We've always wanted our very own backyard putting green and decided now was the time to add one here at the Golf Gear Box headquarters. The green will be used by our staff to review putters, wedges, balls and short game training aids.
Our first step was to choose a putting green that would work for our application. Since we are not sure if this will be our last stop, we wanted a putting green that we could take with us in the event we have to relocate. We liked the look of the Dave Pelz Greenmaker from SynLawn so we went with the 12'x18' model (After we get a few weeks to practice on it, we will do a full review of this green).
Next we needed to find a place to put it in the yard. We wanted a spot that offered a little shade for practice during the oppressively hot Georgia summers. We roped off an area equivalent to the size of the green so we could select the best location.
First step was to remove some trees, and grind the stumps down.
Since our backyard is severely sloped we had to build a retaining wall using decorative block to hold the green.
We filled the area with dirt and crush & run stone, wet it and tamped it down to create a flat surface.
Next we used a fine aggregate and painstakingly leveled the surface.
We laid out the base panels to make sure we had all the pieces.
Next we assembled the base panels per the instructions and then wiped the debris off the panels to insure a smooth surface under the green.
Then we rolled out the green and let is sit in the sun for a few days to flatten out. We ran into a some problems with the holes in the turf not lining up with the holes in the base. We ran into further problems with SynLawn's Customer (Ahem) Service that we will go into during our full review of the green later.
Finally we laid a few yards of decorative pea gravel around the green to give the area a finished look. We plan to add a chipping platform, some decorative boulders, plants and low voltage lighting at a later date and will include pictures in an update to this post.
The green came with cups, flags and flag sticks with ball retrievers, but we really wanted to make the green our own so we had a couple custom flags made with the Golf Gear Box logo.
Read our full review of the SynLawn Dave Pelz Greenmaker HERE.