The Right Questions to Ask When Buying an Outdoor Putting Green

First, let’s start with a little introduction and explanation. The purpose of this report is to give you information that will make your buying decision a better one. We have seen, and continue to see, customers who buy the wrong products for their particular application. If that happens, you have two choices: 1. Live with the mistake or 2. Spend the money to buy the right product the second time.

No one wants to “live” with a bad decision on a putting green or lawn turf purchase. These products last a long, long time so if a bad decision is made, you may be living with it for years and years.

To address the second issue… It’s extremely expensive to have to tear out an improperly installed putting green or artificial lawn grass. The cost ends up being more that twice as high because the owner must pay to have the old green or turf removed before the new turf can be installed. We see this all the time, people buying putting greens and then having them removed because they become ‘hard as a rock’ or ‘wash out’ or become so lumpy that they cannot be putted on.

Mistakes in the buying of putting greens and turf can be avoided with a little education. The industry is rife with dealers who buy ‘seconds’ and ‘end of runs’ at the mills and sell them to trusting buyers.This is especially prevalent over the internet. So our goal here is to give you the right questions to ask and to increase your education regarding some of the terms used and how to spot those people you really shouldn’t do business with. Some companies have no training for their sales people or their installers, so a little education on your part could actually make you more knowledgeable than they are.

Now to be honest, this report also sells a lot of putting greens for us as well as selling a lot of artificial turf and lawns too. This is because the better educated you are, as a consumer, the more likely you are to recognize quality products, quality installations and bargains too.

So let’s get started in your “Putting Greens” and “Artificial Turf” education.

LESSON 1

The first thing you need to know is that there are some companies selling antiquated technology and products. There have been some significant advances in the manufacturing process for the putting green and turf products recently. As in a lot of things, when the manufacturing process is improved, the price of the products can actually go down.

If you are old enough then you can remember when cellular phones were sold for over $3000 when they first came out. Today, with the volume increasing and the manufacturing processes getting better and better, you can get one for “free”. It’s not really free because you have to sign a contract but that’s another story. The point is that the putting green and artificial turf business has made some fairly dramatic improvements over the last few years too. A lot of it is cosmetic in that the greens and turfs made today look as close to the real thing as you can get. This was certainly not the case until just a few years ago. The look of the old styles were nothing close to real and you could spot an artificial putting green and/or lawn from ‘a mile away’. Not true today for the products using the latest technology. To make the products that have the “Real” look to it and the “real” feel to it, the entire manufacturing process had to be changed. That means that it literally costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for the plants to purchase and modify the machines needed to make the “real looking” and “real feeling” greens and turf.

Well, like anything else, not every company has the money needed to make the changes, so some companies are still selling the products that look and feel really fake. You want the best looking, most real looking products available so be sure to buy a product that is made using the very latest technology. So how do you know if the products being offered are using the latest technology? Well the easiest way to know is if they tell you that their product is a ‘deep infilled’ product. If someone wants to sell you a deep infilled green or turf, then you need to run, don’t walk, away.

LESSON 2

On to the second thing you should be aware of. Custom greens and lawns require some expertise in the installation of each type of product. They are not easy to install, they require a lot of expensive equipment to do it right and it takes a while to properly install a green or lawn. You cannot install a green or lawn over existing grass. We have seen it done, and after a while the green becomes ‘spongy’ and uneven. So when the ‘base’ of the green becomes spongy and uneven so does the lawn and/or putting green. Does it cost less to install it that way? Sure. Does it cost more when they have to come back and repair it? Sure.

In our part of the country, (that would be North Texas and specifically the Dallas/Fort Worth area) the problem is compounded by our naturally shifting soils. Did you know that there are more foundation repair companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area than there are in any other part of the country? And do you know why that is? It’s because the soils in our area are simply not stable. So what happens if you build a putting green on soil that is unstable? You end up with a putting green that is unstable too.

For our part of the country, the base must be stabilized. Stabilizing the base beneath a putting green and/or artificial turf is a multi-step process. First the grass must be completely removed. To do this properly an expensive ‘sod cutting’ machine must be used. This machine will remove the grass as well as about 2 inches of soil. Next the soil must be compacted using an expensive ‘plate compactor’. Once compacted, then a sub-base of “road fill” must be added. This is the stuff used below the roads and streets in our area. Then that must be compacted too. Then another type of fill must be added, known in the industry as “D.G.”. And then that must be compacted too. Then a fine fill is added to make the base really smooth so the green and/or grass has a perfectly smooth, but not necessarily a perfectly flat surface to rest on. At that point, the base is ready for the turf.

The point here is that a properly installed green and/or turf is extremely important and is not a very easy thing to do for our part of the country. A lot of companies have their generic installation process that they recommend for greens and turf. And I will guarantee that that process will fail over a period of time in our part of the country. You have to know how to properly install the products and you have to know what must be changed and/or added to the process for the best performance in whatever particular type of soil you have.

So the lesson here is that if anyone tells you that they can install the green or turf over existing grass, they don’t know what they are talking about and under no circumstance should you give them any money. And you should ask what type of base they will be putting down beneath your green or turf. If they say you don’t need a special sub-base then you shouldn’t do business with them. It’s that simple.

LESSON 3

So what happens if you have a problem? Hopefully you will never have a problem but you need to know what happens if you do. People don’t buy new cars thinking that they are going to have problems but the manufacturers still stress the value of their warranties.

Did you know that some people are selling putting greens and turf without any warranty whatsoever? Be careful if the company that you are buying it from is the one that says they will warranty the product. So what happens if they go out of business? To protect yourself you should be sure that the warranty for the product is from the actual factory that makes the product and not the dealer. Dealers come and go but the manufacturer is generally the most stable entity. When you buy a new car, do you want a dealer warranty or a factory warranty? Right, a factory warranty. Well buying a putting green and artificial turf is no different. You want the factory to warrant their products from defects for as long as you can. The factory stands behind every product we sell and we give you a copy of the Factory Warranty with each job.

As a matter of record, the manufacturer of our products REQUIRES us to take pictures of every step of the installation process as well a picture of the final product. That is how they assure themselves that their product is being installed in the proper manner and that is how they can stand behind such long warranties.

Dealer warranties. Along with the product warranty from the factory you will also want a Dealer Warranty for the work performed. A dealer should warrant their work, their sub-base installation and their seams and all other parts of their work. So should a problem come up and the problem happens not to be factory/product related, then you are covered there too.

Be sure that you are receiving a Factory Warranty for the products sold and a Dealer Warranty for the work performed as part of the installation.

Conclusion:

These are only the first 3 tips in avoiding a wrong decision in buying an outdoor putting green. The complete article can be found on the Illusion Putting Greens website.

Tags: artificial turf, lawn turf, putting greens