Home Green

[DannyK]

Since there is not much else to do I am thinking about building a home green or 2 in my yard.

Thinking one for putting and one for chipping onto.

 

I've pretty much decided on real grass.

 

Is it best to start with seed or sod? Where do I buy either of these?

Located in North Western NJ.

 

Any other tips please feel free to share

 

 

[Mullenboy]

Having been down this road years ago, I shall just say this: installing real grass can be done. MAINTAINING such is an entirely different matter. There are reasons golf courses have professional superintendents and staffs of workers.

So.. do you have the knowledge required for maintenance? And the equipment?

If not... there are many forms or artificial turf that work darn well for chipping and putting.

[az2au]

Real grass is both impossible to maintain for an individual and an exorbitant cost for now reason. You’re much better off using synthetic

[SBH9458]

@Mullenboy that’s a thoughtful response and makes sense to me. Have considered this myself before, but have never tried it because of the reasons you stated, principally because I did not have the equipment.

[mallrat]

What people posted above is 100% accurate but if you want to go down the road.

First consider irrigation, where is your current irrigation, how often are you going to need to water, are you capable or knowledgeable of doing the irrigation on your own?

Now, what is there vs what you want and how does it effect turf. Are there trees near there? Is it too much shade to properly grow turf? What is the current soil like? What do you want to do with the surrounding area? Do you plan on changing cups and if so how often? Maintaining a green on sand on top of soil is different than a green directly on soil (we have both on site).

Equipment you will need, a greens mower (see if you can find a Hudson Star).You will most likely need to find a mechanic at a course that will be willing to sharpenen your reel for you on the side. At least a backpack sprayer (more recommended than) or a walk spreader.

Now in construction you will need a plate compactor and probably keep it for a while. Lots of sand (LOTS).

From here. Sod will most likely be more lush but will take a while to get it good and smooth. Seed will be easier to keep smooth and most likely be cheaper but on average it seems to take about 3x as much seed to get good coverage as a bag rate suggests

Hope this helps

 

 

[ArtMBgolf]

For real grass you need a greens mower if you want to putt on it. You also don't want a shaded area.

 

You could try zoysia grass and cut as low as possible with regular mower. It will look like a green, but still not roll like a green.

It's decent for chipping practice and landing on the green, just not normal roll out.

 

 

[DannyK]

mallrat and everyone else I think you have convinced me to go the artificial route. Thank you for everyone's insight.