Update to my backyard green/bunker/teebox

[Monday]

Amazing yard! Fellow Albuquerquian here. Mind if i ask what part of town you live?

[vol_in_ar]

unbelievable, very nice work

[505]

[quote name='BeantownOrangeman' timestamp='1339183565' post='5054048']
This is phenomenal! i was literally thinking about doing this (on a smaller scale) in my backyard before I saw this.

If you don't mind me asking, barring all the pond/garden expenses, what's a ballpark estimate of the cost?
[/quote]

Under 5k.

[quote name='Monday' timestamp='1339738666' post='5097550']
Amazing yard! Fellow Albuquerquian here. Mind if i ask what part of town you live?
[/quote]

Wyoming/Candelaria.




Pond spillways are done, so this week I am getting back on the putting green. My plan of not using nails through the putting green was a poor decision... the turf settled downhill a tiny bit and the holes started to offset from the cups. I relayed my situation to ATPG, and they were already developing a solution for this (seems I am not the only one out there that tried to cut this corner).

I can't go into all of the details about the fix quite yet, but as soon as I get the go ahead from them I will post up what we are doing. The holes will all be getting relocated (good thing since I put them all a little too close to the edge), and I am going to make a couple slight changes to the grade of my base while we have the green pulled up. I will also be able to hide the middle seam better with the new technique.

After the green is fixed I will finally be able to finish up the last little bit of rough, and stick a long awaited fork in this project.

Update pics coming up later this week.

[505]

Oh and the middle weekend in July is the planned yard warming party. Anyone on here that wants to come hit shots with us and eat food, play pool/darts/croquet is more than welcome. I have 2 spare bedrooms if anyone non-local wants to make the trip. lol.

[ben w]

I'm in Oklahoma City, but this would almost be worth the drive.

[Blakester]

Been a while. Just checking in...

Is it finished up yet?

[ben w]

 

[505]

Haha. I'll go snap some pics here shortly of where things are at. It's funny how progress slows down as the heat goes up.

[dh1969]

Amazing work, can't wait to see the finished product.

[CCUgolfer23]

Do you need a roomate?!?!?!?!?! This is freakin awesome

[formula02]

Any new pictures?

[ATLRay]

Any pics? Looked like a ton of work and a great job!

[darkhelmet]

 

 

gotcha!

[ben w]

oh, you bastxxx......

[PJ72]

Fantastic work!

(stealth bump)

[505]

Tomorrow we restart on the backyard after what has been a very tough winter for me and my friends. I lost my aunt in a car accident back in December, and then 3 weeks later found my best friend (and fellow wrx'er bdwhitty) dead in his bedroom. I can't even put into words how hard it is going to be working on the green without Ben. He helped me more than anyone on this project, never asked for anything in return, and there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't give me friendly crap about the putting green not being done yet. He was also my favorite person to practice with, and I've played probably 10 times as many rounds with him as I have with anyone else.

 

He really wanted to see this thing 100% done, and I'm very sad that he won't be here the day we finally get it there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I miss you brother.

 

 

As for why this is still going... last summer the putting green had started to slide ever so slightly down towards the bunker, only about a quarter inch or so, but it really bugged me. I didn't anchor it well enough up by the pond, and since the whole thing was on a slight straight slope, it moved a little over time. Since the cups are anchored and don't move with the carpet, one side of each hole had a little bulge and the other side had a partly exposed cup.

 

Because of that, I tore it all up and started over on the base crusher this past fall. Instead of it being one uniform break on the whole thing (which in hindsight was pretty boring to putt on), I separated it into two tiers to deal with the height difference between the bunker and pond. Cups are being moved slightly inward from the edges, and shifted to better fit the new slope. I am using a prototype tool from ATPG to patch the old cups and re-do the main seam.

 

I had been working on the front and side yards most of this past year, and then moved on to some interior projects, but tomorrow my buddy Josh and I are going to pick up a truckload of crusher and fill in a couple low spots in the base. If all goes well, I am going to pick up a new batch of silica Friday and we'll have the green back in business this weekend.

 

I'll try to be better about taking pics and updating the thread again... got kinda lazy on that there for awhile, but looking back through this whole thread tonight has reminded me how much fun the whole thing has been.

 

Thanks again for all the kind words and support folks. I needed it tonight.

 

-Rich

[scratchswinger]

Sorry to hear of your loss, I hope that you are able to finish the project in his honor. Best of luck and we are all very interested to see you finish.

[505]

Thanks scratch. I will definitely do my best to make him proud and will finish what we started. If you guys are interested in this one, I can't wait to see the reaction when I break ground on the new theatre/simulator room. [spoiler]20' x 30' room with 10' ceiling, 16' x 9' impact screen, Foresight GC2, 1080p projector... this place is going to be awesome for keeping the winter rust in check.[/spoiler]

[pappaf2]

I am really sorry to hear about your tough times. I think your buddy will be watching you finish that green from above.

