Backyard Golf Course

[Zxc]

Greetings!

I'm planning to build a "backyard" golf course. My family has a holiday centre in southern Estonia, which has a plot of 50 000m2. As I'm an active golf player, I thought it would be a great practicing area for me.

I have already bought 30kg seed from my acquintance, who is a greenkeeper. Next step is designing  4 greens(each 200m2) + green on the island(50m2) and removing the sod(15cm). New soil will consist of 80% of sand and 20% of peat, I have already ordered 50 tons of sand. All this digging and soil replacement will be done by the hands of me and my 6 friends.

A few questions occured when planning all this big work: How to mix sand and peat effectively? How to shape the greens? Which green designs do you recommend? Where to buy golf mower cheaply?

Any tips, thoughts are welcome!

Edited March 7, 2016 by Zxc

[Mike Boatright]

Wow dude that's awesome but honestly none of that is needed from what I can see in the photo. Get a greens mower and Simply mow some grass as low as it can go say fringe height and make the green as big as you want. Get some cups and hole cutter and your good to go. Maintaining and building a real green cost about 2,500 dollars each or more depending on size and takes rocks crushed gravel layers of sand and drainage it's really not easy. Artificial turf is also expensive and isn't weather resistant it also doesn't play like the real thing so it's not worth the cost. If you decide to make a sand base of 4 inches mixed with peat or whatever and plant the bentgrass,zoya or bermuda then it will take a 6 months to come in right and will be difficult to maintain your talking fungus,aeration and drainage with the only benefit of a putting surface that's slow vs fringe surface that will work as a great target green.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Mike Boatright

[Dan42nepa]

You also need a sprayer and machine for top dressing, a roller maybe you can get a triplex for cutting the greens as well as everything else. just lower the mowers.

[SavvySwede]

@Zxc read this http://www.tiftonsoillab.com/html/1.html The real question here is how do you plan to maintain these green. Being it's a vacation home I don't see how you could possibly be around often enough to give them proper care.

[Patch]

Make sure your drainage system is adequate for heavy rains. You dont want all your hard work to wash a way. 

[Ernest Jones]

6 hours ago, Zxc said:

Greetings!

I'm planning to build a "backyard" golf course. My family has a holiday centre in southern Estonia, which has a plot of 50 000m2. As I'm an active golf player, I thought it would be a great practicing area for me.

I have already bought 30kg seed from my acquintance, who is a greenkeeper. Next step is designing  4 greens(each 200m2) + green on the island(50m2) and removing the sod(15cm). New soil will consist of 80% of sand and 20% of peat, I have already ordered 50 tons of sand. All this digging and soil replacement will be done by the hands of me and my 6 friends.

A few questions occured when planning all this big work: How to mix sand and peat effectively? How to shape the greens? Which green designs do you recommend? Where to buy golf mower cheaply?

Any tips, thoughts are welcome!

Can I come over when you're done?

[Pete F]

I'd consider a couple of things

Sand greens http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323728204578515661811319052

Don't be afraid to make a green serve more than one hole

Sounds like a lot of fun to me

[Zxc]

13 hours ago, Mike Boatright said:

Wow dude that's awesome but honestly none of that is needed from what I can see in the photo. Get a greens mower and Simply mow some grass as low as it can go say fringe height and make the green as big as you want. Get some cups and hole cutter and your good to go. Maintaining and building a real green cost about 2,500 dollars each or more depending on size and takes rocks crushed gravel layers of sand and drainage it's really not easy. Artificial turf is also expensive and isn't weather resistant it also doesn't play like the real thing so it's not worth the cost. If you decide to make a sand base of 4 inches mixed with peat or whatever and plant the bentgrass,zoya or bermuda then it will take a 6 months to come in right and will be difficult to maintain your talking fungus,aeration and drainage with the only benefit of a putting surface that's slow vs fringe surface that will work as a great target green.

I have tried to set the mower to lowest height, but that is not a good solution. It is almost impossible to put on lawn like that. I already have the cups and hole cutter - i installed them last year in the same spots, where the greens will be built. My expenses at the moment:

sand with transportation - 300€; peat - 70€(will use my own transport); 30kg of golf seed(different fescue types mixed) - free; starting fertilizer from the greenkeeper - free. We have many springs on our territory + former soviet union fish farming ponds - so the water is free :)

To add, I hope that we can make some of the money back offering playing golf to our tourists.

I consulted with my friend, who has studied gardening and is at the moment head greenkeeper in one of the best golf clubs of Estonia. Her country house is next to our holiday centre complex, and in her opinion, I should replace only 15cm of soil - the ground contains mainly of sand. 

