Putting and Chipping Practise Facility

[GeneralStore]

All the talks of practise facilities and man caves (dodgy sounding term if I've ever heard of one) has made me give some serious thought to setting up my own setup and I am looking for advice.

I want to create an area where I can chip and putt, not to worried about full swings initially, but might want to add it at a later stage

So here is what I am thinking:
Garage (9ft x 8ft):
- Indoor Putting Green (something like this
http://www.huxleygolf.co.uk/commerc...ortable-modular-greens/modular-putting-greens
- Seperate matt to chip from onto the putting green
or
Garden:
- DIY project and get some astro down, put the cup in etc

Thats where the thinking is at the moment, the benefit of the garage is I will be able to use it throughout the winter and at night/rain etc.... Outside would be nice and would be a bigger green, but I am a terribly DIY'er and to get a company to do it will cost a fortune.
It would be cool to create a 'green' in the garage with a fringe that I could chip from and fill up the entire area in the garage, but how the heck would I do that?

Anyone want to share their advice/experience with the problems of either of these or things to avoid?

cheers,
GS

 

[muttleee]

http://www.huxleygolf.co.uk/commercial-applications/greens/portable-modular-greens/modular-putting-greens

That's the link you meant to post...

 

[GeneralStore]

Thanks, edited the original post

 

[HRC99]

I've had a go on those "greens" and they are too fast for me. By that I mean they are faster than your club's greens on their very fastest day in the summer. They aren't realistic, to my mind.

 

[GeneralStore]

Guess if they are made by some very thin and hard astro on chipboard it will be to fast and not run like proper greens.

I am not a handyman, but I am still considering giving it a go. Chipboard, a layer of foam and then some 'fluffier' astro for the rough and some decent astro for the 'green'. God knows how I would put it all together and how I would make the 'cup'. A few companies doing that kind of stuff, but they look like they charge a fortune

Something like this looks cool http://www.extremegreen.ca/challenger.html, but how is that price?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Those Huxley products are pretty steep. Personally I just tend to use old fashioned carpet, a V-easy and the pathfinder putting system to keep my stroke in nick over the winter and maybe a practice session on the practice ground for chipping/pitching once a month. For me the winter is about making any swing changes although this year I'm resisting the urge to tinker too much and have concluded that what I have I own for the large part, for better or worse

 

[GeneralStore]

I am suprised, with all the enthusiasts on this forum I would've thought that quite a few had put together their own practice green. Guess I am more of a nutter than I thought

 

[bobmac]

Have you thought about carpet tiles?
Cheap and easy to arrange in a garage or hardwood floor

 

[HawkeyeMS]

You can parctice putting on a carpet rather than one of those fancy greens that will be way too quick.

Chipping is a bit different, it is just as much about how the ball reacts when it hits the green as how you hit it. You need to understand both to chip successfully, not sure you could replicate that?

 

[Monty_Brown]

You can parctice putting on a carpet rather than one of those fancy greens that will be way too quick.

Chipping is a bit different, it is just as much about how the ball reacts when it hits the green as how you hit it. You need to understand both to chip successfully, not sure you could replicate that?

Got to agree with Hawkeye here. Even with artificial "rough" on a practice green, you are going to learn to chip from very uniform lies. The real challenge is to play from any old crappy lie that you find on the course. For years I used to practice my chipping from lovely clean lies by the practice green and thought I was the bees knees. Now I throw the balls in the air and play them as they lie... a far more realistic and therefore valuable way to practice.

If you can cobble something together from bits and bobs from a DIY store then it's worth a go, but shelling out for one of those custom made practice greens may not be worth it.

 

[GeneralStore]

For those of you that are interested I have come up with a cunning plan...more cunning than if it was devised by the professor of cunning at Oxford University!
Its taken a while, but I think this will work
Step 1) I am going to pour self-leveller over the garage floor, which will leave with a very smooth floor
Step 2) I am going to lay down some nylon putting green turf ontop the new floor, along with some 'tee grass' type of astro for the 'rough'
Step 3) Secure the astro to the ground, havent decide on how to do that yet
Step 4) I am going to mark out the hole and then use a knife on the astro and chisel on the cement to make a hole

Thats the plan, any ideas on potential problems in putting this together?

