Synthetic Turf: unreal potential

Artificial turf has come a long way since football and baseball fields were little more than green rugs glued to concrete, and mats at golf driving ranges were so worn down that every shot sent a shock through a player’s wrists.

The commercial application of the latest innovations in synthetic turf has become especially successful for a Ponte Vedra Beach company, TourTurf. Launched in 2001 by former PGA Tour executives Michael Starks and Josh LeMaster, TourTurf has exploded from $800,000 in revenue its first year to a projected $6 million for 2004.

Tiger Woods has TourTurf putting greens in the backyard of his Isleworth home. So does Arnold Palmer, who also had TourTurf install a practice green at his Bay Hill Club in Orlando. John Cook, Jerry Kelly and Billy Andrade are other PGA Tour players with TourTurf putting greens.

Former President George Bush has TourTurf putting greens at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, ME., and was seen on national television putting on them with Matt Lauer of The Today Show.

On the First Coast, the Ponte Vedra Club, Long Point, the Plantation at Ponte Vedra and the Golf Club of Amelia Island have TourTurf grass on their practice areas. TourTurf will install a golf practice facility and multi-purpose fields at the Mayport Elementary School, in a joint project with the PGA Tour; and a putting course at the Sawgrass Marriott.

The company has also reached licensing agreements with the PGA Tour and Palmer Course Design which means, among other things, a homeowner can have a replica green from any Arnold Palmer-designed course used for a Tour event installed in his backyard.

Already, there is discussion about an entire golf course carpeted by TourTurf. A developer in Colorado is considering a nine-hole course with TourTurf from tee to green. The estimated cost is about $2.5 million, but the savings in maintenance can only be imagined, said Starks.

“No watering, no chemicals, no pesticides,” he said. “You'd maintain it with a tractor that has brushes instead of blades. People concerned about the run-off of chemicals, I think would embrace a golf course made of TourTurf. Out west, in places such as Las Vegas and Arizona where there are very serious problems involving water shortages, the possibilities are very exciting.”

“Arnold took a look at the product and said: ‘I think we’ve got something here,’” said Palmer Course Design CEO Ed Seay of the King's take on what may be a golf-course wave of the future. “The potential is unlimited.”

TourTurf has the exclusive rights to market the FieldTurf brand of artificial surface for commercial golf and residential applications. FieldTurf is used by the Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, and the Seahawks’ surface was recently voted the third-best of any NFL field by the players association. The Jaguars also have a practice field made of FieldTurf.

Starks said the surface differs from Astroturf or other nylon surfaces because of new innovations in the synthetic blades of grass that result in less wear over a longer period of time. TourTurf guarantees its surfaces for seven years, then for another four after scheduled maintenance. Early estimates are that with normal wear, the surfaces for golf can last up to 15 years.

The original patent was developed by the late Fred Haas, the uncle of PGA Tour player Jay Haas. FieldTurf purchased the technology in the 1980s and refined it further. Simply put, the individual blades of polypropylene grass are more flexible.

“Nylon grass fibers stand up all the time,” Starks said. “With the polypropylene, you can use a roller to bend them over and make a green faster, or use a brush to get them to stand back up again and make them slower.”

As a result, an individual can actually get the surface to roll as fast as the greens at the Augusta National Golf Club. Starks also said approach shots to the greens will hold and spin.

The fibers are filled with a combination of sand and rubber, giving a player hitting a full shot off the surface more of a feel of hitting off real grass.

“We’ve had some members or guests hit off our range and not realize at first that it was an artificial surface,” said Ponte Vedra Club director of golf Jim Howard.

Starks said the surface is playable when wet, isn't affected by extremes of temperature and is resistent to damage by golf carts. Another advantage, especially during hot weather, is that the surface can be installed in shade, under cover or indoors, unlike grass, which needs sunlight to survive.

TourTurf surfaces aren’t cheap. The smallest green they will install is 800 square feet, and costs around $16,000. Price structures vary for larger surface areas.

Developing an entire, 18-hole golf course in nothing but synthetic turf is still some distance in the future. But Starks said the product may intrigue golfers.

“There won't be any divots, burned-out patches of grass or aerified greens,” he said. “Really, you'd never have a bad lie.”

But would the United States Golf Association recognized scores from such a course for handicaps, or sanction a tournament?

“The rules don't address synthetic surfaces at this point,” said John Morrisette of the USGA rules department. “The issue of never having a bad lie or a divot is something we'd have to talk about. Luck, both good and bad, should always be part of the game.”

However, Morrisette wouldn't rule out the prospect that the USGA would recognize scores shot on artificial surfaces.

“It's something we would discuss, but right now, I don't think anyone [at the USGA] is opposed to it,” he said.

Garry Smits
The Florida Times-Union
Sunday, June 06, 2004