Building an indoor putting green

Griffin58 · February 11, 2022

Hi all!

I’ve done some research on this but thought some people might be interested in following along while I try to build my own indoor putting green. Hopefully some could offer advice or tips, or maybe my struggles can help others out if they do the same.

Below is the start. It’s 12x10 and is going in front of my simulator screen for the sake of space. Planning on having 3 holes in a triangular shape.

Again any tips or advice is welcome!

PS unsure if “Simulators” is the best spot to post but seemed to make the post sense.

Griffin58 · February 13, 2022

Just an update for anyone following along. The turf wasn’t thick enough and I got some 1/8inch carpet underlay to put under it based on an article from someone else building one but it did little to nothing to slow it. Went and got 1/2 inch carpet underlay and it feels and works much better. Plan is to staple the underlay around the edges then use carpet glue to secure to turf to the underlay. Cups are 4 and 1/4inches so going to use a hole saw to cut the 3 holes prior to securing the underlay then cut the holes out in the underlay with a carpet knife.

The platform is a little longer than the turf so going to use a pool noodle or something on the edge by the screen to stop balls from rolling off. Was going to use wood but where it’s a simulator screen, want something to absorb impact if someone thins one.

Griffin58 · February 19, 2022

Another progress update. We secured the underlay by stapling the sides on the wall and using two sided tape for the other 3 sides of each piece. Underlay came in 6x10 and one seemed to be a little bit higher than the other. I used painters tape along the joint to level it out and it worked well. Building up one side while pressing the tape down hard on the other. With the turf on you can’t tell where the joint is without looking.

We applied the carpet glue (Roberts 6700) and secured the turf. Started from beginning of the 12ft side and worked our way over glueing about 3ft at a time. That way we could smooth it out as we went. Used our hands and a foam roller to smooth it and seems to have come out pretty well with no visible bumps or rises. Tedious but again it worked well. Waiting 72 hours for the glue to completely dry then cutting the holes in the turf. We already cut them in the underlay. A few pictures below!

Griffin58 · February 25, 2022

So a final update. We waited 72 hours and the glue dried great. I cut three holes by hand (very tedious) but overall not terrible if you use a box cutter to cut the middle then slowly trim out with scissors. One in each back corner about 10” from the wall and edge, and one in front of the hitting area slightly to the left (the wood runs down the middle so it cannot be cut in the middle).

The cups are regulation 4 1/4 inches and I cut the holes about 3 3/4” - 4” just to allow for some wear and to give myself a little more practice hitting the hole in the middle. The longest putt you can comfortably make on the green with a full stance and stroke is 12’ 10” going from the front corner to the hole in the opposite back corner. Unsure how, but one of the putts has about a cup of break at its longest, one appears to be left edge at most at its longest, and one is perfectly straight.

The only thing left now is to put a pool noodle on the back edge to prevent balls from going off (need something soft to absorb impact from simulator shots) and I would like to put something on the concrete to the left to minimize the chance of a club scrapping it (like a small layer of foam).

I suspect the entire thing cost me less than $500 (I did have some of the wood around) and if anyone ever wants advice or tips, feel free to reach out!

If Scotty Cameron wants to send me any putters to practice on it with I’ll happily accept and see if it replaces my 5.5.

WipeyFade · February 25, 2022

Pretty cool set up, I would love to eventually do something like this. I really like the idea of a putting green incorporated into a simulator. Is that an Optishot sim? How do you like it? I've been looking at that and some other different ones.

UnkleRaRa · February 25, 2022

Very Nice. I want to build this exact setup in my basement.

Griffin58 · February 26, 2022

18 hours ago, WipeyFade said:

Pretty cool set up, I would love to eventually do something like this. I really like the idea of a putting green incorporated into a simulator. Is that an Optishot sim? How do you like it? I've been looking at that and some other different ones.

Thanks! I looked at having it other places but just made the most sense in front of the screen to minimize dead space and leave space in my garage for seating or a future bar. I just built where I hit from a few inches higher so it wouldn’t hit the green on ultra thin shots. I can also chip a little bit onto the green which is nice.

Optishot is pretty good. I don’t like putting on it at all but I don’t think any simulators are great for putting. It’s accurate for irons but I cannot use woods on it. The way is tracks the club and ball it often (90% of the time) picks up something on the club head as the ball and just gives a crazy ball flight. I have all Ping G425 woods which are about as plain as the sole of a wood comes and it still is an issue. I tried using white electrical tape on the sole based on a few articles but still little success. That being said it’s relatively cheap and I can hit irons all year long in my garage so I think it’s fine for that.

Griffin58 · February 26, 2022

18 hours ago, UnkleRaRa said:

Very Nice. I want to build this exact setup in my basement.

Thank you! I looked at that setup as well to save space but as I mentioned above, building it the way I did maximizes space in my garage and gives more putt length. I also hit left so I wanted something both lefty’s and righty’s could use but you could easily add the side piece to the other side on that build you posted. Plywood is typically 8x4 so I would recommend any builds use intervals of 4’ as much as possible to limit joints so it rolls as smooth as possible. Even the one big join I had in the middle I used a ton of tape to make it as level as I could.

AndLun · March 14, 2022

Your setup came out great! I recently built a small green and dragged a 2x4 (with pressure) along the green to smooth it. Foam roller would have been a much better idea!

Browns71213 · March 28, 2022

Nice!

Edited March 28, 2022 by Browns71213
Found answer

Griffin58 · March 28, 2022

On 3/13/2022 at 11:21 PM, AndLun said:

Your setup came out great! I recently built a small green and dragged a 2x4 (with pressure) along the green to smooth it. Foam roller would have been a much better idea!

Thanks! The foam roller was great as it had a bit of give but covered about 3 feet at a time in width. We did some hand smoothing as well. I did have some leftover bathroom tile I was going to lay flat on it but the foam roller made it fairly easy and the tile wasn’t needed.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Griffin58

Griffin58 · March 28, 2022

So to give everyone an idea for their own greens on speed, I have no designed break or variations but some did occur. We did some some shims of wood to make things level but given the length some changes were bound to occur though they are very minor.

I haven’t seen many people post about the carpet underlay when doing their own and obviously turf thickness will affect it, but as mentioned the 1/8inch underlay did nothing and felt like putting on plywood, whereas the 1/2 inch was perfect. Below I have two videos of putts, one is 9 feet and one is 12 feet. I’m very happy with the speed and how it turned out.

Also I joked about my Phantom 5.5 in my original post and eventually ditched it for the 12.5. I wanted to love the 5.5 and buy into the hype, but found the 12.5 so much better, especially on the shorter putts. It isn’t near as hot off the face and I can’t imagine it won’t be my gamer for the foreseeable future.

Thanks!