Can a $469 Putting Simulator Actually Make You Better? I Put the Exputt RG to the Test

Here’s why I expected the Exputt RG to be awesome: It allows for people who don’t have a big space or a big budget to get in on some of the indoor golf simulator fun.

But here’s what I really didn’t think would be that cool or worthwhile about the Exputt: I didn’t think it could actually help you become a better putter.

Well now? I’m singing a new tune.

Not only do I think the Exputt is fun, I think it’s actually really useful.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to run out and buy one. Watching your putts on a television or computer screen isn’t going to appeal to everyone, no matter how accurate the data might be.

So some of you need to read on to find out if this type of putting experience sounds at all appealing to you. Like, is this the way you’d want to practice?

Others of you want to know if the information that the Exputt gives you is accurate, trustworthy, and consistent. And you want to know if it mimics putting on a real green.

And then there are those of you who just want to know how much fun the Exputt is. Like, is this the kind of thing that can provide hours of family entertainment? Or something that would be awesome to set up while you watched the Masters with your buddies?

It so happens that I’ve tested the Exputt in pretty much every one of these types of scenarios and use cases. So, read on as I give you my honest take.

What Is the Exputt RG?

When I mentioned the Exputt putting simulator to several different golfer friends who weren’t aware of it, I got a fairly common response along the lines, “Wait, there’s a golf simulator that’s just for putting?” People didn’t seem to quite understand.

But, yeah, that’s what the Exputt is. It’s a putting-only golf simulator. It uses a high-speed camera and AI-driven tracking software to analyze your putting stroke in precise detail.

Near as I can tell, the “RG” model (which stands for “Real Green”) is simply the latest version of the Exputt system.

It’s a super compact setup. Just a mat, a camera, a tripod, and a remote control. You connect the camera system directly to your TV via HDMI. No bulky hardware whatsoever.

Beyond the simplicity of the setup, which I’ll get to, the thing that jumped out to me immediately was how little space you need to use the Exputt. The mat is only 44 inches long. I mean this is something you could easily use in a living room, office, basement, or even a hotel room.

And it comes with a basic-but-nice carrying case. So you can roll it all up, and take it wherever you want to go without any issue at all.

Using the Exputt is totally different from what you’re used to with a golf practice putting green. With this, there’s a mat with a foam stopper at the end. There’s no cup or hole anywhere on the mat. You always putt from the same place on the mat, rolling the ball into the stopper at the end. And every putt that you’re hitting on the mat is flat and straight.

 

 

Doesn’t sound very interesting, does it?

Well, not until you interface with the software. That’s where all the fun and useful feedback kicks in.

The Setup: Surprisingly Simple

I’ll admit, I went into this expecting the setup to be more involved. Maybe not difficult, but at least the kind of thing you do once and then avoid adjusting.

That wasn’t the case at all.

To get started, all you do is:

1. Unroll the putting mat.
2. Plug the camera into your TV via HDMI.
3. Power it up.
4. Position the camera above the hitting mat using the included tripod or mount.
5. Adjust the lens position using the included scroll wheel so that the camera is pointing at the mat.
6. Follow the on-screen setup prompt that will show you when the camera is positioned correctly.
7. Let the system automatically sync.

And you’re rolling putts.

 

 

I initially didn’t realize that you can adjust the camera angle. I didn’t see the scroll wheel, and I couldn’t quite get the camera to see the full mat. That led to a few minutes of unnecessary frustration. Once I figured it out, everything snapped into place. Now setup takes me less than two minutes.

One thing I love: The ball doesn’t have to be perfectly centered on the mat. Wherever you place it within the target zone, the camera knows where it is in relation to the onscreen putting green. It auto-aligns your start position. That means no fiddling around to make sure you’re lined up. Just put the ball down and go.

It works the same way a camera-based golf launch monitor works. The camera is watching the club hit the ball, and then it’s either reading or calculating the ball speed and direction, putterface angle, and path of the putter throughout the stroke. Just like with full-swing launch monitors, you place two club stickers (one on the toe, one on the heel) of your putter. The camera gathers its information basically off of the reflections from those stickers.

The camera relays all of that information to the simulator software which then displays the roll of the golf ball on a simulated putting green. Also on the screen is all of the data about each putt that you hit.

