How hard is it to maintain a grass range?

[nevets88]

A range nearby me charges $13 for the privilege of using their grass area. That's in addition to what you pay for balls. So say $22 for about 75 balls.

It is awful, basically a cow pasture, bumpy and a level stance nowhere to be found. It is a major ripoff but it's close to the city, so beggars will be choosers.

I would guess the area is about 40x40 yards and I have never seen it in any shape like you do at a properly maintained range, perfectly cut and flat.

How many hours a day would be required and what kind of know how is needed to keep a well maintained grass range of this size?

It is under a major bridge (and I mean major), so there's pollution. I wonder if that's why the grass is so terrible.

Insanely jealous of folks who can drive 15 minutes to a proper grass range. Rant over.

[David K]

Well I work at a driving range at the moment. We charge $12.50 for grass with 110 balls ($9.50 for same bucket off mats). I know the bermuda seed is expensive and it needs to be mixed with sand but other then that its just water and sun as far as I can tell. I'm not the one who maintains the grass so I don't know the details but it does need a lot of water and temps of 75+ degrees. There are a few things you can do to make it grow faster and thicker but I'm pretty sure its not necessary.

If we cut the grass to short it pretty much dies, I have no idea how golf courses do it with their fairways. We don't have all of the extremely expensive equipment that they do either.

[Chris223]

My home course's practice range is right down the street. Being a Senior Tour event host it has the largest natural grass hitting area of all the ranges around here. I dare say the grass of the hitting area is better than the fairways at the golf course itself! Anyway, they don't charge any extra for hitting off it... and they did not increase the cost of a bucket of balls either when they renovated the grass hitting area and made it like 6x bigger just this year. It's still $7 for a large bucket of balls (like 75)

[motteler621]

ive always wondered how long it takes to get the grass to grow back from all the divots.

[nevets88]

If we cut the grass to short it pretty much dies, I have no idea how golf courses do it with their fairways. We don't have all of the extremely expensive equipment that they do either.

Just curious, what kind of expensive equipment do you need?

If the range I'm talking about kept their grass range in conditions on par with well maintained ranges, they'd collect more money from me and many others I'd bet. Lost opportunity.

[zeg]

I don't think it's tremendously expensive to maintain, as some low-cost courses out here have grass ranges; the extra fee sounds to me like trying to cash in on people's willingness to pay rather than recovering actual costs. From the way they run them here, I think the main thing is that you have to have a lot of area so that you can move the tees around. The ones here move by about 50 yards from the farthest forward to the farthest back that they go, and that lets them cycle over about a month so the grass has lots of time to recover.

[alomar123]

I know hitting into a net doesn't provide the best feedback, but that range just sounds awful. So, supplementing it sometimes with a net makes a lot of sense.

[David K]

Just curious, what kind of expensive equipment do you need?

Mostly the lawn mowers. We can't cut the grass very low with a normal lawn mower and the ones made specifically to cut fairways have a pretty high price tag. So our grass tees usually end up being about the same as the first cut of rough on some courses (2" or 3" maybe? I never measured it). Like I said before they also must be using something we aren't to keep their fairways cut as low as most golf courses do. If we cut it any lower than it is now the grass just dies even with good temperatures and being watered every night. I would honestly like to learn more about it but I'd have to find a head greens keeper to talk to.

ive always wondered how long it takes to get the grass to grow back from all the divots.

It depends on how much water they get and the temperature. Once it starts to get cold the stuff turns brown fast. Usually it seems like it takes around two weeks. The area for our grass tees is about 40 yards deep so we just move the tee line back after they've had enough use. Usually by the time they are moved all the way back the front is fully grown again. We have rye grass tees for the fall/winter time which doesn't go dormant like bermuda.

[jamo]

The only expenses I can think of that make a driving range cost more to maintain than your backyard are the special lawn mowers needed to get the grass that short, and the tremendous amounts of water that you would need (especially in the summer months) to keep grass that short green and living. Most ranges I've seen have two sides, and only one is open at any given time so they can let the other one regrow while it's out of commission. Throw on some seed and maybe a little fertalizer and I doubt it would cost that much. Certainly $20+ is ripping you off.

