Golf mat
Individual entry: Sophie Francis
Loughborough University, School of Design and Creative Arts.
Design description
The Golf Mat is designed to specifically help athletes with their striking techniques. The mat can be adapted for a range of different abilities; primary looking at muscle movements in the upper body when sitting down.
It allows those athletes with physical limitations to participate in an accessible version of a sport. It mimics golf with hitting a ball at a goal of a noise-making button, highlighting the buttons whereabouts with a bright red flag. This allows for a quick reply of a goal being achieved even when the button cannot be seen.
Anyone can build the Golf Striking Mat, quickly and relatively cheaply. Simply by adhering jigsaw mats to a table with Velcro at each corner of the table, then creating sides by adding the jigsaw mats vertically. Finally, you add the noise-making buttons onto the mats with Velcro having the athlete hit them with the ball. This results in a safe, easy to use mat at home for striking on a table, or it can be converted into a kicking mat when laid on the floor if a table isn’t available.