DIY artificial putting green , help and opinions.

[scrappy11]

I am thinking about building an outdoor putting green with indoor outdoor carpet on a budget of 300 dollars. Size 11x22. the carpet from home depot is gonna cost about 125$. and the subase is about 150 for 4 yards. justusing 3/4 minus stone as base layer then 1/4 minus ontop of that. then fine sand to fill in over the base. wet and tamp all layers 2" a time with plate compactor. and lay carpet over the base and tack it in to the treated lumber frame to hold in place. carpet comes in 12 ft wide section. That why the 11ft wide dimension. Any tips, or is this a bad idea. DONT HAVE THE MONEY TO USE SOUTHWEST GREENS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.

[Ben B]

This is basically like building a paver patio. The more base the better it will be, and stay away from granite dust as it retains moisture. Make sure you remove all organic matter and all unsuitable soils. Tamp the base soil and then lay down a geo-textile (not necessary but it will keep your base work from mixing with the subsoil and helps to stabilize the base too. You might want to use coarse concrete sand as it will drain much better than a fine play or masonry sand. Also I would tamp or roll the sand as well before laying the carpet, you probably don't want to use more than a 1/2" to 1" of sand if that. Worst thing that can happen is that you don't like it but you will have the base for a nice paver patio. Plus, you can save up for a while until you can get the actual artificial putting turf and just swap it out for the carpet and you're ready to go.

[umassgolfer]

Sounds like a fun project. I am also interested in any advice from someone who has completed a similar project - what do you/don't you like about yours and what would you have done differently?

Thanks in advance!

[Motoman]

I just finshed my backyard green and chipping area. I used ATPG turf for my green and chipping area.

It came out way better than I ever would of thought it would have. I did start out with kind of a trial green with some indoor green and sand and it did work ok.

But it really wasn't like the greens at the course so I decided to do it the right way. I know this is more than $300 but it's well worth it.

One thing I found out was not all turfs are made the same and the way there installed is not the same.

I would find the turf you like and follow the instructions they provide. The guys at ATPG were great and helped me through the whole process even on the weekends.

Not sure I would have changed anything

Here's a few pics


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[Motoman]

Here are a few more pics I took while building it

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[sgniwder99]

Motoman, that looks awesome. How does it play compared to a real green? Is there a "stimp rating" on it?

[Ben B]

[quote name='sgniwder99' timestamp='1312315724' post='3445473']
Motoman, that looks awesome. How does it play compared to a real green? Is there a "stimp rating" on it?
[/quote]


That does look awesome. I don't know about his, but a lot of them I believe you can control the stimp with sand and rolling.

[Motoman]

Yes - you can control the stimp with sand and rolling. Right now I have a lot of sand and rolled a bunch

The course I go to runs around 10-12 and I would say my green is very close to that

[Mizgoodie]

If you have a menards, they carry golf turf special order only but a wide choice of styles and blade lenghts, could be better than what you can get at home depot from the looking around i have done.. planning for mine now , spring 2012 project

[Motoman]

I would look at turf that needs to be back filled with sand. It's the only way to get it to roll like a real green.
The green turf I used was pre bent and that helps it be non-directional

Good luck with your projects