Question regarding turf for a fully dedicated outdoor surface

[sirish19]

Hi All,

I have a more unusual situation than most of you as my sim setup is outdoors situated on the 3rd floor rooftop balcony of my house in Japan. Total size of the balcony is 6.5 x 3.5 meters and is covered with 30x30 cm square ceramic/stone tiles (at least they used to be ceramic/stone). I had two 30x90 YGT-3D hitting strips that I put side by side and pulled out 6 tiles and slit the mats in. Since those mats are around 3.5 cm tall, I had a 1.5 cm stance mat sitting on top of the 2 cm tiles to make everything perfectly level. Additionally, I have the NetReturn set up to catch the balls rather than a projection screen and I have a couple of thin rolls of turf extending 2 meters between the hitting strip and the net (to soften the bounce of the balls when falling from the net and also to create a smooth putting surface (at least for 2 m). Since this is a fully dedicated outside setup in a country where we get a lot of rain, I have to take the down the net and put away the stance mat and hitting strips (in addition to the monitors, SkyTrak, etc.) so it all gets to be a bit of work to set up and put it away (especially when we have inclimate weather).

Anyway, we had the balcony redone for waterproofing and they replaced the heavy tiles with very lightweight plastic tiles. Initially, I thought they would be fine but it turns out my mats are slipping around on top of the and that affects my swing and ball striking. So, I am now considering covering the entire balcony with outdoor turf that will look nice, provide sufficient water draining properties and would be a good surface for stance (i..e, won't slip around under my feet but doesn't need to be glued to the balcony) and also be suitable for a decent putting surface (stimp 8-11 would be ideal).

If I can have the surface out all of the time without having to worry about the elements, it would be ideal, but I would be ok with pulling out the hitting strip when not in use to ensure that it stays in good shape if necessary.

Does anyone have any good ideas on how something like this may be done? My other question would be will the turf wear out where I am standing and if I should also consider a replaceable insert for the stance mat? After close to 600 rounds on the sim over the past 3 years, the YGT-3D hitting strips have held up well but I have already gone through a couple of stance mats so I am wondering if the wear there is going to be inevitable, even if I go with thicker turn.

So, I am wondering,

1) is there a viable option to get turf that is thick enough to sit in line with my YGT-3D mat or am I going to have to put something underneath it to build it up? 2) should I try to do the entire balcony in turf or would it be better to just do on the sim surface (realistically about 2 x 3 meters) and have some tile or something along the outside?

Any thoughts or experiences with something like this? Anything I should be particularly careful about?

Thanks for your advice.

[What4]

can you post some pictures to get a better idea of what you're up against? before undergoing a full on revamp - have you thought about placing something under the current pads to prevent slipping? Like those rug anti-slip mats? even simple neoprene yoga mats would work good i am guessing. megagrass sells artifical turf that is porous to rain, but i imagine their are plenty of others out there.

[sirish19]

Thanks. Here are a few pics of the mat and setup. I have tried putting some of the non-slip carpet pads, spray, etc., that helped a little, but it still slips. There are a few things that I have to deal with other than just the slippage, though. We are going to have to have the balcony redone for waterproofing anyway because the contractor that did it last year screwed it up. The company that is going to redo it is saying they won't put the plastic tiles back on (claiming they would be a fire hazard) and are recommending to leave it without any tiles OR to use the heavy tiles as they are flame retardant. In order to use the hitting strip, I will need to put something there to lift up the height to at least close to the height of the hitting strip.

I could go with the heavy tiles and just pull up a strip of tiles to insert the hitting strip each time I want to set up the sim. I am sure I would be able to get a tile that is textured so that the stance mat wouldn't slip. Alternatively, I would put in turf with a cushioned mat underneath and leave a cutout to insert the hitting strip when I want to play. If I put in the tiles and just use the mats that I have, it would probably be fine and would not slip around. The downside of that is that is that I would have to put everything up and take it down every time I set things up (I don't put everything away every day, but I would likely do that at least 1/week due to the weather). Also, as I don't have turf mats to cover the entire setup, the aluminum frame of the net tends to get really scratched up as I move it around. Additionally, all of the mats tend to take up space for storage when not in use.

If I were to put down turf, it would look a lot nicer and be more comfortable and wouldn't be uncomfortable to walk on barefoot in the summertime. Also, it would give me a pretty large space to practice putting. The real downside I see is that the turf that I stand on is going to be 1-2 cm (depending on the thickness of the turf) lower than the hitting strip. Will that make a difference when playing? I am not really sure. Also, another concern would be that over the long term, when standing in the same place and hitting continuously, the turf might get worn down over time and might need to be replaced at some point. I have also thought about putting down one of those thick, heavy black rubber stance mats (sort of like those you see at a driving range sitting on concrete) on top of the turf. That would lift it up just about to even with the hitting strip and may also prevent long-term damage to the turf where I am standing. On the other hand, I sort of suspect that that would probably also slip around a bit if it were sitting on top of turf. Also, it may be prone to get really dirty and collect water when it rains (although I could probably turn it upside down when not in use.

Appreciate any thoughts, experience and opinions on all of this. I have a couple of months to consider.