Home Made Golf Courses

[Hackers Unite]

First time post.

Fell down a Youtube hole and found out that home made courses are a thing

I know quite a few tour pros have them in the their backyards but he first couple of these tracks were built by amateurs. One is out in the desert and the other looks like it’s round a collection of backyards.

And just to show how it can be done with loads of cash here’s coach Dave Pelz’s with his backyard set up - which looks amazing .

It got me thinking If money were no object what would be on your dream homemade course? Would it be super hard, bunkers deeper than WW1 shell holes?

Would you even bother? Personally if I had the land and the cash I would in a second.

 

[David in FL]

 When I was a kid my buddy and I destroyed my dad’s lawnmower by building a little three hole course out in the empty field behind our house.   I still visualize some of those shots when faced with certain pitches...

Chris DiMarco built a house right around the corner. His backyard has a practice/play area similar to Pelz’s.  That’s got to be fun on a Saturday afternoon barbecue!

[Patch]

Several farms, when the owner decided to retire from farming, and/or ranching have been turned into golf courses. At first hey did it for themselves, but later found they could charge for public use. 

I have played quite a few of these types of courses. Mostly in Idaho, and Oregon. They give the term "cow pasture pool" a legit meaning. 

A guy, his wife and friends built an 18 hole course up in Canada. It took a few years to complete. It became so popular, a large golf course company bought them out for a few million dollars.  

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, Patch said:

Several farms, when the owner decided to retire from farming, and/or ranching have been turned into golf courses. At first hey did it for themselves, but later found they could charge for public use. 

I have played quite a few of these types of courses. Mostly in Idaho, and Oregon. They give the term "cow pasture pool" a legit meaning. 

A guy, his wife and friends built an 18 hole course up in Canada. It took a few years to complete. It became so popular, a large golf course company bought them out for a few million dollars.  

My league course is like that. It was an orchard. The owners decided to make it into a golf course and did most of the design themselves with some help on the greens. They left one small orchard on 9. If you hit into it, local rule allows a free drop. it is a decent course too.

[Hackers Unite]

On 1/30/2019 at 8:49 PM, David in FL said:

 When I was a kid my buddy and I destroyed my dad’s lawnmower by building a little three hole course out in the empty field behind our house.   I still visualize some of those shots when faced with certain pitches...

 

Ha. That's a brilliant story! 

[Archie Bunker]

Long, long ago, when I was a kid, my buddies and I each had a hole or two with flagsticks in our back yards, Then we would play to each other's yards for a little competition. One hole required you to clear a neighbor's yard who wasn't in the game whatsoever. Maybe a 100 yard shot to carry the fence. Crazy  but interesting. The videos posted above are pretty amazing!

[jamo]

When I was a kid we used to play around and over my house and a few of the neighbors' houses using wedges and these squishy foam baseballs. 

The foam is hard to explain, but if you've ever seen one of these kinds of bats, you'll understand what I mean: https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Sports-Oversized-Baseball-Colors/dp/B002HU2H3E/ref=pd_bxgy_21_img_2/131-3648354-2197030?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B002HU2H3E&pd_rd_r=1d050622-2756-11e9-be91-c98cce466c71&pd_rd_w=YCKZn&pd_rd_wg=V4I0S&pf_rd_p=3f9889ac-6c45-46e8-b515-3af650557207&pf_rd_r=A3BG73JRT1Y34W1WH4C6&psc=1&refRID=A3BG73JRT1Y34W1WH4C6

Those things compress weirdly well so you actually get some good speed behind them, but they don't carry far, and they slow down so fast that you can hit siding, woods, lights, etc. without doing damage. Plus with a wedge you can get real air under them so we'd play holes up and over two-story houses, garages, rock walls, trees, etc.

[dennyjones]

41 minutes ago, jamo said:

When I was a kid we used to play around and over my house and a few of the neighbors' houses using wedges and these squishy foam baseballs. 

The foam is hard to explain, but if you've ever seen one of these kinds of bats, you'll understand what I mean: https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Sports-Oversized-Baseball-Colors/dp/B002HU2H3E/ref=pd_bxgy_21_img_2/131-3648354-2197030?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B002HU2H3E&pd_rd_r=1d050622-2756-11e9-be91-c98cce466c71&pd_rd_w=YCKZn&pd_rd_wg=V4I0S&pf_rd_p=3f9889ac-6c45-46e8-b515-3af650557207&pf_rd_r=A3BG73JRT1Y34W1WH4C6&psc=1&refRID=A3BG73JRT1Y34W1WH4C6

Those things compress weirdly well so you actually get some good speed behind them, but they don't carry far, and they slow down so fast that you can hit siding, woods, lights, etc. without doing damage. Plus with a wedge you can get real air under them so we'd play holes up and over two-story houses, garages, rock walls, trees, etc.

that's funny.   We used bats and balls like that for baseball in the driveway and to play 500 over the house.

