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Putt for dough

Practice makes perfect, and pricey synthetic greens at home make for perfect putting practice.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 16, 2002

The club used more than any other during a round of golf is the putter. But by most accounts, it is the one we practice with least.

Whether it is the desire to practice the long game when given the chance or simply the lack of a suitable place to work on the flat stick, it often is neglected.

This does not have to be the case.

You can go to a course and drop a bunch of balls on the practice green to work on your putting.

Or you can walk right into your back yard to practice.

Gary Wilder is finding more and more golfers willing to do the latter.

He owns a United Turf Industries franchise in Clearwater that specializes in custom-built, synthetic greens. Called SofTrak, these are personal putting greens that can be molded to your desire, with a surface that looks and reacts like the real thing.

"You have a couple of different levels of people who want something like this," Wilder said. "The first level is the serious golf junkie. I'm the kind of guy who takes a divot out of my living room carpet watching the Golf Channel. There's that guy, who is out to play the best he can.

"Then I think you have what I call big-boy toys. People who like to have everything that they've ever wanted. Let's face it, as a golfer, the thought of having a putting green in the back yard has crossed all of our minds. There are those who are serious and then those who just want toys."

And these are more than putting greens. Wilder can put in bunkers. He can put in a tee box that allows you to hit pitch shots. The greens can hold full approach shots.

The size of these greens vary, from 300 square feet to the 900-square-foot green Wilder put in for PGA Tour player Fred Couples at his Santa Barbara, Calif., home. Some go beyond 1,000 square feet. PGA Tour player Steve Flesch has one. John Daly, who has a similar product, credits it for his improved short game the past year.

In January, SofTrak sold its 1-millionth square foot of greens, and the first quarter of 2002 saw sales double over a year prior. The company attributes this to word of mouth and that tour players are having the greens installed.

The price is based on size and how many variables go into the greens. Wilder said the average price is less than $10,000, and they typically take three to four days to install.

"I expect to use mine four or five days a week," said Bob Page of Orlando, who recently had one installed at his Bay Hill home. "Putting, that's half your strokes. You ought to care about it. And it's the easiest part to fix, as far as I'm concerned.

"It's always something I thought would be fun to have. Frankly, I've never been impressed with the putting surfaces up until the time I saw Gary's. His company sort of stood out as doing something different. It behaves like a real grass green."

The surface is dressed with a special soil and packed with a liquid-filled roller to retain smoothness.

The fibers can hold a wedge shot. Lance Pierce, who founded United Turf Industries five years ago, and Donnie Bailey, a production manager for a small synthetic turf manufacturer, developed a synthetic fiber and turf that simulates Bentgrass greens. It includes two layers of crushed stone that allow for quick drainage and detailed contours.

Perhaps the best feature is low maintenance. There's no watering or mowing.

"That's the great thing about this system, it requires a couple of hours a year," Wilder said. "The green is actually an inch and an eighth tall. It absorbs the impact. You want to groom it and roll it, and the more you roll it the faster it gets. I actually leave the customer with a roller and a broom, and they need to do it about two hours a year. Once a year we come over to really freshen the green and make it flawless."

Dan Albright is amazed at the reaction he sometimes gets from curious people who wander by his St. Pete Beach home.

"I don't have any grass on my property. That looks like the only grass I have," Albright said. "People will come up and squat down and touch it. "What is that?" I have people actually think it's real. "How do you keep this mowed so nicely?' I don't. It looks perfect.

"I love it. If you have company over, it's something to do, putting around. It's a good thing to keep the guys occupied. And the kids."

"I love mine," said Eric Newman, a Tampa customer. "I tried to do one once with grass, and that was totally impractical. I had one of these big lawn mowers, too. If I had my own greenskeeper, who could water it, maintain it, mow it. ... Now, I don't have to do any of that. It's great. I'm not sure how much it's helped my putting, but it's fun anyway."

-- For more information on SofTrak greens, call 888-376-PUTT or 727-592-0332.

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