A backyard putting and chipping green: where you chip from, the fringe and rough, and the landing area

01Will an artificial green hold a chip, and what makes it hold?

It holds when something under the ball absorbs the landing. On a sand-filled green that is the sand packed between the fibers and rolled firm; Southwest Greens says it rolls its finished greens to simulate the response of a bent grass green. On SYNLawn Golf’s nylon greens it is a pad under the turf, an underlayment called TrueStop that SYNLawn says gives “accurate bounce, check, and roll.”

Which of the two holds better depends on whom you ask. Southwest Greens, which builds sand-filled greens, says a ball won’t bounce or flutter on its greens the way it does on nylon. SYNLawn Golf, which sells nylon, says a chip slows abruptly on a sand-filled polypropylene green. Neither publishes a test method, so chip onto a finished green of the same system before you choose.

Expect the response to drift over time, too. SYNLawn, a competitor of sand-filled greens, says the sand in them gets harder the longer the green is used, and a harder surface lets a chip release further. Keeping the infill even is part of putting green maintenance, and winter changes things again, as below.

02Where do you chip from: the fringe, the rough or a hitting spot?

From turf around the green, not from the green itself, which is the part you most need to keep smooth. A green built for chipping steps up in height from the cup outward. SYNLawn Golf says its fringe and collar turf sits slightly higher than the putting surface, and one maker’s golf line shows a typical set of heights:

Then lay it out around how you’ll use it:

• Put the fringe where you’ll stand. You chip from the side you can reach, so make the fringe on that side wide enough to stand in and swing. Synthetic Grass Warehouse’s installer columnist says a fringe should blend into the green and support chip shots, not just frame it. Southwest Greens builds fringe in a first and second cut, two bands of different height, so one green gives you a tight lie and a longer one.
• Keep the cups in from the edge. Synthetic Grass Warehouse’s columnist says to keep cups at least 3 feet from the exterior fringe. That leaves green for a chip to land on and roll out before it reaches the hole.
• Give your usual spot its own surface. Striking the same few square feet wears turf. SYNLawn sells its Tee Strike hitting turf on the promise of fewer replacements due to wear, and a mat can be moved or swapped when it goes.
• Look at what’s past the green. A thinned chip runs straight through. A fence, a window or a neighbor’s patio on the far side decides which way the green should face and where you chip from.

For choosing heights across the whole yard, see our guide to turf pile height.

03Why does the landing area need the smoothest base in the yard?

Every chip from your usual spot lands in roughly the same few square feet of green. A dip or hump there becomes a bad bounce shot after shot, and Northern Colorado ground is good at making both.

• Clay moves. The Colorado Geological Survey calls expansive soil “Colorado’s most significant geologic hazard” and says its clays can swell up to 20% by volume when wet (CGS). Federal soil surveys flag the Nunn and Weld soils, common around the Larimer foothill towns, Longmont and Frederick–Dacono, for shrink-swell.
• Water gets in from the side. Synthetic Grass Warehouse’s columnist says runoff from outside a green often seeps in below it and causes settling and depressions. The column lists frost heave, poor compaction, leaky irrigation and poor subsurface soil among the reasons greens fail, and recommends a compacted rock base at least 6 inches deep, shaped on top with finer 3/8-inch minus.
• The base has to be firm and even before the turf goes on. PolyTurf’s manual says ground that moves under turf creates “humps and valleys,” and Shaw’s installation guidelines call for compacting to 95% or more so the base is smooth and firm, with no bumps under the turf.

On a quote, that means asking how deep the base goes on your soil, how it is compacted, and where water from sprinklers, downspouts and the rest of the yard goes instead of under the landing area. For contours, see a putting green on a slope.

04Do chips play differently in a Northern Colorado winter?

Expect them to. The nearest NOAA station, Fort Collins, averages 150 nights a year at or below 32°F, and on about 135 of those days the afternoon warms back above freezing. Loveland 2N (about 154 such days), Longmont 2 ESE (about 159) and Greeley UNC (about 134) are much the same. SIS Pitches, which builds synthetic sports surfaces, says the shock absorption of frozen synthetic turf is “substantially reduced.”

What that likely means on a green, as an inference rather than a measured test: a chip that checks up in July can bounce higher and run out further on a frozen January morning, then behave differently again once the afternoon sun thaws the top.

• Chip on thawed afternoons if you want practice that matches summer. SIS also says frozen fibre is relatively brittle, so go easy on a green that is still frozen.
• Watch for standing water after a thaw. SIS says rain or a quick thaw can flood frozen turf, because the sand in the infill is still frozen; it drains once the infill thaws.
• Check the landing area in spring. Synthetic Grass Warehouse recommends replenishing infill and rolling putting greens in spring after snow and winter weather. Frost heave is on its list of how greens fail, so spring is also when new humps show.

05What should I ask an installer about a chipping green?

What goes into a quote is in our guide to artificial turf cost, and the green itself is on our putting greens page.