[Buckeyebowman]

There was a time when I and my buddies would just head to the nearby public park with a couple of clubs and balls. We'd swat balls around these dense oak forests aiming for that picnic table, that barbecue grill, or that tree! Talk about learning how to "thread the needle!" Then we'd play out of the woods onto the baseball field and play to home plates or backstops. Heck, I started out playing this game digging a hole in the back yard and chipping to it with old, hickory shafted clubs! 

[bwdial]

When I was a kid, my cousin in rural Alabama created a three hole course in his front yard.  Each green was probably about the size of a large living room, and there was just a single tee box out by the highway.  The longest hole was probably about 120-130 yards, but to us, it was Augusta and Pine Valley, all wrapped into one.  We played that course until he put a well struck three iron through his bedroom window, and his mother shut the course down.

😫

[The Flush]

We have a 3 hole pitching course in the backyard. The 2  furthest pins are about 75 yards apart, with one about halfway in between. We only play the 75 yard hole going away from the house to avoid the errant shot hitting the house. There are no holes, just old bike flags stuck in the ground with the grass mowed as short as possible.  My wife even mows it for me now. The biggest green, furthest from the house is a 12 yard diameter circle with the one closest to the house is about 8 yards diameter.  The middle one is long and narrow (3 yards wide). When my son and I play we are just trying to get within an arm and a club length. Sometimes we hit BirdieBalls first and then chip/pitch with real balls to the pin. Sometimes it is just practice. It makes for an enjoyable evening.

[p1n9183]

When i was a kid at my summer house in Pinamar (argentina) I played golf with a tennis racket and a tennis ball. I invented a course around the house using the holes of plants or little trees. I always played a competition among me, me and me. Lost´s of fun ! Short game was always my strongest suit. 

[Double Mocha Man]

I have a home made croquet course on my front lawn.  It's about a 45 degree slope.  Neighbors crack up everytime they drive or walk by it.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 7/9/2019 at 11:42 PM, bwdial said:

When I was a kid, my cousin in rural Alabama created a three hole course in his front yard.  Each green was probably about the size of a large living room, and there was just a single tee box out by the highway.  The longest hole was probably about 120-130 yards, but to us, it was Augusta and Pine Valley, all wrapped into one.  We played that course until he put a well struck three iron through his bedroom window, and his mother shut the course down.

😫

Haw! That made a memory come up really strong! I was chipping around in the back yard when I wondered what would happen if I smacked one of those golf balls all out. I was hitting a mid-iron or mid mashie ( a 2 or 3 iron, that's all that was available to me ), and rifled a duck hook through Mr. Ross' garage window! Having been raised properly, I went an confessed my crime. Mr. Ross and my Dad huddled to determine how much work I had to do for him to pay for it. I overheard Mr. Ross say to my Dad, "It seems like the boy wants to play. Maybe we should take him out." 

So, I got to pull my Dad's cart and keep score. I made the classic mistake of informing my Dad that he was winning after the first 9, since his score was higher than Mr. Ross'! He told me that in golf, the lowest score wins! Where have I heard that before? Rather than deliver a lecture, my Dad just said "think about it". I did think about it, and soon realized he was right. That was the beginning of my life's odyssey in golf!

[Bonvivant]

My father grew up with a 9 hole course in his backyard. The way he told it, the holes ranged in yardage from 20-70 yards. His sister inherited the house, but the course has probably been gone for over 50 years. My current yard is about 15x40 feet. Been thinking about shaping and turfing it into a practice green. Does anyone have experience with just largish practice greens?

[DennisMiller]

Here's my backyard practice area. I need a new net to supplement the one in the picture. I had another net hanging from the limb of the mango tree and then, I was able to back up about 10' with no fear of hitting a ball into the neighbor's yard. Backing up let me use some electronic gadgets like my Zelocity Radar device. It tells me how far a shot has carried.

My mat was purchased for only $40 when a course where I worked replaced the ones on their range.

If I had space, I'd add an artificial turf green with some slopes and maybe 3-4 holes. A bunker would be nice too.

[Double Mocha Man]

52 minutes ago, DennisMiller said:

Here's my backyard practice area. I need a new net to supplement the one in the picture. I had another net hanging from the limb of the mango tree and then, I was able to back up about 10' with no fear of hitting a ball into the neighbor's yard. Backing up let me use some electronic gadgets like my Zelocity Radar device. It tells me how far a shot has carried.

My mat was purchased for only $40 when a course where I worked replaced the ones on their range.

If I had space, I'd add an artificial turf green with some slopes and maybe 3-4 holes. A bunker would be nice too.

You are going to need another net for your bunker.

[DennisMiller]

18 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

You are going to need another net for your bunker.

The way I've been blading shots from the bunkers, that fence would only need to be a couple feet high...