[David K]

Certainly $20+ is ripping you off.

Yeah unless your getting about 200 golf balls that is a total rip off. My boss told me how much the seed costs early in the season but I've completely forgotten how much now. It was WAY more expensive than I expected it to be though. It takes a lot of it too.

I briefly looked online for some prices. I found one that seems like a pretty familiar price so its probably close to what my boss told me. $170 for 25lbs of seed. They also have some "high quality" stuff at $500 for 25lbs (no idea what the difference is). It takes about 100lbs to cover 1 acre. Here are the links for anyone who is interested. http://www.seedland.com/mm5/merchant...egory_Code=BER http://www.seedland.com/mm5/merchant...egory_Code=BER

[senorchipotle]

it's not hard to maintain if you have a big enough space where you can rotate the hitting space. if you have about 50 yards from the front to the back you can just divide the space up evenly over a period of 10 days or so, which is the amt. of time it takes for grass to grow back. here it costs 5 bucks for 60 balls at both grass ranges i go to and 8 bucks for 100 or so balls. i couldn't imagine paying 20 bucks to go hit balls, that's insane.

[soloredd]

I go to a range that is both grass and mats. I pay $5.50 for 45 bucket (they give a little discount if you maintain a range card). There are 3 sides to the range about 80 yards each side. On the far right they have a membership, $500/year to hit off grass every day but you cannot use driver or woods. The middle portion gets the most grass use and they usually get about 7 days of use (about 45 yards back to front). The left side gets some grass use (like this weekend) but mostly it's mats, as there is a shade cover over the mat area and a lot of recreational folks use that area. There's a lot of sand in the grass, I have to clean my club heads after 2-3 shots since I go in the mornings when it's still kind of damp. When they don't use grass on either the middle or left, I'll either hit a few off the mat or just use the practice green for putts and the practice chipping area - I hate mats but I refuse to pay $500 for the grass area (although I do need to find out if that gives you unlimited range balls - then it would be a great deal, but I doubt it).

It seems to take about a week in the summer for the grass to grow back fairly well.

[ghalfaire]

Seems to me that the cost of maintaining the range should be an overhead that is "built in" to the cost of a bucket of balls and not a direct charge. I personally don't use ranges that make you hit off mats (there is one 1/2 mile from my house and I drive 5 miles in traffic to another range to hit off grass). I buy a range pass there for $85 for 25 buckets of 60-70 balls/bucket. No charge for grass and not a mat in sight. But I guess if the only choice was to not practice or pay extra for grass I would pay extra. But thankful I have a choice where I live.

[LBlack14]

Extreme heat and humidity make it hard to get seed to germinate. I'm an asst. super at a practice facility just north of Cincinnati and when the temps and humidity went way north of 90* we had all kinds of problems. Too much water brings on disease and too little well, you know... Now that it's cooled off up pops grass, but it has been a struggle since the 1st time through our grass tee early in the year. Hard to keep weeds out during that time period also. We've used bent, fescue and rye.

Oh, we don't charge any different from grass to artificial turf.

[nevets88]

We had some pretty hot & humid weather lately and looks like I underestimated the work required.

I've stuck w/the fake grass.

I have to drive an hour fifteen for a good grass range.

5 minutes in traffic is a breeze.

I think it's well worth it though as I learn more from grass than mats.

[markpf189]

The one by me rotates the hitting spots to about 3 different positions, it's always in good enough condition when I go.

[WUTiger]

Take a look at Mozingo Lake Golf Club near Maryville in NW Missouri:
http://www.mozingolf.com/

I saw the place about 2002. This is a public course which got good comments from Golf Digest, and the practice facility is unbelievable. The tee box area on the range is the size of a football field. Management moves the tee areas around a lot. With the huge tee area, they can rest 90% of the turf even with two dozen hitting stations set up.

Whether it's range or on-course tee boxes, it helps if you have some cushion on your turf square footage. Also, good drainage around the tees helps also.

[LBlack14]

Website pics mean nada.

Here's our website: http://www.cincinnatigolfcenter.com/pro-shop/