Your guide to understanding how roll works on artificial turf.
The Physics of Golf
Physics. It touches everything in life, and also the popular game of golf.
Physics, is the nature and properties of matter and energy: the hitting of the ball, the ball’s flight in flight, the initial bounce, and the ball’s concluding roll out.
In an ideal situation, the ground in the direction of the shot would be perfectly flat, perfectly uphill, or perfectly downhill would be perfectly flat, perfectly uphill, or perfectly downhill in the direction of the shot. This would make getting the ball into the hole a straightforward task by hitting it along a straight line.
However, at times, you will learn that the ground is sloped. In this case, the ball’s roll cannot be a straight line to the hole, making it a more difficult task. The ball has to follow a particular curved path to get to the hole. How much the ball has to curve to the left or right relies on the amount of the slope and undulation of the putting green.
Whether or not synthetic turf or natural grass is chosen to create your dream backyard putting green, the physical properties of the ground affect the performance. Southwest Greens of Augusta utilizes a combination of common golf course tests and proprietary playability testing.
One typical test to measure ball roll is the stimpmeter test. Stimp testing calculates the distance a ball rolls on artificial turf in meters when dropped from a height of one meter. The ball-to-surface interaction of the grass is directly related to the ball roll distance.
The proprietary playability testing for roll provides an analysis of the consistency of outputs with a standard putting stroke. Our test analyzes the initial bounce of the club face and the spin to roll transition.
Let us take a deeper analysis into the items that influence how a golf ball reacts and rolls on a turf.
Green Characteristics
Product Construction: Extruded, recycled plastics that offered in a variety of constructions, colors, and lengths. Proper construction is crucial in ensuring key putting green installation practices; construction will allow turf to be infilled and rolled. Properly rolled fibers appear and play like natural greens.
Pile Height: The thickness and height of the grass blades will provide differences in friction; impacting the velocity and smoothness of your putt.
Fiber: Fiber composition will have a significant effect on how the golf ball moves throughout the putt. Fiber composition will affect friction and pile lay. How the ball interacts with the surface is impacted by how the turf lays.
Infill: Intrinsic to the turf system, infill is comprised of rounded washed silica. Infill provides ballast and helps drainage. How the infill is shaped is vital to performance; angles and edges disrupt roll.
Aggregate Base: Compacted stone creates challenging slopes and undulations; the result performs and drains like a championship golf course.
The recipe to creating a Backyard Putting Green that performs like a Championship Golf Green uses the optimal raw materials with elite-proven-tested installation techniques. This is especially important when you’re on the putting green seeking to gently hit your ball into the hole.
The Southwest Greens Difference
Southwest Greens have been able to quantify key performance indicators. By understanding which variables affect performance, we are able to mimic natural greens.
With Golden Bear Turf, you will enjoy smoother rolls that feel like playing on your favorite championship course. Scientifically tested and designed to replicate natural grass, from the initial bounce off the clubface... to the spin transition… to the smooth ball roll into the cup...
Golden Bear represents only the best! It is the best backyard practice putting green offering the most realistic putting surfaces you’ll find on the market.