Synthetic golf courses can be called the need of the hour. Synthetic golf greens are becoming popular these days and a number of golf courses are using synthetic putting greens instead of the natural golf greens. These artificial golf greens have all the functionality of the natural golf grass. The speeds of greens, quality, accuracy of the shot, etc. are same for both the golf greens.

Advantages of synthetic golf course development:

Synthetic greens are very popular for golf course as they have a number of advantages over natural golf greens. Maintaining the golf greens is a big issue. There are a number of cultural practices required by natural golf grass. Synthetic grass is not affected by any changes in the climate. Maintaining a synthetic gold course feasible in any harsh climate (including extreme hot and dry climates) where natural grass may not survive. It resists harsh use better than the natural grass and requires no watering and mowing.

Watering

There are major water restrictions at many places. Water conservation is becoming more important. Synthetic golf greens do not require any watering and remain green and soft.

Pest control

Natural golf greens have a lot of natural enemies. It is infested by a number of pests at different times of the year. Regular spraying of insecticides and integrated pest management is required to maintain a pest free golf lawn. All this is absolutely not required for synthetic golf grass.

Fertigation

To maintain the health of golf greens you need to invest heavy amount in grass fertilizers. Various nitrogenous and slow release golf fertilizer applications are necessary to maintain the natural golf greens in good condition. All this is eliminated in case of artificial golf grass.

Renovation

Renovation of natural turf takes a lot of time and energy. It is also costly as a number of things and people are involved. It is very easy to renovate a synthetic turf as it requires changing only the synthetic turf grass.

Maintenance costs

Maintenance costs are much higher for natural turf grass. Synthetic greens require very less or no inputs and hence they stand out to be less expensive.

Labor costs

Labor costs for synthetic greens are very less or negligible. Literally, no labor is required for maintaining the artificial turf once it is installed.

Synthetic golf course development includes:

  • Synthetic target greens
  • Synthetic fairway grass
  • Synthetic driving range hitting turf

Synthetic golf course uses the technology which is regarded as safe to play on. It is safer to play on these, especially in winter months. The use of Polypropylene “grass” which is generally observed to around 5 centimeters long is considered to be quiet popular. Its lubrication is usually done with silicone and is usually tufted into a primary cloth and then with a layer of latex is applied on its backside which gives it enough stability by fastening the tufts. The entire thing is then “infilled” with a rubber granules layer of about 4 centimeters. This is done to maintain the upright position of the fiber and also to support it by providing apt level of shock absorbency and deformability. Most of the 15 or like that turf manufacturers which are accepted by FIFA make use of this technology.