OUR BACKYARD  "AMEN CORNER"

This page is to document our father & son project to build a high quality putting green in our backyard, not only to have a nice, convenient place to practice chipping and putting, but also to enhance the atmosphere and appearance of our backyard.  We always admired the beauty of Augusta National Golf Club with perfect greens and beautiful surrounding landscape , so we wanted to try our own version of "Amen Corner," the infamous 3-hole section of the back nine and hole #12 in particular.  This is a 155-yard par 3 where tense golf drama often occurs during Masters Week.

Our vision was to create a similar look and feel in our backyard to this beautiful golf hole.  Our lot has a similar slope, with woods at the back.  We already have some some bushes, including azaleas, rhododendrons, and gardenias  in the fringe of the wooded area.  The plan includes additional plantings to create that "layered" look of varying heights and colors that creates the distinctive Augusta look.

This project has actually become a hobby that our family has enjoyed tremendously, and the reward of all the hard work will be a landscape that we will use and live in week after week, all year long.  Anyone considering building their own green can see how a couple of novices did it on this web page.  Cost of such a project is mostly cheap sand and peat, though you should also make an initial investment in a good, greens mower or you just won't get the real putting surface quality of roll.  Once the initial investment is made, however, the cost of maintenance is mostly your time and labor.


Augusta National: Our inspiration for the backyard

We began by doing a lot of research on how greens are built professionally, as well as how other backyard guys are building theirs.  We found a lot of information by searching the internet.

There are quite a few good websites to help with such a project.  A couple of the more helpful sites we found were North Carolina State University Turf Files center, and another good site by a fellow named Leo, who operates a  business geared for homeowners who want to put in a backyard putting green.  He sells a good, thorough manual and also sells supplies for building a backyard green.  His site is called putting-greens.com.
 

1. THE FOUNDATION / DRAINAGE LAYER

 


Jeff Evans  standing on the drainage bed. 

We began by laying out some a garden hose to define the area where we were to build.  This allowed us to visualize the goal and adjust the perimeter until we positioned the green where we thought it would get good sun and would be a reasonable size for our backyard (and for us to maintain). 

The area we selected had a natural slope so we laid a pattern of four-inch perforated PVC pipe for drainage in a "Y" herringbone-style pattern and slanted toward the property line to guide water away from the green and house.  Once that was done, we built up the sub-grade with pea gravel to a depth of about 8-10 inches, and made it reasonably level.  This is slightly less thickness than USGA recommendations, however the drainage is quite sufficient.

 

 

2. SUBSTRATE LAYER

 

Once the drainage bed was in, we brought in about 20 cubic yards of a very good quality white sand and spread this over the area to a depth of about 12 inches using shovels and coarse rakes. According to USGA recommendations,  it is important that the sand be clean and free of clay content with a medium particle size.  This sand met those needs.  After tapering the sides, the circle expanded to about 36 ft in diameter which should be about 1,000 square feet, including apron.  The actual finished putting surface should be around 800.

The left photo: shoveling and spreading.  On the right, the sand layer in place, smoothed and leveled out.  We watered it and let it naturally settle for a couple of weeks, raking and compacting it by foot traffic.  We were already chipping to it at this point, placing a stick on the sand green for a target. 

 

3. ROOT ZONE LAYER

 

Next step was to build up the root zone layer.  We added a mixture of peat moss, humus and a top quality topsoil (Scotts lawn soil).   We estimate that we achieved a fairly uniform 3-4 inch sand layer over the gravel (perched water layer), followed by a 8-10 inch root zone comprised of approximately 75% sand, and 10% peat, 10% topsoil, and 5% humus.  This is not quite USGA specs, but then we won't have hundreds of rounds a week played as on  real courses.

