How to Build Your Own Putting Green
Here’s how you can build your own putting green in your backyard or garden to practice the finer points of your golf game.
Every golfer’s dream is to be able to practice their skills away from the golf course and build a putting green in their own backyard, and now you can.
Us golfers known that being able to putt consistently and under 3 putts per hole is going to knock so many points of our cards that we need to spend a lot of time perfecting the art. And who wants to trudge down to the golf course each day and pay each time when we could simply nip out the back door with our putter and some balls and practice at home? Well, what are you waiting for?
Costs involved.
Ah, yes, cost. Well before we move on perhaps we should look at the cost of all this. If you already have a turfed garden area that’s big enough then you are halfway there but if you just have a yard then the costs mount up. If you just have concrete then it’s worth investigating whether a synthetic putting green is right for your circumstances. Of course it won’t be the same as a professional course but it will help your game.
If you have a grass area in your garden then you are ready to roll. Perhaps you only need to dig out the area so costs can be low. See the rest of this article and add up what you require.
Ground Preparation
The key to this project is to have a large enough area so you can have 4 or 5 holes – some close together and others further apart so you can practice different distances but also so the whole area can drain properly.
If your garden is boggy you’ll need to prepare the land so you have proper drainage that drains water away from the area. Professional course are mainly built on sand. Moving dirt around is very labor intensive and you’ll probably need to hire a digger of some sort to help you and you should be able to get one of these for about $60 a day from the local hire shop.
Putting Green Design
You don’t want your little putting green to be too boring so have a look at some of the greens at local course. You’ll need to be able to practice different shots and maybe you want a chipping area as well to practice with your pitching wedge. Slopes are also required as no putting green at your golf course is completely flat. Get a pad and pencil out a draw out roughly how you want it to look and what hazzards you are planning to make it as realistic as possible.
Base installation
Before you can lay any grass (turf or sythetic) you’ll need to lay a hard core base which consists of compacted aggregate. Once this is laid you should wet the area then use a compactor to push it into place. On top of the aggregate you’ll need some fine material which also needs compacting.
Turf installation
Lay the turf out on top of the base where you need it. Be careful not to drag it over the base otherwise you may rip it and it will become difficult to manage. You’ll need to seam all the pieces together by overlapping them. Allow the grass to grow at cut as necessary. There are two main types of grass used on putting greens. For most climates bent grass is used and for hotter climates bermuda grass is used.
Maintaining Your Putting Green.
The blades of grass of course need to be cut very short probably to a size of just 3/16th of an inch so a standard lawn mower won’t be up to the job and can damage the green itself. You’ll need to purchase a high quality reel type mower which can cost upwards of $300
Pictures of putting greens.
Here are some pictures of putting greens in yards. Enjoy and we hope you got the answers to your question on how to build your own putting green in your yard or back garden.
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