Your guide to understanding how aim works on artificial turf.
Putting Baseline
Putting is a critical stroke in the game of golf, as it can considerably change a player’s outcome in a single round. Any putting surface, natural or artificial, has key playability parameters that decide the “putting quality” of such a surface. Bounce, spin, trueness, speed, aim, firmness, and consistency are some of the key attributes that affect “putting quality”.
To secure our synthetic turf greens putted similar to natural greens we generated standardized testing methods to evaluate both natural and synthetic putting greens. These testing methods help give you the country club golf course experience at your own backyard putting green.
The Putting Green Assessment Tool is designed to objectively measure the effect of different surfaces on the golf ball. The method is automated in such a way that it eliminates the human interference and variability. For example, a human requested to putt 10 times will likely create 10 different shots. It uses a simple device equipped with a free swinging putter to frequently reproduce identical ball strokes for the putting motion, and two launching mechanisms that apply backspin to the ball from ground level and from 2ft from the ground. The device generates data related to ball strike, spin, bounce, and aim. Other tests used in the protocol are common to most in the golf industry: speed and firmness(Stimpmeter and TruFirm).
This method can be used to:
1. Establish a base level for model playability of putting greens using natural grass greens at the highest level;
2. Benchmark playability of a notable course vs. the baseline;
3. Benchmark the playability of an artificial putting system vs. natural green;
4. Generate product comparison data and advance product development intentionally to achieve a specific target.
How Turf Affects Aim
Aim is a significant skill you have to practice to get the shot accurate every time, but did you know that the value of the turf you’re on plays a role, too? Here are the few things that affect how the ball reacts when you’ve taken your swing and the ball hits the turf:
Turf Stiffness
The rigidity of the turf alters how the golf ball will move throughout the putt, if the fiber is not optimized for putting particularly it can give you erratic ball movement while rolling ”chatter.”
Friction Properties
Friction properties between the ball and the turf also largely influence how the ball slides and rolls. If putting surface friction is not optimized it will not correctly transition the club face and spin will form a bouncing effect instead of a smooth roll.
Pile Lay
A natural green is rolled to assure the fibers are not standing upright. Correctly infilled putting greens will simulate natural rolled greens and avoid grain irregularities.
To test aim and surface variation; we measured the relative variation of standardized putts on a number of miscellaneous putting surfaces (bermuda, bent, nylon synthetic, polyethylene synthetic, and polypropylene synthetic)
The Southwest Greens Difference
Having a high value turf will provide you the confidence to know the ball will react the way it is supposed to. The kind of turf will certainly affect your shot. The accuracy of the turf lets the aim be as accurate as possible, and you can now have this on your property with our fan-favorite Golden Bear Turf.
Golden Bear Turf’s aim is scientifically developed and tested to go toe-to-toe with pro-quality putting greens. Shot after shot and putt after putt, Golden Bear has the closest perimeter and the best aim of any putting surface. For pro-level consistency, it’s hands down the top synthetic green for putting aim on the market.