowing
It is a no-frills panel, so the real downsides are real. There are no side or roof panels, so a proper shank or thinned wedge can sail past it, mind your windows and neighbours. Reviewers flagged a pronounced backward bulge on impact, so you need clearance behind it. The supplied pegs are genuinely flimsy (two bent going into soft lawn), so budget for proper anchor pegs if it lives outside. No mat included, and the lower 7ft height means it is a hitting-into net, not a confidence cage. Some doubt over long-term mesh wear too.
The verdict
A solid, honest budget net that catches well-struck shots and sets up fast. Buy it for grooving a swing on a flat lie, but ditch the pegs, leave room behind it, and do not trust it to catch your worst shanks.
The FORB Tri-Turf is a small, foldable three-section practice mat (roughly 60cm x 40cm) with separate fairway, rough and fringe turf strips, aimed at golfers who want to rehearse different lies in the garage, garden or at the range without lugging a full mat about.
What's great
For the money it does the one clever thing big mats don't: three turf densities side by side so you can feel the difference between a fairway lie, a grabby rough lie and a tight fringe lie. It's properly portable, folds up, and the varied surfaces genuinely make you adjust your strike rather than sweeping off the same plush carpet every time. Owners using it in a garage or as a club warm-up strip rate it for that, and it's cheap enough to be a no-brainer if you just want reps.
Worth knowing
It's small, so it's a chipping and short-iron lie trainer, not a driver or full-swing platform, and there's no real margin for a fat shot. The base is only about 2mm of rubber, so on concrete it gives you next to no shock absorption and you will feel it in your wrists and elbows after a session, especially on chunky strikes. Owners also report it sliding on smooth floors unless you weigh it down, and the turf can leave a bit of residue on clubheads. It's a budget rep machine, not a forgiving long-term simulator mat.
The verdict
I rate it as a cheap, honest lie-variety trainer for chipping and short irons, and that's exactly what it is. Just put it on grass or a softer surface, not bare concrete, and don't expect to be smashing drivers off it.
A collapsible, spring-framed net that pops open into a freestanding target, usually with a couple of pocket holes to aim at. It's the cheap, grab-and-go way to practice chips and pitches in the garden without peppering the fence.
What's great
For what it costs, it does the one job well: gives you a target so you actually aim instead of just dinking balls around. Setup is genuinely a 5-second job, it weighs next to nothing, and it folds flat enough to chuck in the boot or behind a door. For grooving distance control on short chips and pitches in the garden, it's a proper handy bit of kit and stays put once you've got a few balls sitting in it.
Worth knowing
Be honest about the limits. It's so light it'll blow over or tumble in any real wind, so peg it down with the stakes (use them, or it's airborne). The classic gripe is folding it back into that little bag, it takes practice and will wind you up the first few times. Whatever balls and mat get bundled in are usually rubbish, treat them as freebies. And it's for chips only, do not hit anything full into it. Hitting the harder plastic-pocket types can also be surprisingly loud.
The verdict
I rate it for what it is: a cheap, portable target to sharpen your short game in the garden. Just peg it down, ignore the bundled balls, and learn the fold. Don't expect it to take a full swing.
A tensioned polyester impact screen that doubles as your projection surface and your ball-stopper, aimed at anyone building a home or garage golf sim instead of paying club rates to hit into a TrackMan bay.
What's great
A proper multi-layer screen is the bit that makes a sim feel real. The good ones (Carl's Premium, SIGPRO, Par2Pro types) take a flushed driver at full belt and barely flinch, owners are still hitting clean after a couple of thousand shots with no real wear. The tight weave throws a genuinely crisp 4K picture with no pixel grain or light bleeding through the back, and the cushioned middle layer kills both the noise and the bounce, so the ball just dribbles back to your feet instead of pinging off. Get the tension right and it is quiet, safe and immersive.
Worth knowing
It is fussier than the marketing lets on. Ship it and it arrives folded with creases you may need to iron or steam out, and getting it dead flat is a faff, too tight and it turns into a trampoline that fires balls back at you, too loose and it sags and ripples. Projector heat and humidity bring wrinkles back over time, and a bright room washes the image out (you really want it dark or a grey screen). You also MUST hang backing (mesh, moving blankets) behind it or the bounce-back gets dangerous, and dead centre will eventually show a wear bulge where every shot lands. Skip the cheap single-layer ones, they are loud, bleed light and wear out inside a year or two.
The verdict
I rate a quality multi-layer impact screen, it is the single biggest upgrade to how a home sim looks and feels, just budget for proper backing and accept you'll spend an afternoon fighting the tension. Buy once, buy the good one, and avoid the bargain-bin single-layer stuff.
A nine-pack of soft foam practice balls with Callaway's hex dimple pattern, designed for full swings in gardens and tight spaces.
What's great
These are the gold standard of foam practice balls and have been for years. Unlike airflow plastic balls that float anywhere, the HX balls give you genuine shot-shape feedback: slice your driver swing and they'll curve, flush a wedge and they fly straight with a proper-looking trajectory. Golf publications regularly put them top of home practice ball roundups for exactly that reason. They're soft enough to swing freely without fear, which is the whole psychological unlock of garden practice. The mesh bag is handy, the bright colours make them easy to find in flowerbeds, and nine is enough for a decent rhythm of hit, collect, repeat.
Worth knowing
They're still foam, so distance and feel bear no relation to a real ball, and anything beyond a gentle breeze sends them sideways. They compress and scuff with heavy use, so expect to replace them every season or two if you practise a lot. Dogs adore them, briefly. And at roughly £1.60 a ball they're pricier than no-name foam balls, though noticeably better.
The verdict
The best foam practice ball going. Cheap enough to not think twice, good enough to make garden swings genuinely useful.
A cornhole-style garden game where you chip foam balls at a fold-out target board with three scoring holes, using your own wedge from an included mat.
What's great
It nails the thing most training aids miss: you'll actually use it, because it's a game rather than a chore. Sixteen foam balls means proper multiplayer sessions without constant ball collecting, and the three-hole scoring creates real risk-reward decisions about which target to attack. The foam balls are garden-safe, so kids and non-golfers can join in with a spare wedge, which makes it one of the few golf purchases the whole household tolerates. It folds flat with a carry case, so it travels to barbecues and campsites. And underneath the fun, you are genuinely grooving landing-spot control, which is most of what chipping is.
Worth knowing
Build quality is fine rather than fancy; the fabric target and mat will fade and sag if left outside permanently. Foam balls spin and check nothing like real balls, so don't expect your course chipping to transform. Windy days make scoring a farce. And the included mat is small, so big swingers may want to chip off grass instead.
The verdict
The rare golf gift that gets used all summer. Buy it for the fun, accept the practice as a happy side effect.
