Why hiring professionals matters, and why Southwest Greens of Connecticut is leader in the industry for installation practices.
Maybe you’re asking yourself, “Can I install artificial grass myself?” Yes, it is possible for you to install artificial grass yourself, but it’s not easy. The equipment and tools needed are pricey, it takes a while to DIY, and you could void any warranties on the turf. Let’s learn why you should have your golf turf professionally installed and artificial turf installation best practices.
WHY PROFESSIONAL ARTIFICIAL GRASS INSTALLATION
Whether you are interested in adding an artificial golf green to your home, or you are managing a commercial golf course, having artificial turf installed by a professional will save you headaches, time, and money — and, over time, give you a more attractive green.
Saved Time
Even tiny do-it-yourself projects can easily evolve into a big to-do. Haven’t we all been there? Repeat trips to the home improvement store for supplies or tools we didn’t realize we need, plans not going to plan, many days of back-breaking work? When you have your turf installed by a pro, you’ll save time, and you will enjoy the greens sooner.
To properly install artificial golf greens, must level the ground, add a base of crushed aggregate, add padding, place the turf, add infill, and roll the turf for the best playability and to make it look like real grass. Cutting edges to have clean borders is challenging and requires a good deal of experience to get just right. All of this means you need some very specific tools and knowledge to execute correctly and avoid messy sections and/or edges that end up peeling up creating unpleasant aesthetics.
Difficult Soil/Landscape
Perfect soil is rare. Many property owners will agree to this. It is quite rare to be able to push your shovel into the dirt without problems. Instead, we work with stones, clay, or soil filled with roots from nearby trees and plants in many locations. Just digging can be tiring work. Plus, if you are cutting into roots, you could be killing surrounding plants you might want to keep.
On many of our installation projects, we have faced obstacles such as large boulders, old (and new) irrigation lines, stumps, to name a few. Each of these things need to be removed or repurposed. Excavation results in tons of soil you may not have a use for — what will you do with it? Frequently we have to transport this excess soil offsite.
A professional artificial turf installer can address all of this for you. So if you don’t want to do very difficult manual labor or you do not know how to dispose of your excavated soil, hiring a pro installer for your project is your best choice.
Large Areas
When you install a golf green in a large area, seaming is among the most challenging parts of the turf to get right. This is the method of combining two or more pieces together. This is like carpet installation, when artificial turf seams are done right, they aren’t noticeable. Seams that are not done correctly will be noticeable and give a disappointing finished product.
Picture this: rolling up a poster or sheet of paper. Have you always gotten the alignment perfect when attempting to pull-off a good roll? Sometimes you don’t get a clean edge, but end up with paper sticking out on one side. This same effect is possible when seaming artificial turf. One minor misstep in the beginning will mess up the whole project and look awful in the end. A professional installer will have a lot of experience joining seams and they’ll make sure everything looks amazing before they are finished.
THE SOUTHWEST GREENS WAY
There are three distinct things that differentiate Southwest Greens of Connecticut from others in the turf industry — craftsmanship, guarantees, and customer service. We don’t believe in cookie-cutter artificial turf installations, and because of that, we’ve perfected the art and science of Greenwich artificial turf installation. We have honed our process with over 6,000 golf greens worldwide under our belts.
Have a quick glance at how our artificial putting green installation process works.
- A crushed aggregate base, which can be moistened and molded to build up challenging breaks and undulations, unlike concrete.
- Next, we install a cushion pad, at a minimum, to assist the ball roll and shot absorption, then we bring in our state-of-the-art polypropylene turf material that’s used to recreate the lush green color, softness, and playability of real grass.
- We then in-fill the turf with a formulation of fine-coated silica sand that gives it the touch and feel of real grass.
- Finally, roll the tops to give the effect of true bent grass green. Options available are the installation of first and second cuts fringe, fairways, roughs, bunkers, and sand traps.
You can watch our installation process video here.
READY FOR YOUR GREENS?
Make sure you view our grass collections. We’re here to help when you are ready. Contact us for a quote on your project — regardless of it is a backyard putting green or a full-scale golf course, we’ve got you covered.