[505]

Catching up on pics...

 

September:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cups are fully back in and tamped, and I'm ready to roll the pad and carpet back out. 1000lbs of fresh silica is waiting in the back of the truck. Tomorrow and the next day are both supposed to be super windy, so it'll probably be Thursday before I can get back on it.

[rustyputterguy]

You have just made many people very happy.
Thanks for the update and sorry about your buddy.

[RT81287]

I have been on this site for a long time now, but never made an account until now. I have been following this thread for a while now and I am really glad your updating again. Very sorry for your losses and I hope that you get this thing finished for your friend and for yourself, you deserve to enjoy this back yard training facility after all that hard work. And Im glad I get to look at new updates and pictures before I go to sleep and dream about this being mine.

[Newtybar]

Amazing putting green, too bad you couldn't enjoy it with your friend. I'm sure the times you spent building it together and the memories made while making it were great though.

[505]

I spent the last week perfecting the base... and I'm really glad that I did. I found that when you hose it down to the point of puddling, then use the shop broom on it right away, the crusher kind of turns into a slurry. At that point you can finish it very similar to concrete, and the puddles of water show you clearly where any low spots are.

 

After it dried I broomed it again, which loosened the larger pieces of gravel while leaving behind the finer dust. Add more water and repeat. I don't remember exactly how many times I did this, but it was at least 15 times.

 

I then used a window screen to make a wheelbarrow of ultra fines, top dressed the whole thing with that, added water, broomed, let dry, broomed, then hit it with the leaf blower to remove any loose material. End result is absolutely crazy... this thing is so smooth you can almost putt on it with no carpet. Haha. Night and day difference compared to how I did it before.

 

I highly recommend this extra work to anyone who DIY's one of these things.

 

The camera was dead when I went to take pics of the finished base before rolling the pad back out, so there isn't any shots of how it looked after using the leaf blower. :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then got the base pad rolled out and aligned, got all of the old holes patched, and got the main seam taped up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now it's looking like tomorrow is the day for rolling the carpet back out and getting the old hole patches and main seam glued. If things go smoothly I might even get to top dressing (if not tomorrow then definitely Saturday).

 

Can't wait!

[GoGreenGuy]

I spent the last week perfecting the base... and I'm really glad that I did. I found that when you hose it down to the point of puddling, then use the shop broom on it right away, the crusher kind of turns into a slurry. At that point you can finish it very similar to concrete, and the puddles of water show you clearly where any low spots are.

 

After it dried I broomed it again, which loosened the larger pieces of gravel while leaving behind the finer dust. Add more water and repeat. I don't remember exactly how many times I did this, but it was at least 15 times.

 

I then used a window screen to make a wheelbarrow of ultra fines, top dressed the whole thing with that, added water, broomed, let dry, broomed, then hit it with the leaf blower to remove any loose material. End result is absolutely crazy... this thing is so smooth you can almost putt on it with no carpet. Haha. Night and day difference compared to how I did it before.

 

I highly recommend this extra work to anyone who DIY's one of these things.

 

The camera was dead when I went to take pics of the finished base before rolling the pad back out, so there isn't any shots of how it looked after using the leaf blower. :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then got the base pad rolled out and aligned, got all of the old holes patched, and got the main seam taped up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now it's looking like tomorrow is the day for rolling the carpet back out and getting the old hole patches and main seam glued. If things go smoothly I might even get to top dressing (if not tomorrow then definitely Saturday).

 

Can't wait!

 

 

 

This awesome. I love that you included all of the pictures throughout the whole process. Very impressive work.

 

Extremely sorry for your losses...

[KBNYY]

505, great work as always!! As I said previously, I will continue to monitor this thread because you are an inspiration! I am very sorry for your loss but very happy to see you back out there and completing what the two of you set on finishing.

Thanks for continuing to be a motivating force for the rest of us!

[505]

[quote name='KBNYY' timestamp='1362176294' post='6529625']
505, great work as always!! As I said previously, I will continue to monitor this thread because you are an inspiration! I am very sorry for your loss but very happy to see you back out there and completing what the two of you set on finishing.

Thanks for continuing to be a motivating force for the rest of us!
[/quote]

Thanks bud. Gotta keep on truckin, ya know?

[505]

My helper didn't get here until late this afternoon, so I was only able to get the main seam recut and the carpet positioned before quitting time. Tomorrow morning I am going to glue everything and then get started on the top dressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[genemcg]

Damn. Love it!

[mdgboxx]

I am sincerely touched by your recent losses. Although I lurk more than I reply in your thread, the very [u]least[/u] I can do is give you a *thumb's up* each and every time you add something new.
Quote of the year, in this situation: "Gotta keep on trucking"!