Why hiring the pros matters, and why Southwest Greens of Augusta is the best in the industry for installation practices.
You may be asking yourself, “Can I install artificial grass myself?” While it is possible for you to install artificial grass yourself, it is not easy. The tools and equipment you’d need are costly, it takes a while to DIY, and you may void any warranties on the turf. Let’s take a look at why you should have your golf turf installed by a professional who follows the best practices for artificial turf installation.
WHY PROFESSIONAL ARTIFICIAL GRASS INSTALLATION
Whether or not you’re adding a golf green to your personal property, or you manage a commercial golf course, having artificial turf professionally installed will save you headaches, time, and money — and, long-term, give you a better-looking green.
Saved Time
Even ”easy” do-it-yourself projects can easily evolve into a big problem. We’ve all been there. Repeat trips to the big box store for supplies and tools we didn’t realize we need, plans not going accordingly, many days of laborious work? When you have your turf installed by a professional, you will save so much time, and you’ll enjoy the greens sooner.
To install artificial golf greens properly, you’ll need to level the ground, add a base of crushed aggregate, add padding, lay the turf, add infill, and roll the turf to get the best playability and to make it look like real turf. Cutting edges so you have clean borders is also difficult and needs a lot of experience to get it just right. All of this requires some very specific tools and knowledge to do correctly in order to avoid messy sections and/or edges that end up peeling up creating a terrible looking green.
Difficult Soil/Landscape
An ideal soil is hard to find. Most property owners will agree to this. It’s quite rare to be able to get your shovel into the soil easily. Instead, we have to work with rocky soil, thick clay, or soil permeated with roots from nearby trees and plants in many locations. Even digging can be excrutiating work. Plus, if you are cutting into roots, you could be hurting surrounding plants you want.
On a lot of our turf installations, we have dealt with obstacles such as huge boulders, old (and new) irrigation lines, tree stumps, just to name a few. Every one of these obstructions must be repurposed or removed. Excavation results in tons of soil you don’t need — what will you do with it? Frequently we have to transport this unwanted soil offsite.
A pro artificial turf installer can address all of this on your behalf. So if you’re not wanting to do very back-breaking manual labor or don’t know how to handle your excavated soil, hiring an installation professional for your project is your best choice.
Large Areas
When installing a golf green in a large area, seaming becomes among the trickiest aspects of the turf to get right. Seeming is the process of combining two or more pieces together. Very like carpet installation, when the seams of artificial turf are done correctly, they are not noticeable. Seams not joined correctly will be noticeable and provide an unattractive finished product.
Imagine rolling up a poster or sheet of paper. Do you always get perfect alignment when trying to get a good roll? Sometimes you don’t get a clean edge, but end up with paper sticking out on one side. This also is possible when seaming artificial turf. One small misstep in the beginning will throw the whole project off and look terrible when finished. Professional installers will have plenty of experience joining seams and they’ll make certain everything looks great before they are finished.
THE SOUTHWEST GREENS WAY
There are three things that separate Southwest Greens of Augusta from the rest in the turf industry — craftsmanship, guarantees, and customer service. We do not believe in cookie-cutter artificial turf installations, and because of this, we’ve mastered the art and science of Augusta artificial turf installation. We have honed our process with more than 6,000 golf greens worldwide under our belts.
Here is a quick look at how our artificial putting green installation process works.
- A crushed aggregate base, which, unlike concrete, can be moistened and molded to build up challenging breaks and undulations.
- Then we install at least a cushion pad that helps the ball roll and shot absorption, then we install our state-of-the-art polypropylene turf material that’s used to mimic the bright green color, softness, and playability of natural grass.
- Then the turf is in-filled with a formulation of fine-coated silica sand which gives it the touch and feel of natural grass.
- Finally, the tops are rolled to give the effect of true bent grass green. Options available are the installation of first and second cuts fringe, bunkers, sand traps, roughs, and fairways.
You can watch our video on our installation process here.
READY FOR YOUR GREENS?
Please take a look at our grass collections. We are here to help when you are ready. Contact us to get a quote for your project — whether it is a backyard putting green or a full-scale golf course, we’ve got you covered.