My synthetic golf green photo gallery

Early construction and shaping of the green

Making a start on the bunker construction

More digging of the bunker

Digging out the bunker, with dam behind. The Bobcat makes it easier

The Bobcat biting into the surface. You can see where Bruce has marked out the design

Digging out the final part of the bunker by hand. This helps shape and get it just right

Bruce doing more digging

Freshly dug out bunker with the green above

The bunker smoothed out and almost ready for sand

A nice high lip for serious bunker practice.

Early preparation work of the green base. It needs to be firm, yet soft enough to allow impact absorption.

Marking out the green contours. Important to get this right so you’re not left with a ridiculous putting green

Then the rain hit. A day or two before completion the heavens opened up.

The place turned into a mud pit. The green base is to the right hand side

The dam is full and the bunker is getting wet. Bruce installed a drainage system to help it cope.

Marking the green contours for a second time

Bruce blowing excess debris away prior to grass laying

Getting the green surface just right. A lot of time and effort went into making sure it was perfect.

Bruce keeping an eye on Adam. I think this image was the 3rd time the green needed to be set. Bloody rain!

Finally, the grass is ready to be laid. Bruce is trimming the grass so it can be totally seamless.

The unraveled grass ready to be set down into place.

The surrounds grass being added. This grass is different from the putting surface but is excellent to chip from. Also gives green realistic look.

Surrounds grass down, but not yet firmly in place. Bruce and team also setting hole locations and making sure really smooth for better roll.

Drainage and plastic added to bunker. The plastic stops weeds growing through and helps keep the sand in place.

Getting the cups in place

Bruce and team take care an attention with the hole insertion. If it’s not square then the ball won’t roll properly into the cup.

The back hole location set. I wanted the holes cut close to the edge to provide greater options and challenges.

Putting surface grass ready for installation. Note the pattern effect…

Tip truck dumping the bunker sand. Nice and white, almost like Augusta!

The first strip of putting surface is down. It’s nice and green

You get a good stripped effect from a distance

Getting the bunker ready for the first shots. I kept well away from this hard work

The grass is down. It’s not ready for play and the rain was still not finished..

My putting green

Gluing the surrounds grass down.

The secret sauce. Bruce applying the first layer of Profill. Tough job, especially in hot and humid conditions.

Helix yarn grass getting glued into place. The Profill also keeps it from going anywhere.

Special synthetic grass glue

The bunker, lip and surrounds. The sand weighs it down so it stays firmly in place

Bruce making sure the edges are seamless. He took ages to ensure this part is perfect. You have to look really hard to find any edges on my green.

The hired help carting Profill

Brushing Profill in with machine – Koda keeping an eye on Bruce

Almost done and Clare testing out the green. It was really slow at this point but still fun

Me attempting the impossible shot from down near the dam – almost got it…

Getting closer. The rain has finally stopped and Bruce adding finishing touches.

All that’s needed now is some hand brushing to finish it off

Top tee construction. Whacking the ground so it’s nice and firm

Adding a rubber hitting mat for club impact absorption. Must say my golf tees are nice and soft to hit from.

The finished tee

Bruce taking the first hit from the top tee

The view from the top tee to the finished green.

Bottom tee almost finished and a good look up the fairway. The green is located behind the clump of trees on the left, around 130m away

The last job – inserting the hole cups so they can hold a flag

Getting the excavator off the truck was a nightmare – thank God for David. I would have killed myself

The heavy logs up at the top tee.

Moving the logs into place. I was hiding behind the camera when all the hard work was needed

The bottom tee ready for sand and rock base

The turf farm guys hard at work

The boys getting to work laying the turf on the freshly smoothed out short game area

Slow but steady. It took these guys a few hours to lay all that turf

Making sure the real turf and the synthetic turf have a good edge

Almost done – 1000m2 of lovely couch grass

The last step was the whacking machine to help settle the grass. This bit was a bit of fun…

Watering the grass. The best bit about synthetic is it is low maintenance

Pumping water up to the new grass with my new firefighting pump. If we ever get hit by fire I’ll be well prepared.

Putting green ready to go. I have a heap of balls strewn everywhere for random practice most nights.

My favourite pin location – this gives me plenty of fun from the bunker (behind) and for chipping and pitching

Close up of the back right hole location.

Another shot taken with my Iphone… The grass looks real in these photos.

AJ hitting a ball or two from the bottom tee. This bloke is a serious golf geek and he loved the set-up

Me hitting some high and soft bunker shots.