Guides · Enclosures, mats and hitting surfaces
What Is the SIGPRO Softy Hitting Strip, and When Does It Make Sense?
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The SIGPRO Softy is a replaceable hitting strip, nominally 28 by 12 inches and 2.5 inches thick, for SIGPRO mats or a DIY simulator floor. It makes sense when you want to replace the strike area while keeping a stable stance surface. The hard part is bringing the floor around it up to the same finished height.
Feet versus irons
A hitting strip splits two jobs: a broad, stable area for your feet and a smaller insert that takes repeated club strikes. The Indoor Golf Shop describes the Softy as a replacement for its mats or an insert for DIY subfloors on its product page.
In a built-in room, that can make later replacement simpler. Swapping one strip avoids pulling up a large mat or a finished turf floor, provided you leave the insert accessible.
2.5 inches to build around
The standard Softy measures 28 by 12 inches and 2.5 inches deep, with a plus-or-minus 1/8-inch tolerance listed on the product page. Measure the actual strip before cutting the recess or setting the surrounding floor height.
Drop it into a thin layer of artificial turf and it sits well above your feet, so the plan needs a recessed opening, a raised subfloor, or a stance mat of matching height. Raising the whole stance area also reduces your available ceiling clearance; check slow practice swings at the finished height.
Start from where your feet will be and work back. The ball shouldn't end up noticeably above or below your stance.
Softer under the club
The Softy uses a foam insert, a 1-inch Teeline turf layer, and a flexible ABS polyurethane layer, according to the manufacturer's construction description. The design lets the strike area flex at impact instead of placing a thin turf layer directly on concrete.
That construction isn't proof that the strip will eliminate joint pain or reproduce every fairway lie. We haven't tested those claims.
Softy Lite
The Indoor Golf Shop lists the Softy Lite strip as 28 by 12 inches and 1.25 inches deep in its strip specifications. The same table says the Lite cannot take a real tee, while the standard Softy can, and lists both for indoor residential use.
Choose between them before the subfloor goes in. Switching strips after the floor is finished can mean recutting the recess.
Permanent rooms only?
The standard Softy suits a simulator that's staying put, with a stable stance surface already down and a strike area you want to be able to replace. In a temporary room where the whole mat gets rolled up or moved after every session, it's more hassle.
Still working out ball position, where the launch monitor goes, or which side of the ball people will hit from? Use a movable mat for now, and cut the permanent opening once you know where you like to hit from.