 

[richart]

For those of you that are interested I have come up with a cunning plan...more cunning than if it was devised by the professor of cunning at Oxford University!
Its taken a while, but I think this will work
Step 1) I am going to pour self-leveller over the garage floor, which will leave with a very smooth floor
Step 2) I am going to lay down some nylon putting green turf ontop the new floor, along with some 'tee grass' type of astro for the 'rough'
Step 3) Secure the astro to the ground, havent decide on how to do that yet
Step 4) I am going to mark out the hole and then use a knife on the astro and chisel on the cement to make a hole

Thats the plan, any ideas on potential problems in putting this together?

Remember to move the car first.

 

[stevelev]

For those of you that are interested I have come up with a cunning plan...more cunning than if it was devised by the professor of cunning at Oxford University!
Its taken a while, but I think this will work
Step 1) I am going to pour self-leveller over the garage floor, which will leave with a very smooth floor
Step 2) I am going to lay down some nylon putting green turf ontop the new floor, along with some 'tee grass' type of astro for the 'rough'
Step 3) Secure the astro to the ground, havent decide on how to do that yet
Step 4) I am going to mark out the hole and then use a knife on the astro and chisel on the cement to make a hole

Thats the plan, any ideas on potential problems in putting this together?

Before you put self leveller, make sure you scabble the surface then apply a sealer and primer for the compound to adhere to. And after the self leveller I would cut the hole before laying the astro-turf but you might struggle with a chisel for the cup, probably better to hire a core drill, and get one slightly small erthan 4&1/2" so when you putt on the course you have a bigger target than you're used to.

Also when you lay the astro-turf use flooring spray adhesive, less chance of it leaving bobbles under the surface. I wouldn't worry about the long astro-turf for chipping, like other say you need a variety of lies to practise from.

 

[BubbaP]

Looking forward to the pictures. I remember reading a US based site where several people had excavated down to give them enough height for full swings and put in systems like cheap trackmans. Sounded great but a lot of time and money!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

For those of you that are interested I have come up with a cunning plan...more cunning than if it was devised by the professor of cunning at Oxford University!
Its taken a while, but I think this will work
Step 1) I am going to pour self-leveller over the garage floor, which will leave with a very smooth floor
Step 2) I am going to lay down some nylon putting green turf ontop the new floor, along with some 'tee grass' type of astro for the 'rough'
Step 3) Secure the astro to the ground, havent decide on how to do that yet
Step 4) I am going to mark out the hole and then use a knife on the astro and chisel on the cement to make a hole

Thats the plan, any ideas on potential problems in putting this together?

I can't help thinking this is still enormous cost (time and energy if not fiscal) when more benefit would be had from getting out onto a grass short game area, practice facility or even putting green and using the real thing

 

[GeneralStore]

Thanks for the tips guys, some great advice there

 

[RobbOnTheRock]

I can't help thinking this is still enormous cost (time and energy if not fiscal) when more benefit would be had from getting out onto a grass short game area, practice facility or even putting green and using the real thing

If you've got young kids and can't take time off work or finish at a reasonable time to be able to practice in range hours or daylight hours to me this sounds like the best alternative solution, assuming you can afford the space.

To me it's highly dependent on the individuals circumstances. Myself I think nothing of going into he back garden at 10pm to hit some golf balls, or go into the garage for a few swings, it's better than nothing.

Cheers
Andy

 

[GeneralStore]

RobbOnTheRock...you are closer to the mark than you know...I finish work around 7:30pm and I have a 5 month old baby. Sun sets at 4pm for the next 4 months

Time is precious at the moment

 

[RobbOnTheRock]

Yup, I'm in a similar situation myself (albeit older kids, 4 & 6).

So can sympathise entirely with the ops desire to be to keep at it whenever time allows...

Cheers