Rolling the Rock with the Exputt Putting Simulator

The first time I hit a putt with the Exputt RG, I was stunned by how responsive and accurate it is.

I could feel in my hands that I’d left the putterface slightly open, and sure enough, the onscreen feedback showed exactly that. Not only did the 15-foot putt miss to the right of the hole, but the analysis on the screen showed that my face was 1.6 degrees open.

But here’s the kicker: Over time, I realized how often I didn’t feel those subtle face angle issues. The Exputt caught them every time.

It exposed a clear tendency in my stroke to leave the face 1 to 2 degrees open at impact. On the course, that results in putts that consistently miss just to the right. But unless you’re tracking face angle and path with a launch monitor, it’s hard to catch.

For me, that was an immediate attention-grabber. It became easy to see how helpful this data could become.

To play around with this, I practiced a bunch of putts indoors on the Exputt. Then I went out to the putting green and hit several similar-length straight putts. Sure enough, without making any corrections, I tended to miss to the right.

Back on the Exputt, I’ve now been working on intentionally closing the face as I come into impact. Seeing the results and marrying them with what I’m feeling is extremely helpful.

Outdoors, we sometimes question the results because of all of the variables. Maybe the ball hit a spike mark. Maybe there was more break in the putt than we realized. Maybe the speed was off.

But to add raw data to what you’re feeling and seeing is really powerful. When I can see exactly how open or closed (or perfectly square) my putterface is, and I can see in miles per hour how fast the ball was rolling, and I can see on what path my putter traveled from behind the ball to in front of the ball, and I can combine all of that information with what I’m feeling, I can become a better, more-informed putter.

Once I realized that, I started to think of $469 as a very fair price to pay for the Exputt RG.

Exploring the Exputt RG Modes and Features

 

 

Exputt comes from the same company that makes the Square Golf Launch Monitor. And the software experience is very similar, which is to say that it’s totally functional and intuitive but not necessarily super fancy. It’s fairly basic, which is fine.

Practice Mode

This is the heart of the product, and honestly, where I think I’ll spend the most time.

You can choose your distance, green speed, and slope/break (or none), and get immediate feedback on every putt including:

• Ball speed
• Distance rolled
• Face angle at impact
• Putter path
• Launch direction
• Tempo

There’s also a built-in Analysis Mode that gives you data summaries over time.

You can choose to practice putts at the same length continuously, or you can set it up so that it feeds you random distances and breaks for each putt.

The severity of the break in each putt, including whether it’s up or down hill and to which side it’s moving, is all expressed on a grid on the screen. The faster the arrows are moving, the more severe the break.

You can then adjust where you’re aiming using the remote control or by aligning your putterface with one of the lines on the mat and then moving the face either left or right. This will then incrementally move your starting line the same way as if you used the remote control. It’s kind of a cool feature.

As I expected, I found the straight, flat putt simulated experience to be a lot more lifelike than the big breaking putts. I’ll talk about this more below, but I just don’t get a ton of value out of hitting simulated breaking putts when I’m still standing on a perfectly flat floor. It’s just not at all realistic to me.

Play 9 Mode on the Exputt Putting Simulator

 

 

This one’s great for adding a little pressure. You putt your way through nine different holes, trying to finish each one with the lowest score possible.

Each hole is on a different green with varying distances and breaks.

It feels a bit like a video game, but it absolutely keeps you engaged and takes some of the monotony out of putting practice.

Challenge Mode

You get three putts at three distances per hole. The faster you get the ball into the gimme range, the more points you score. Great for testing your lag putting. Though, as I’ll talk about below, I’ve got mixed feelings about lag putting practice with the Exputt.

Explorer Mode

This is where you can choose different greens and design your own putting scenario. You pick the hole and the pin, set the green speed and slope, and get to work. It’s a nice feature if you want to create tough practice scenarios or simulate putts you’ve struggled with on real greens.

Multiplayer Mode

Honestly, this mode is underrated. It lets you play head-to-head online against other Exputt users, or in-person with friends.

I rolled a few 9-hole matches with my sons while we were watching the Masters. One screen with the tournament, the other with Exputt. It was awesome!

