Thinking Outside the Box on Target Greens

By Zach Nicoludis, agronomist, Central Region - Courtesy of the USGA

Artificial turf can be a sound choice for target greens, especially if the driving range is designed to be played as a short course.

For the foreseeable future, it appears the long list of facilities investing in construction projects will continue to grow. If a driving range renovation is on the list of golf course improvement projects at your facility, it’s worth exploring the benefits of artificial putting greens.

Target greens experience a significant amount of traffic from utility vehicles driving over them to collect golf balls. Over an entire season, this traffic can result in turf decline and negatively impact the aesthetics of the driving range. Installing artificial greens eliminates the risk of repetitive traffic causing turf issues.

Maintaining healthy turf on target greens requires material and labor investments in the form of mowing, plant protectant applications and cultural management practices. Given the labor challenges affecting nearly every golf course, any investment that allows the maintenance team to focus more time on the primary playing surfaces is worth discussing.

Driving ranges at some facilities have been renovated with the intent of being able to close the practice tee and use the range as a short course. An issue with this concept is how putting quality will be impacted on natural putting greens due to all the ball marks that occur when balls land on the target greens. If a driving range renovation is being planned and the dual-purpose short course concept is being considered, it’s worth exploring whether artificial target greens are a better option.

Artificial putting greens have also been used on golf courses to make the game more accessible. The Turkey Creek Golf Center is home to the Ken Lanning Golf Course, where artificial putting greens were installed to make the course more accessible to individuals with disabilities. This is just another example of how artificial putting greens can improve the golfer experience.