We spread the amendments evenly over the sand layer and then tilled until we had a good blend in the top 9-10 inches of root zone.  Our Troy Bilt tiller did a pretty good job of blending the ingredients.  We tilled in all different directions to evenly mix the components, and raked the surface smooth.  It's better to mix off-site, but we didn't have that capability.  We wound up with a good, homogenous mix that seems to compact just right.
 

 

4. FINISHING

 
After thoroughly mixing the ingredients, we rolled and compacted until we had a smooth surface that was nice and firm.  We rented a fairly large turf roller for about $20.  It was made to pull behind a lawn tractor, but we maneuvered it by hand.  It weighed in at about 400 lbs when filled with water and was 48" wide. Shown below is Jeff and friend lowering it down the incline with a rope. 

Once the surface was contoured to our liking and very smooth, we roughed the surface with a leaf rake, leaving shallow furrows, and then we broadcasted the grass seed.  We chose Pennington G2 creeping bent grass, the same that is used on Pinehurst #2 (U.S. Open).  We chose this variety because of its resistance to heat and disease, and we are fairly close to Pinehurst therefore we felt that this grass would do well here also.

With the grass seed down we rolled the surface again to ensure good seed/soil contact.  For this final roll we took the water out of the turf roller for less weight.  This first planting was on Mother's Day, May 8, 2005.

We began to water and wait for germination.

 

PROGRESS REPORTS

 

5/13/05 -  This photo was taken exactly five days after planting, and you can see good color even from a distance.  When you get close, you can see that the entire surface is bursting with grass.  We continue to water frequently.

5/17/05 - Week 1:   The grass is still coming in strong.  We have had a  problem with ant infestation.  Our extermination service gave us some bait/poison that they guarantee will suppress the problem in a few days.
I have been referred to an expert at a local golf course who can sharpen the mower and set the height.  We hope to accomplish that this week since first cut is very close.  We will probably start at around 1/4" then work our way down over the next couple of months.

5/22/05 - Week 2:   This is exactly two weeks after putting down the grass seed.  There is good coverage, though some spots are a little slower catching up.  We have made one  pass with the mower at 1/4" and have done some rolling.  Our new friend, Doug (greens keeper at a local club), not only did an excellent job of sharpening the Jacobsen, but he also gave us an old Jacobsen 22" greens mower frame, so we stripped it down to just the handle, box frame and rear drum.  It does a good job as a finish turf roller.
We continue to experience a few anthills.  The bait that our exterminator gave us got rid of most of them and we have had success with the remainder by mixing up Sevin liquid (another tip from the golf course guys) and pouring directly on the surviving hills.  It has not damaged the tender young grass at all. (POSTSCRIPT:  Don't listen to me, there were a few areas of yellowing where we really overdosed the Sevin.  Obviously we applied too much in a few areas trying to get rid of the major infestations.  While there was some success, we still had some anthills coming back.  Our advise: apply any chemical treatments cautiously).

horizontal rule

 

Here's the mower we bought to cut the green with.  It's a "small" (225 lbs.) Jacobsen 18" Greens King 418 walk-behind greens mower.  A bonus is that it is equipped with the power groomer (verticutter) attachment.  I found this mower on Ebay from an individual who fortunately only lived about an hour away so we were able to pick it up and save the shipping charges.  He had a number of these mowers he had gotten from a golf course, and they were in great shape, and the price ($500) was a fraction of what a new one costs .

The cut that this machine delivers is outstanding.  Sure you can buy a reel mower for a few hundred less, but you will not get the precision cut that a real pro-line greens mower can deliver.
This is Jeff making the first cut.  We were a little nervous because we didn't have full coverage but we didn't want to let the full patches of grass get too high.  We had heard of horror stories about waiting too long before mowing.  Cut was at 1/4" inch & we let the clippings drop to try to establish the thatch canopy.

For those who may be unfamiliar with these types of mowers, the transport wheels are taken off during actual mowing and the mower rides upon the front roller and a rear drum.  Front roller adjustment controls the cutting height.

