Holy Grail Hitting Strip Review: My Honest Take After A Bunch of Use

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If you’ve been shopping around for a new hitting strip or mat for your simulator, you’ve probably come across the Holy Grail hitting strip from Gungho Golf. I’ve tested mine for over a month now, hitting on it A LOT, and I wanted to put together a full breakdown of what I liked, what I didn’t, and whether it’s worth your money.

I also recorded a full video review covering everything below, which you can watch here if you’d rather see it in action than read about it. While you’re there, please hit that subscribe button to support us!

What Is the Holy Grail Hitting Strip?

The Holy Grail hitting strip is a golf hitting mat built by Gungho Golf, designed to give you a realistic feedback while emphasizing the protection of your wrists and elbows from any repeated golf simulator impact. It retails for $179.99 for the 12×30″ size, but Gungho Golf has other sizes available. Changes in size or customizations obviously come with different price tags.

The strip is built in layers. On top, you’ve got Gungho’s Money Putt turf, which is a nice, dense putting-style turf. This turf also matches the rest of their turf lineup if you’re trying to keep your simulator floor consistent. Underneath that sits a black polycarbonate layer, basically a flexible plastic that gives the strip a lot of its forgiveness. Below that is the foam. The version I tested has five layers of foam, an upgrade from the three layers Gungho used in earlier versions. That foam stack is really the heart of what makes this mat feel the way it does.

The overall strip measures about an inch and a half in height, and Gungho recommends cutting your mat opening to 12.25×30 inches for a tight fit front and back with a small gap on the sides so the strip can flex properly when you hit it. It mounts with velcro on the front and back supports, which sticks to the floor underneath to keep it from shifting.

How It Plays

Honestly, I’ve been impressed with how this plays. This is one of the softer hitting mats I’ve tested, and that softness is by design. Gungho built it specifically to protect your wrists and elbows, since a lot of injuries from sim golf come from mats that grab the club and stop it too aggressively on a mishit. The Holy Grail doesn’t do that.

But, it still gives you feedback when you hit it fat. Because of how soft the foam underneath is, a chunked shot will make the club descend below the ball and contact happens higher on the face. This is by design and will kill your distance, often by 20 percent or more according to Gungho. You feel it and you hear it. That’s exactly the kind of realistic punishment you want from a mat without it punishing your body in the process.

How It Plays – Compared to Other Hitting Strips

Compared to the SIGPRO Softy from Indoor Golf Shop, a comparable alternative, the Holy Grail plays pretty similarly overall, but there’s one real difference worth calling out. The SIGPRO Softy gets a little grabby on short chips and delicate shots around the green. The Holy Grail does the opposite. It’s almost not grabby at all because the surface is so soft, which actually makes short chips and finesse shots easier to hit cleanly. If you spend a lot of time practicing your short game indoors, the Holy Grail is a good one.

When compared to the Bullseye 3D hitting strip which is built for a tight-lie feel with a firmer, no-grab surface aimed at golfers with a steep angle of attack, while the Holy Grail leans softer and more cushioned for general joint protection, like the SIGPRO Softy. If you swing steep, like coach Brian, and want a strip that springs the club back without grabbing on fat shots, the Bullseye 3D has the advantage. To be clear though, all 3 of these strips are excellent options with lots to like.

What I Liked

After personally testing this for over a month, I do feel like I have a good understanding of the hitting strip, and honestly, there’s a lot to like.

The color and turf match my existing simulator setup nicely, and the craftsmanship feels solid. After a month of fairly heavy use, I’m not seeing much wear and tear on the turf itself. It’s holding up well considering how often I’ve been on it.

The wrist and elbow protection is real. Hit off a cheaper mat, then try the Holy Grail. You’d immediately be able to tell how soft and forgiving the Holy Grail mat is. Again, I can’t stress how important that is if you plan to play a lot in your golf simulator.

The key piece here is that it’s a very real turf feel and it plays fair. Good shots get rewarded, bad shots get punished, and the ball flight feels like real turf. That’s the whole point of a hitting strip like this, and Gungho has done a really nice job.

As a side note, if you’re currently using a Fiberbuilt mat and want to get away from that stiffer, more bristly feel, the Holy Grail is also a near perfect drop-in replacement since it comes in matching sizes.

What I Didn’t Like

It’s not perfect, and there are a couple of things worth mentioning before you buy.

First, the corners are starting to peel after about a month. I’m not entirely sure if that’s from the strip sitting in my garage, my kids walking across it, or just normal wear in a high traffic area, but a few of the corners are lifting up. It’s an easy fix with some glue, but it’s something I noticed earlier than I expected to. In it’s defense, I also didn’t have it velcro’d down so that could be another reason for this.

Second, the strip is on the softer and thinner side, which cuts both ways. The flex that makes it so gentle on your joints also means that if you set your club down hard before a swing, the ball can shift position on you, sometimes sliding toward the middle of the strip. It hasn’t caused major problems with my launch monitor readings, but it’s something to be aware of, especially if you tend to ground your club firmly at address. Please check out my YouTube video to further understand this. Given the thinness of the strip, I do wonder about longevity too – but that is merely speculation.

Lastly, it doesn’t allow real tees, which is a minor inconvenience but a pretty common limitation with hitting strips like this. I’d recommend picking up a set of K2 Golf tees to use instead.

Final Thoughts

After a full month of consistent use, the Holy Grail hitting strip from Gungho Golf has been a solid addition to my sim setup. It plays realistically, protects your wrists and elbows, and handles short game shots better than some of the competition. The corner peeling and the slightly-too-soft feel under firm club placement are real drawbacks, but neither one is a dealbreaker for me.

If you’re building out a sim golf setup and want a high quality hitting surface, this is one to check out!

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