Excuse me for my bad English!:) 

13 hours ago, Dan42nepa said:

You also need a sprayer and machine for top dressing, a roller maybe you can get a triplex for cutting the greens as well as everything else. just lower the mowers.

Already got them;). I have tried it with different mowers. As our family has a holiday complex, that needs to look perfect all the spring-autumn. We have one cub cadet rider type mower, which minimum height is 30mm, one husqvarna mower(tractor) and several walk behind mowers. I tried to modify the height, but result wasn't good. All these have rotary mower, but golf green needs reel mower. I managed to find one old reel mower in our garage, but the minimum height was 12mm.

 

12 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

@Zxc read this http://www.tiftonsoillab.com/html/1.html The real question here is how do you plan to maintain these green. Being it's a vacation home I don't see how you could possibly be around often enough to give them proper care.

I hope that maintaining won't be a problem, because it is not my vacation home. Our family is currently living here. To be accurate, at the moment, I am studing in other city, but the distance is 70km and I am staying there every weekend + all the summer. It is a holiday centre complex, that people can use for birthday parties, wedding etc. What is more, it has been awarded as one of the nicest homes in Estonia.

11 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

Can I come over when you're done?

I suppose yes. 

Edited March 8, 2016 by Zxc

[pganapathy]

My suggestion is first start with building the greens only and then if the rest of the course demands it, work on it.  Otherwise see if you can manage with mowing it well enough for a fairway

[Zxc]

@pganapathy Yup, that was my plan. Didn't consider doing anything with the fairways. We mow the lawn every week and sometimes twice a week and in my opinion that is okey. Height of the lawn is approx. 3cm. It is higher than the usual fairway's lawn, but it is playable, but you can't put on the green, where the lawn's height is 15mm. That was the reason, why I decided to focus on the greens.

[Psyber]

14 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

@Zxc read this http://www.tiftonsoillab.com/html/1.html The real question here is how do you plan to maintain these green. Being it's a vacation home I don't see how you could possibly be around often enough to give them proper care.

That seems like the real problem with this. These things fall apart quickly without care. Keep this simple.

[pganapathy]

@Zxc @Psyber, I am just wondering if doing green work one day a week is enough (mowing, aerating etc.) and more pertinently if not watering except on weekends is enough, especially in summer.  Do you at least have someone there who can ensure the greens are watered regularly

[ZappyAd]

Are artificial greens a possibility?  I think they would need less maintenance but it might depend on how much traffic they are going to receive and what the winter conditions are like.  It probably depends on what you see yourself getting out of the course - are you more interested in playing tee shots and wedges etc into the green, or is putting the major attraction?  Maybe having four holes with artificial / low maintenance target greens and then a separate dedicated grass putting surface might be an option.  I looked at putting a putting green into my backyard but the maintenance for real grass just seemed like too much hassle, especially when an attack of rabbits or moles or other wildlife or disease can wreck it all overnight.  I was going to go with an artificial surface until my wife explained that 'you might think that the backyard is some kind of outside space where you can go to spend time and enjoy yourself, but it isn't.'

[jgreen85]

wouldn't it be better if he's only there on the weekend. I thought the biggest challenge maintaining greens is b/c they have to be kept in playable conditions 7 days a week. Wouldn't it be better for the greens to grow a little bit during the week and then when he's there on the weekend freshly cut/roll them to perfection?

[Zxc]

@ZappyAd

During spring and autumn on weekends and in summer all the time. That is an oppurtinity, but while i'm away, other people can do it.

@pganapathy

As i mentioned before, all my family lives there + there are 3 workers, who help with different types of work. In summer, which is the main period, I am always there. So there won't be a problem with that.

 

[Dan42nepa]

My father was a GC supt and I worked for him for years. I helped him build a putting green once and it was fascinating. He had chalk line intersecting every area of the green like a spider web so he could see low spots and read contours. When he was finished he basically seeded it, covered it with straw and watered the crap out of it.. In 3 weeks it was ready for its first cut and people were using it after 5.I would try and design 1 green as a redan maybe a par 3. 

[Zxc]

@Dan42nepa

That sounds like a great idea. Will take that into consideration:)

[Zxc]

@ZappyAd Yes, I have thought about that version also. It seemed to be a good option, but the prices are pretty high. What is more, our entire plot has to be mowed no matter what, so taking care of golf greens adds a little bit variety to the work:). (To mow all the area, you have to sit on the tractor for approx. 8 hours). 

Winter temperatures vary a lot, this winter the coldest temperature was -26C(lasted only a day or to, and then average -15C). However, last winter the average temperature was between -5C and -10C. 

I'd like to use the course to train all elements of the game, so putting is also essential.