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Once again, our staff at Pointed Magazine is dedicated to bringing its readers the hottest products for 2006. We have found another product as part of our home restoration project in the Player Turf synthetic grass that we will use to replace the existing grass in the backyard of our project home that refused to grow anything but a bunch of weeds.To many homeowners finding the right combinations for a perfect lawn is one of the most difficult chores to do around the home. Whether you choose a lawn care company to stop by monthly or you are a “Do It Yourselfer” and think that a bag of fertilizer, water and a perfect lawnmower will save the day… well we have the answer for both… No mowing, no watering and no monthly bills with synthetic grass. Just look out your window and the grass always looks freshly cut and greener than you ever imagined.
With many courses using synthetic turf for their practice areas and homeowners opting for the “no mow” lawn, Pointed Magazine decided to review one of the leading professionals in the industry in Players Turf.
Players Turf, based just outside of Chicago in Chillicothe, Illinois has designed some of the largest project such as indoor stadiums to the smallest of projects back yards of golf lovers nationwide.
The Players Turf product has not only become so well known, it is being endorsed by many of the PGA touring pro’s in their own home. Both Fuzzy Zoeller and John Daly have endorsed the product and players turf has designed several nine hole practice course and even a 27 hole course in North Carolina.. all with synthetic grass.
“Players Turf synthetic grass looks, feels and performs like the real thing. It feels like real grass. It reacts like real grass, said John Daly after experiencing the turf for himself.
Our project may not have been anywhere near Daly’s but we needed to start by removing two ten foot sections of dead turf and weeded area for placement of the Players Turf. We had already landscaped the area around a removable putting green supplied to our staff earlier in the year, but we wanted to see what the hype was like and have one of our staff members work with the Players Turf staff to see the difficulty of their projects.
When the Players Turf employee arrived at our renovation project, we initially saw a roll of turf and wondered how this was going to look after it was laid and put in place… We were amazed at the end of the eight hour work day.
While some people will not see the value in the synthetic grass process, just imagine the small amount of maintenance that is required to take care of the grass versus regular lawn maintenance. The numbers widely favor the synthetic turf option.
The first process in our installation process was to remove all of the old sod and dirt layer under the sod. This might have been the most tiring process of the installation process. We highly suggest having this done prior to the arrival of the Players Turf staff, as it will aid in the turnaround time of the job. If you are unable to remove the old grass in your yard, they will be more than happy to do it for you as part of the installation process.
After the grass was removed from installation area, it was time to lay the bluestone and sand combination to give the synthetic grass a sound area to properly lay flat. Once the area was raked it was time to lay the turf in place.
According to the installer, the hardest part of any of these jobs is installing the turf around flower boxes, patio areas and bricks. Our area has just a small brick patio surrounded by wooden landscape timbers, so this made for a simple install process and the turf only needed to be seamed in one area.
Once the cutting of the turf took place, the only process that remained while the seam dried was to start the quartz/sand infill process.
During the infill process, the use of the sand will begin to allow the fibers to stick up and give that realistic fresh cut grass look. We used a light shower over the turf to clean away the dust from the sanding infill process. Not only will the sand allow for the fibers to stick up, but it will hold the turf down in place. You can also drive stakes into the ground if you feel that it will tighten the turf in certain areas.
One of the best features of the Players Turf product is the ability to brush the turf to make the fibers return to an erect state to continue the fresh cut look.
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