How about outside putting green turf recommendations?

[Ducati07]

Hi y'all,

I've searched a little out here but just thought I'd start a new thread to start clean in case there is anything new worth mentioning for an outdoor putting green.

I'm planning to install a 50' x 25' green outside in Redding California where it tends to be hot. It's going to have curbing around it with two turf heights.

I want for my bentgrass type green to putt 10+ on a stimpmeter. It would be nice if I could get it to 11-12. Higher quality turf is preferred than budget material unless it comes highly recommended by the majority of people.

Any ideas for me to make this happen? I'll be doing the install myself and this is my first synthetic green so all thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

Getting a quote from STI....are they the best?

Hope all is good and play well!

Thanks

[mitchbeerwatch]

I built a putting green in my backyard a few months ago using SynLawn products. I used the Augustine X57 and the precision putt for the green. Highly recommend this turf product. They will sell materials for DIY or install it for you.

was a fun project to do, happy to answer any question on design, labor or materials.

[Ducati07]

Wow! That looks fantastic!

Great job, thank you so much.

What type of material did you use for your base?

Did you add drainage?

Did you topdress the green with sand or?

And how do you like the speed of the Precision Putt?

Thanks again.

[mitchbeerwatch]

Ducati07 I used 1/4”-minus as the base. I live in the NW, so I dug down about 2-3” and put in 2” layers of the 1/4”-minus and ran a compactor. To level it out it’s probably 10” deep compacted in its deepest spot and 4” in the most shallow. I didn’t need any pipe drainage in the base, the natural slop of the land was all I needed. Depending on your soil you may want to use 3/4” gravel for the bottom most layers. Also use a geotextile fabric between your dug out base and the gravel, especially on clay soil. If you live in a desert condition you may not need to go as deep. You want to be deeper than the frost line I believe so it doesn’t settle in the winter.

I did top dress with a green silica infill, it’s not sand but a synthetic material. You can fill it to the speed you are looking for. I’d say my greens run at a 11-12. I love the roll of the precision putt, I did a bunch of research and they partnered with Dave Pelz to develop it. I also think it looks the best, it doesn’t look cheap or fake.

[Ducati07]

Awesome. Did you compare to any others for quality and/or price?

Thanks again!

[Mxwoodman]

I live in norcal I did about the same as mitchbeerwatch did I dug out a bunch of clay and refilled with arena fines and used a plate compactor, mine had 1/4" pad under the green that helps some when pitching and chipping. I used sand blasting sand for the infill and used a sod roller - with sand and sod roller you can make it fast as you want mine is 11-12. I had mine for I think ten years but it's been a little beat up by some redwood trees that drop tons of crap on it. Good luck

[Brettster]

Sweet mitchbeerwatch - Synlawn is the gold standard I believe in outdoor putting greens. Just curious what your final bill was, or an idea on how much the entire project cost you? Also, if you had to do it all over again, is there any part you would outsource to someone else, or was it all pretty straight forward?

[mitchbeerwatch]

I agree, I love their product, compared EPS and others and just thought it was made for golf. The turf, infill, cups, seam tape, fasteners and other materials from SynLawn were about $3k. Most of that being the turf. I had a 15x20 precision putt and a 15x18 X57 for fringe. The gravel cost me about $300 for about 8 cubic yards. It would have been cheaper but I needed a second load so I paid two delivery fees. Outside of that it was $65x2 days for the compactor and about $200-$400 in misc tools I had to buy along the way that I didn’t have. Then about $500 for all the river rock and pavers around the green. I’d say all in it was about $4500 max.

I did get some quotes, they were between $8k-11k for the same size but more importantly were like 2-3 month waits. I had so much time on my hands at the beginning of COVID I didn’t want to pay 2-3x and wait that long so just ordered the gravel. One that was delivered there was no turning back!

Now that I’ve done it, I’d would never pay to have it done unless it was a much bigger project. I am not sure I would trust myself to seam putting green turf together, so I would try to pay someone to install the turf only but I’d build the base. It was a fun project and super rewarding to do it myself.

[Brettster]

mitchbeerwatch - cool - thanks for that price out (I just saw it now, sorry for delay). That helps me understand how much it might be if I decide to do it... Would love to have an outdoor putting green, and something I can chip to from the other side of the yard. Does it react like a real green when hitting 20-50 yard chips into it?