If you’re one of those nosey types who likes to look on Google Earth to see what celebrities’ back gardens looks like, you’ll more often than not discover that part of the vast acreage has been astro-turfed over for a helicopter landing pad, kids’ play area, five-aside football pitch or, as is often the case these days, a combination of all three, plus a nine-hole putting course.
While a high percentage of Tour players have converted their enormous estates into full-scale replicas of the greens at Augusta, there are also plenty of regular golfers out there that are choosing to dig up their somewhat smaller domestic lawns and replace them with something altogether more interesting to look at and fun to play on.
Thanks to the UK’s rain-soaked winters and football-ridden summers, keeping a lawn looking tidy at any time of the year is a tough job, but even when it does resemble the Centre Court at Wimbledon, grass is just, well, grass at the end of the day, and good for very little except looking at, interspersed with the tedious jobs of weeding and cutting.
Which is why more and more of us are choosing to give up our obsession with firing up the Flymo every Sunday afternoon in favour of pulling out the putter for a spot of practice on the latest generation of artificial greens.
ADVANCEMENT OF ARTIFICIAL TURF
Thanks to massive leaps in technology, the current ‘crop’ of artificial golf greens are far removed from the stuff you used to see behind the apples and pears in your local greengrocers, and more akin to the finely-chiselled swards you’ll find on a championship golf course.
And while a tour-standard setup can be pricey, a more simple design, featuring a few carefully constructed holes, can be a much more affordable, yet equally effective option, for the amateur golfer.
This is the type of customer that Look Real Lawns is currently working with to fulfill their domestic dream layouts. Set up 16 years ago by experienced Head Greenkeeper Andrew Brown who enjoyed spells at Nizels and Croham Hurst, Kent-based Look Real Lawns aims to meet the needs of the keen golfer looking to sharpen up their short game skills in the comfort of their own home.
Rather than driving to their local club every time they want to put in a bit of work on their lag putting or greenside chipping, owners of a Look Real green can simply open the back door and, hey presto, they’re on the first hole and sinking putts for fun.
DP WORLD TOUR CLIENTS
One of Andrews earliest customers was three-time European Tour winner Andy Sullivan, who had a five-hole course built in his back garden in the Midlands.
While the company can’t take full responsibility for Sullivan’s impressive performances on tour this season, having somewhere to practice his putting stroke at home clearly hasn’t harmed his form on the greens this year.
And while LRL recently installed a nine-hole putting course at a private house on the exclusive Wentworth Estate in Surrey.
The company’s traditional customer base is generally on a much tighter budget, where a few interesting, well-designed holes on a small plot are all that is required.
“While it’s nice to work with tour players, and those will sizeable budgets, most of our projects are on a much smaller scale, where customers are looking for somewhere to a few straightforward holes to practice on,” says Andrew.
“But no matter how big or small the project is, our attention to detail is exactly the same. We work closely with the client through every step of the process to make sure they get exactly what they want, and work within their budgets to achieve their ambitions.”
BUILT WITH QUALITY AND CARE
The son of a golf professional, and with his experience as a greenkeeper, Brown prides himself on knowing the demands golfers have when it comes to replicating greens, as well as what is required to landscape holes into a domestic setting, where greens are often competing with other requirements of a traditional garden.
“Home owners don’t want a green just to be simply plonked down in the back garden,” says Andy. “So we work closely with the client to make sure it blends in with that is already there, and, if required, carry out sympathetic landscaping to ensure that it doesn’t dominate the setting.”
Requiring next to no maintenance, other than brushing off the leaves in autumn, and capable of withstanding the heaviest of downpours, an artificial green is a great addition to any golfer’s garden.
Look Real installations are also perfect for golf clubs, driving ranges and academies, where artificial surfaces are ideal for practice greens, all-weather ranges, and even indoor coaching facilities.
So whether you’re looking to win next year’s club championship, set your children on the road to Open glory, smarten up your golf club, or simply want to have somewhere to challenge your mates to a few holes over a drink, a Look Real putting green should be your very next step.
For more details on Look Real Lawns range of artificial putting and chipping greens, or to book a site visit, call 07748350530 or visit www.lookreallawns.co.uk