A Taste of the Golf Simulator Life

Playing socially is of course one of the biggest reasons someone might want an Exputt. For families or friend groups, this thing could be a hit. It’s simple, fun, and competitive. Perfect for when you want an active but still chill hang out.

I also think the Exputt is going to be popular with golfers who are enamored with all of this talk of indoor golf simulators but who don’t have a large enough space for full-length golf swings or who don’t have a large enough budget for those devices that can easily cost thousands of dollars.

The Exputt is like a gateway drug for the golf sim junky. This lets you scratch that itch just a bit. A way to get in on the golf simulator craze. A way to play golf in your basement with your buddies.

I mean, come on. Is there anything about this that doesn’t sound awesome?

Practicing with Purpose

 

 

I kind of figured the Exputt was going to be fun. In fact, skeptically, that’s about all I really thought it would be.

What really surprised me was how useful I can see this being for legitimate practice and improvement. You can really get in some focused, feedback-driven putting practice using an Exputt.

I’ve found that the most valuable use is drilling straight putts from 5 to 20 feet. No break. No gimmicks. Just honest practice in:

• Squaring the putter at impact
• Hitting the center of the face
• Matching distance to stroke size

Practicing that way, with real-time metrics and immediate feedback, doesn’t just help you get better in the moment. It teaches you what good feels like. You build awareness of your tendencies. And you gain real trust in your stroke.

If you’re working on your fundamentals or rebuilding your putting confidence, that’s gold.

I also like to stick to mostly putts of no more than medium length. That’s because I have a hard time gauging simulated distance off of a TV screen. For long, lag putts, it’s just not that realistic to me. It doesn’t quite line up with what it feels like to be out on a real green judging the distance and speed of a long putt.

Do I occasionally mess around with breaking putts, challenge modes, or longer lag putts? Absolutely! I’m not a total fun hater.

But, for me, the straight, boring putts are where the real gains happen.

And you may think that you could get the exact same experience with any old putting mat. I’m telling you that you’re wrong. Having the data matched to the simulated visual is next-level.

I think you probably could figure out a way to use the Exputt to effectively practice your distance control and lag putting. By paying attention to the distances and by then pacing off distances when you’re out on the real green, you could train yourself to match different-length strokes with different-length putts.

I just haven’t quite found that this works very well for me. As of now, I prefer to use the Exputt to really dial in the mechanics of my stroke without introducing any variables.

A Secret Weapon for Gear Testing

Here’s something I didn’t expect: I used the Exputt RG to help decide between three different putters. I had been considering making a putter change, and I had a couple of models laying around that I wanted to compare to the one I’ve been using for the past few seasons.

Anyone who’s spent time trying to choose a putter knows how hard it is to separate feel from fact. With Exputt, I could objectively see:

• Which putter helped me keep the face square most often
• Which one produced the most consistent ball speeds
• Which one gave me the best distance control
• Which one had the tightest dispersion patterns

It made the decision so much easier. It took all of the subjective feelings out of it. It made me much more confident that I was actually choosing the right putter based on real results.

If you’re the type who likes to tinker with their putters, you’re going to freaking love this thing!

Final Verdict: Seriously Fun, Surprisingly Useful

I came into this expecting a fun toy. What I found was a legit training tool.

The Exputt RG may not be for everyone. If watching your putts on a screen feels too disconnected from real golf, or if you’re only interested in green-reading practice with real contours under your feet, then this might not be your thing.

But for the rest of us—for golfers who want to actually see what their putting stroke is doing, who want to train face control and distance control with real feedback, and who want a way to practice without heading to the course—it’s kind of a no-brainer.

You don’t need a garage bay. You don’t need a projector or a hitting net or a $10,000 launch monitor. You just need a flat floor, a TV, and a few minutes. And from there, the Exputt gives you everything: data, visuals, challenge, and a ton of fun.

It’s actually kind of addicting.

If you’re looking to get better at the part of the game that decides the most strokes, this just might be the smartest golf purchase you make all year.

About PlayBetter Golf Reviewer Marc Sheforgen

Marc Sheforgen is a golf writer whose passion for the game far exceeds his ability to play it well. Marc covers all things golf, from product reviews and equipment recommendations to event coverage and tournament analysis. When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about golf, he enjoys traveling (often golf-related), youth sports coaching, volunteering, and record collecting.