Armchair Architect Needed: Help design backyard wedge range

In high school I worked at a sporting goods store that did embroidery and screen printing for all local teams. I could fire up the bat signal…it may be a dead end but worth the shot and they know how to operate the machine (i used to, but wouldn’t trust myself anymore).

Yeah we have been thinking about different grass options for tees and greens. I signed up for that forum and will look deeper into it.

Lately, we have been leaning towards doing Zoysia for the tees and greens.

My thinking:

  • BCN doesn’t have a sprinkler system and KC is known for dry, hot summers. Zoysia requires 1/3rd of the water as bent, fescue, or bermuda would take. Zoysia is considered to be drought and heat tolerant.
  • With no additional maintenance, healthy Zoysia is 99.9% weed free as it grows so thick it chokes anything else trying to grow in it.
  • It is a crawling grass, so with simply replacing divots with sand, the Zoysia will eventually grow back without additional seed or plugs.
  • It can be cut extremely short and maintain it’s health and color.
  • Nearly all of the good golf courses in Kansas have Zoysia fairways.
  • Does well in heavy sun and partial shade.

Detractors:

  • Zoysia generally plays slow and sticky. You can’t find better grass to pick wedges off of, but wedge shots likely won’t role much.
  • Spring can be volatile in the Midwest with heavy storms. Zoysia does not drain well and would make the course feel like a swamp. Luckily, it dries out fairly quickly.
  • I’ve yet to talk to someone in person who has planted Zoysia from seed and not plugs, strips, or sod. The internet makes it seem like it is easy and like planting any other grass, but I’m not sure.
  • It is expensive in any and all forms. Sod is roughly $5 per square yard. Plugs are $1 per sq yard. Seed is $.30 per sq yard. I’m in process of figuring out exactly how much space we need to cover including tees and greens. My guess is roughly 80 sq yards for tees and just under 700 sq yards for greens. We are looking at roughly $500 for just seed/plugs combo for tees and greens. Does not include any soil treatments or fertilizers.

Thoughts?

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We are going to go look at this machine in the next week or two to see what it is all about. It is newish model - no more than 3 years old. My hope is it will be all digital. Upload a logo and go on your way. I’ve got a feeling it isn’t that easy, but we will see. I’ll reach out when we know what we are working with.

The other nice thing about zoysia is that it plays well enough even when it’s dormant. It will also help the #BrownIsBeautiful vibe in the off-season.

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Question for everyone.

Would you be offended if we used larger than regulation sized cups? Ideally, we would love to play these holes all the way into the hole, but 4" cups make it too damn hard and unpredictable. An 8" cup would allow for a more appropriate miss area on 3 stimp, bumpy greens.

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larger cups sound necessary IMO.

I have played a lot of temp greens with the 8 inch and it seems to be the best option when the ball can basically hope 45 degrees off line at any instance.

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honestly, I would go farther and say 8" cups + a required club putter to encourage a more chippy, bold stroke:

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Zoysia seems ideal given the fact that most shots will be wedges and therefore quite forgiving. Also with any ball in the rough, zoysia tends to sit the ball up nicely and that way can avoid the practically plugged lies that are all too familiar with those of us who frequently play yard golf. Larger cups seem like a necessity for at least the first season and until @BCNSuper has some experience under his belt :grinning: . From there maybe investments can be made from hat sales and the free national memberships to invest in some real deal greenskeeping kit. Also agree with @ericrbens that the dormant zoysia would certainly satiate the appearance of #brownisbeautiful

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I would go FLAGSTICK ONLY and call anything within the leather good, obviously excludes long putters. (I am looking at you, Langer. Disgusting.) If you hit the pin with a putt/chip/fulll shot, it reduces your total strokes by one.

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These chippers are so sick. Would be canning it from everywhere.

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@scuff yeah that is basically what we have done but have gone full club length + 1 stroke. Only if you actually make it does the previous stroke count as your last stroke. So many 4 putts inside 10 feet.

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Could probably run a pretty inexpensive “irrigation system” with the Rainbird Garden Hose Timer. 1-2 rotors would probably run off a garden hose on that. I use it on a small part of my yard until I can get the full 2.5 acres irrigated. It would atleast help keep enough water on it to keep from losing the greens.

But to the original point, Zoysia fairways are a joy to play off of because of the spin you can generate off them with a wedge. I’ve always loved a nice Zoysia yard or playing surface, but do understand the cost is a huge burden. Being in Oklahoma almost everything we have down here is Bermuda Fairways & Bent Greens, outside of a handful of places. We played a course last year in Austin that had TIF-Eagle greens and they were amazing, but again, I can only imagine what the price of that may be. Also if I remember correctly they have to be sprig’d in for replacement, they do not offer seed.

If it was me doing this at home, honestly if my budget allowed for it I would try a TIF based bermuda because of how drough tolerant they are, and how quickly they regrow. If I couldn’t afford a TIF based Bermuda, I’d just get an affordable Bermuda that could be cut down to 1/4" or 1/2" and roll the crap out of it. I think the TIF-Eagle can get cut down to 1/8". But again, this is a backyard project. I wouldn’t go offloading a ton of money, you can still have fun on a pitch course without pristine conditions. Hell I hit balls all over my property and I have patchy pasture grass for the most part, it’s made my play out of the roughs drastically improve.

https://www.rainbird.com/products/electronic-garden-hose-watering-timer

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Bigger cups + older putters. No Cameron’s allowed a BNC? Pop stroke putting.

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Haha we may need to do that. Unfortunately, BCN staff is 3 Camerons and a Bettinardi - one of which is called Betty. She is a black GOLO with a center shaft and has won a few matches. We will get some community clubs that have some age to them.

I smell a Niblick tourney in the future.

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Sold

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Add to cart, complete purchase on that timer. We have three hoses and a sprinkler that stretch almost the entirety of the property and this will make it easier to manage. Thanks for sharing.

I’ve been researching different Zoysia strains and apparently there is one recently names Trinity Zoysia due to it’s use at Trinity Forest. Apparently they used it tee to green and it can be cut down to 1/8 inch. Makes me think we may actually be able to get fast conditions.

Biggest issue with legit greens is the green mower. Suckers are thousands of dollars and seem to be the THE reason for good greens. As @wesgolf was talking about Fried Eggs Golf built a green and it seems to be all about the mower.

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Road trip?


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https://www.turfnet.com/ is a place a GCS told me once to look for used mowers and the like. Maybe keep an eye on it.

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Oh you are joking! That’s exactly what we need. KC, Wichita, Des Moines craigslist/marketplace is completely void of these options. Huge find.

@jeffbagnall do you still have access/connections with said GCS? Need to collect some advice/knowledge on turf. I’m reaching out to the Super at my course and hope he can give some solid insight as BCN is 5 miles away as the crow flies from the courses he maintains.

Check your twitter. Perhaps he will respond.

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You’re right, the mower is a huge part of it. And honestly, the maintenance on the mower is even more of a headache. Like I said if it was me I’d get something that could get it close then roll it down to make it “flat”

The idea isn’t to make something so expensive you can’t keep it up or need funds coming in to take care of it. Work with what you got, people playing around that yard shouldn’t expect more than a good time to smack some balls with friends and drink some beers. If you expect more than that you’re probably missing the point anyway, ha.

They make multi-timers just like the single timer as well…

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