Many golfers are worried about the speed of synthetic golf greens. Many of the earlier models were just way too fast (and hard). Getting the ball to stop on these greens was all but impossible and they’re weren’t overly realistic. I think these earlier synthetic golf green models have certainly hurt the industry and left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouth…
Such is life. We keep telling our story and promoting our new generation synthetic golf grass. It’s a technology that gives you a fantastic roll and the ability to stop the ball with lofted shots. Not only that, we can alter the speed of your green by reducing or increasing the amount of Profill we use (Profill is our special infill and I call it our secret sauce).
The truth with any synthetic golf green is some maintenance will be needed. You can’t get away without any maintenance – but the Supreme Green is definitely on the low scale when it comes to servicing. It only takes a few minutes per month and you can learn more about it over here. Today I want to show you why a little love is necessary.
My golf green gets used a lot, over the last few months I’ve been coaching heaps and the green has gotten a nice workout. And to be honest I don’t take overly good care of my green – I should be sweeping and removing debris more often, but I’m lazy and most of the time can’t be bothered.
As a result the green is running a little quickly. The grass fibres get compressed (from all the use and the rain) and they need to be brushed. Now this brushing neither is hard or takes too much time. You simply walk back and forwards with a stiff broom – this helps settle the Profill and gives the grass a lift. The below video shows the difference between an unloved golf green and one that has had some care and attention.
The first lot of golf balls are running on an un-serviced section of the green. The second lot of balls are running on a newly brushed section of the green. The difference is profound. I know my testing procedure is far from scientific but I did my best to make it as accurate as possible. Used new balls and made a device that sent the balls away at the same velocity. Watch the video to see the results of my test.
Here’s a photo of the final result. You can see a serviced green is significantly slower than the “unloved green”. My rough estimate would be that before service the green was running at around 11+ on the stimp and about 10 afterwards. It’s not a bad result for a few minutes work.
Please note: You can’t get this type of result with any synthetic golf grass. Most grasses can’t be recovered this much with a little touch up. With some of the cheaper grasses (which are more like a short pile carpet) nothing can be done. The Supreme Green grass, mixed with proper installation techniques, will ensure an excellent golf playing surface for many years – and with a proper green speed.
Let me know if you have any questions.