The surface has continued to improve and become fuller and smoother with each mowing.

 
 

 

5/30/05 - Week 3:   This is just after mowing, topdressing, fertilizing, and fungicide. 

6/4/05  - Week 4:   The topdressing and fertilizing were boosted by several days of soft rain and cool temperatures.  We also added an application of trace elements and some spot treatment to the remaining ants.  Maintaining the putting surface cut at 1/4" and the apron at 1/2".

6/11/05  - Week 5:   Afternoon thunderstorms this week have made mowing difficult.  The green is a little "shaggy" in this photo, but we'll cut it this afternoon after it dries out a bit.  The turf is becoming thicker and we are trying to encourage fuller coverage with some light topdressing.

6/19/05  - Week 6:   Today (Father's Day) is exactly six weeks after the seed was planted.  We suffered a setback this week due to weather.   Temperatures have soared into the mid- to high-90's with few clouds and no rain and extremely high humidity.  Even with careful watering, the thinner sections around the perimeter have scorched where the coverage was not thick enough and the grass is stressed.  Yesterday evening brought some showers and (according to forecasts) the onset of cooler temps so maybe we can catch back up before the July/August heat sets in.  The apron, cut at 1/2" has done well. Notice dog in picture.  She does a good job of keeping squirrels and birds from the green.
6/26/05  - Week 7:   We reseeded the barren spots last Tuesday and Wednesday, and the new grass is just now sprouting.  The center of the green is knitting together and developing a good thatch layer.  The turf appears healthy, though still immature.  We have learned that spot hand-spiking helps greatly to encourage grass creep into the thinner spots.

7/3/05  - Week 8:   This was taken Sunday morning, 8 weeks after originally planting the seed, and this was Fourth of July weekend.  We were hoping to have a flag and cup installed so guests to our BBQ could try out the green (even though still quite "bumpy") but it hasn't arrived yet.  We were able to do some chipping though.
We will probably lower the cutting height from 1/4 inch to 3/16 inch this week.

7/10/05  - Week 9:   We now have a practice cup and flag installed.  Conditions are tough for this type of turf, with high temp and humidity so progress is slow but steady.  We have decided to continue to cut at 1/4 inch through the hot summer months to try to keep the roots protected.

7/17/05  - Week 10:   The green is now quite usable, though there are still some rough spots.  Most of the green is a dense mat of fine grass and, with topdressing, should survive the summer.  We don't expect much more real growth until September and October.

8/24/05  - 3  months:   Weeks of high temperature and humidity have taken their toll, with large brown patches around the fringe and edges.  Brown patch disease may have caused a large part of the damage despite weekly application of contact (spray on) fungicide.  We have switched over to a systemic (granular, absorbed by roots) fungicide from Lesco (golf course supplier). 
About 85% of the greens putting surface is fairly dense, smooth and doing well.  Cooler temperature is coming soon and hopefully we will get a burst of growth.

 

9/19/05  - 4 Months:   This was taken just after dawn, and I watered the dew off the green.  We have had a lack of rain here for the last four weeks, so I have been irrigating carefully, with a lot of hand-watering to encourage growth back toward the fringe. Cooler temperatures, with night temperatures getting down to 60 degrees have helped to kick start the growth and I have continued light preventative applications of systemic fungicide, and some nitrogen.  The green is now quite becoming quite dense in the center section.
10/8/05  - 5 Months:   This was taken exactly 5 months to the day after planting the grass seed.  I put down some Lesco greens-grade 14-2-14 fertilizer, as well as some fungicide one week ago and we have had rain for the last several days from Tropical Storm Tammy.  The benefits are beginning to show with greatly increased turf growth, density and color.

11/8/05  - 6 Months:   This is the 6 month pic. Leaves are falling.

 

 

2006 PROGRESS REPORTS

4/12/06  - 1 Year Anniversary

 

To see an artist's conception of the "finished" landscape, CLICK HERE