Your guide to understanding how roll works on artificial turf.
The Physics of Golf
Physics. It affects everything in life, and, notably, the popular game of golf.
Physics, defined as the nature and properties of matter and energy: the hitting of the ball, the ball’s flight when airborne, the initial bounce, and the ball’s 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 targeting the ball into the hole a simple task by hitting it along a straight line.
That said, you’ll observe that the ground is sloped. When this happens, the ball’s path cannot be a straight path to enter the hole, therefore it’s a more challenging task. In this case, the ball has to follow a specific curved path to get to the hole. Whether the ball is required to curve to the right or left is contingent on the degree of the slope and undulation of the putting green.
Whether or not artificial grass or natural grass is used to construct your dream backyard putting green, the physical characteristics of the surface affect the performance. Southwest Greens Vancouver (Second Generation Landscapes) utilizes a combination of typically used golf course tests and proprietary playability testing.
One typical test for ball roll is the stimpmeter test. Stimp testing calculates the distance a ball rolls on artificial turf in meters when dropped from one meter. The ball-to-surface interaction of the grass is directly correlated to the ball roll distance.
The proprietary playability testing for roll analyzes the consistency of standard putting stroke outputs. This test analyzes the initial bounce of the club face and the spin to roll transition.
Let us take a harder look into the items that affect how a golf ball reacts and rolls on a turf.
Green Characteristics
Product Construction: Plastics that are extruded and recycled and available in a variety of constructions, colors, and lengths. Proper construction is vital to enable key putting green installation practices; construction will enable turf to be infilled and rolled. Properly rolled fibers appear and play like natural greens.
Pile Height: The grass blades’ thickness and height will provide differences in friction; affecting the speed and smoothness of your putt.
Fiber: The fiber composition has a substantial effect on how a golf ball moves throughout the putt. Friction and pile lay are influenced by fiber composition. How the ball interacts with the surface is influenced by how the turf lays.
Infill: Integral to the turf system, infill is composed of rounded washed silica. Infill allows ballast and helps drainage. The shape of the infill is critical to performance; sharp edges and angles disrupt roll.
Aggregate Base: Stone is compacted to create challenging slopes and undulations; one that performs and drains like a championship golf course.
The science in creating a Backyard Putting Green that performs like a Championship Golf Green is combining the perfect raw materials with elite-proven-tested installation techniques. This is especially important when you are on the putting green trying to gently hit your ball into the hole.
The Southwest Greens Difference
Southwest Greens have been able to quantify key performance indicators. By understanding what variables impact performance, we are able to reproduce natural greens.
With Golden Bear Turf, you’ll have smoother rolls comparable to 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 give you only the best! It’s the best backyard practice putting green and offers the most realistic putting surfaces you’ll find on the market.