Here are the top questions we get about Tour Links
Please make sure to read through all of our FAQs before you call-in, most of the time you can find your question has already been answered and can save you some time on calling in.
For the Designer Greens with UltraBaseSystems panels. Once the panels are installed the turf is then stapled around the perimeter edge as is the fringe, but you never want to staple the turf directly into the panels. The whole idea is that the panels are moving in and out, the turf is moving and we don’t want to have a lock joint that would cause a wrinkle. Only fasten the turf around the perimeter edge, not anywhere in the body of the green.
What this means is that if you leave the gap when it gets hot in the summertime there’s room for it to move without the panels wanting to push and lift up. This is not an issue if the panels are going indoors because it’s never going to get that hot indoors. When you are outside and you are getting direct sun and heat. That’s when the gapping is most important.
On our UltraBaseSystems Designer Greens, it is a rubberized actual back nylon. A stimp around nine and a half to 10 and a half is typically what you will see on the Designer Greens.
On our Designer Greens, we have what’s called a regulation cup accessory. The regulation cup accessory allows us to utilize a four inch aluminum cup or even a six inch regulation cup to put a full flag in. The regulation cup accessory drops into our specifically designed panel and it allows you to use a deeper cup outside where you are able to excavate underneath where that cup is going to be.
What’s on the ground now, is it grass? Is it stone?
How does your area drain?
Is it flat, is it contoured?
All these things need to be taken into consideration. There is a level of ground preparation. You’re trying to create stability and you’re trying to create proper drainage. Now, if you’ve got an area where it’s relatively flat, that drains really well. It’s a matter of bringing in, maybe some fill material, creating some contours, like you’ve seen in some of the videos like we’ve done on the Ronald McDonald green and some others. But if you’re in a more difficult landscape and you’ve got to bring in material, or maybe even some cases build a retaining wall, to bring in some fill material to get to a level that works for you.
We want it to be compacted, hard, we want it to drain well, and we want it to be properly contoured or flat. Ultimately you will do far less ground preparation with a panel than you ever will in a traditional stone or rock and gravel base or a concrete base. It’s going to be far easier. But it really is going to depend upon what your existing environment looks like. Give us a call and we will be happy to discuss the proper ground preparation for your environment.
A UltraBaseSystems Designer Green, is going to arrive in by an LTL carrier. That’s why we always ask the questions, where do you live? Restricted community? Do we need a lift gate to get it off the truck? The turf is 15 foot long, and a lot of panels will go on pallets. It is essentially like having freight arrive to your house. Which means the delivery driver will not take it to your backyard for you. They are going to drop it for you at the driveway and your job is going to be to get it back to where it’s going to go. So keep that in mind.
Just imagine going through all this effort of building this great stone base and your kid comes out there and misses a putt and slams that putter into that base and now you’ve got a dent and you’ve got no way to get rid of it, unless you pull that carpet back and fix that base. With the UltraBase panel or a Tour Links panel, that’s not going to happen. You’ve got that solid base there that you can trust to stay perfect. So that’s why we’re so big on our panel base as compared to a stone base everyday.
You have the flexibility of having panels that are just going to go wall to wall, or you can use a foam transition to transition down to the floor because you don’t want to use a bump rail. You don’t want a trip zone. So you really have all these options. That’s why we designed it as a system that allows you to really maneuver it any way you want and create what you want. This is about you. This is your golf oasis. It has to be the way that you want it.
We have been the star of the PGA merchandise show probably since 2008. Before UltraBaseSyatems and Tour Links started, especially Tour Links, truckloads of stone would be brought into the Orange County convention center in Orlando, which hosts the largest golf show of the world, the PGA Merchandising Show. That’s how every company would build the greens that were there. Dumped the rock and stone spread it on the floor, brought in the turf, just like they were building it outside. When we showed up with Tour Links, everything changed. Now, when you walk that show, probably 95 percent or more of every putting green in that entire arena is on a Tour Links or an UltraBaseSyatems panel, mostly Tour Links because it’s a great indoor system.
This goes for all of the major club professionals, ball professionals, grip professionals. Do you think a major manufacturer, who’s getting ready to debut to the world their ball of the year and their putter of the year, do you think they’re going to build it or demonstrate it on a green that is not the best possible grading that money can buy? Of course not. It’s their debut. Every golf magazine, every media outlet is there to see what they’re doing this year. So they’ve selected us since 2008 to be the place that showcases their product because we roll and perform as close to a high quality country club putting green as anything out there ever designed in the world.
Designer Greens – A good crew can go out there and do it in a day. Give yourself a nice weekend project by the time you prepare the ground, get the panels installed, the turf, and the fringe. And remember that the panels are coming to you precut, the turfs precut, the fringe is precut. You’ve got your fabric, your cups, even staples. So we’ve made it very easy. You just have to provide the labor. So make a nice weekend project out of it and you should see that’s plenty of time to get your own backyard custom green done.
There are some great golf balls out there. And we’ll give a little shout out to Almost Golf ball. They fly great. They fly better than the whiffle ball, they hit that nylon turf, they’ll check up and back up. They’re great to hit in your backyard and if you shank it occasionally and hit the storm window where the plate glass window is it’s not going to break anything. Really fun to hit. A great thing to look at if you want to hit into a green.
Ultimately, if you’re trying to just hit long shots, you need to think about something. Do you want a putting green or do you want a target green? There are sandfill green companies out there that use and create bases out of stone and they also use us. But they put a lot of sand, maybe five, six pounds of sand and that’s how they hold shots, and they’re great. But if you’re just trying to do a putting green you really might not want that much sand especially if you’re doing it yourself. So think about that. Do you want a putting green or do you want a chipping green and you have to make those decisions about the infill amount.
UltraBaseSystems panels do, there are drain holes all over the panels and liquid can drain through and under, they move water very rapidly.
Tour Links wasn’t designed really from the beginning to be outside. We figured it would just be used for making indoor putting greens and that would be enough, 20 years ago, that was the idea. Now it’s totally different, but they do drain very well through the seams on the panels. Then the water will leak out underneath of the panel and then either go into the ground or leak out if say you’re building on a rooftop.
Moving outside on a Designer Green. In time, you may see a little mold buildup or some dirt or leaves. Blow it off with a leaf blower, don’t take it right down to the surface because you could wind up blowing your infill out. A couple times a year, go in there and pressure wash it. Use a 40 degree tip don’t blast it, stand back with the pressure washer two, three feet, and it works wonders. Use a mild solution of Simple Green or similar cleaner, that works well as a detergent to wash it down and then pressure wash it down. You might need to add some sand to an outdoor green every couple of years just to fluff it out. But they are pretty easy to maintain.