There is now no reason to miss a practice putting session with the increasing prevalence of putting greens that have been installed in indoor facilities. You can take the trip to a local practice green no matter whether it’s baking hot or freezing cold or if it’s pouring with rain. You can be assured that the conditions for practice will still be ideal.

The fact is that natural grass greens, those targets on the golf course, have been manicured to within an inch of their lives and as a result resemble carpets. This makes it such an ideal surface to replicate with artificial grass and is also the reason why the installation of artificial putting greens is on the rise.

Just because you’ve done your practice on artificial grass should not mean that you won’t get any benefit out of it. Golfers have been practicing their putting on their living room carpet for years. Giving them a more realistic practice putting carpet can only be an improvement.

These putting greens can be installed with swales and cambers to help with the uphill and downhill putts. They can also be made to whatever size you require or have room for.

It’s no wonder that the market for the supply and installation of these greens is getting ever more crowded. Demand is on the increase and that means there are more companies trying to get in on the action. You will have to make a choice of grass type when choosing your green but other than that the decision may come down to price so in that respect make sure you are buying from a reputable company.

Back in August 2009 there was an announcement that AstroTurf has entered into a partnership with the University of Tennessee to create the Center for Safer Athletic Fields. Together they will be running comparisons between natural grass and synthetic grass fields so that the number of injuries may be reduced and player performance be enhanced.

The study body is Located at the UT Institute of Agriculture¹s East Tennessee Research and Education Center in Knoxville and a variety of surfaces will be able to be studied in both cool and warm climate conditions. The field qualities involved in the study will range from professional sports standard fields through schools, public parks and recreation fields.

AstroTurf products will be compared against natural turfgrass systems with the performance of each monitored over time including the environmental impact of each system. This should lead to a method for the safety and performance of synthetic turf systems that can be more accurately measured.

Types of natural grass that will be involved in the study will include Kentucky Bluegrass and Bermuda grass and there will be mechanical and human studies performed on the grass to create real playing conditions.

As well as providing an effective training program for the students of the University of Tennessee it gives AstroTurf the opportunity to be seen to be taking an active role in ensuring that their product is as safe as it possibly can for athletes to use.

There are many different styles of garden that you can choose for your backyard and possibly one of the most difficult decisions that you will have to make is on the choice of exactly what style you are going to commit to. If you’re faced with a clean slate you can be overcome with indecision. The main thing though, when you have decided that you’re going to put in formal gardens or rock gardens or a native garden that you then stick with that commitment.

Planning is an important step and is best put down on paper so that you can better visualize what you are going to do. Not only the plantings have to be illustrated but the boundaries of the garden beds, features in the yard and any extras such as garden sheds, birdbaths, sundials, a pool or anything else that will affect the layout.

There will inevitably be a lot to consider but then, designing and constructing an entire backyard is a major project and for some people it’s a lifetime of work. The payoff is a yard that gives you pleasure to sit in and enjoy as well as a sense of accomplishment that is usually reward enough.

With mandatory water restrictions all over the country, are we mad to strive for green lawns? Isn’t a green lawn merely a symbol of our own excessively wasteful lifestyles? There are some types of grass that will brown after the slightest bit of distress through becoming overly thirsty while others will show a little more hardiness and tough it out.

The problem is, all grass requires water and a lot of it over the drier summer months. Many people see brown grass as an unsightly blight on the landscape and so will be content to pout hundreds of gallons of water into the ground for their little darlings to lap up and return their bounty of green.

There are many different types of grass, some of them are suitable to dry conditions and others are not. Pick the wrong type and you’re going to stuck with a field of brown instead of green.

Perhaps it’s time to accept that a green front lawn is not the be all and end all of an attractive front yard. Or perhaps green is the color to aim for, but a natural grass is not necessarily the way to achieve it. Nowadays there are some very realistic artificial grass products available and if it means saving a heap of water to do it, then perhaps the artificial way forward makes a lot of sense.

So should we care about green grass or is it something that has been bred into us and we accept it as the only way to surround our homes.

Another kind of synthetic grass on the market that is gaining a foothold is a product marketed as MagicTurf Artificial Grass. This particular product is made from polyethylene 12800 and monofilament. It is a soft-feel artificial grass that has been made to reduce the possibility of skin burn if sliding across it.

This is a product that is currently marketed in Australia and has been installed in a few sites in Victoria. According to the company it has passed an aging test that has simulated a period of 8,000 hours exposure to east African climatic conditions. The company behind MagicTurf is the Chinese artificial turf company Greener Turf Co.

This is another product that has been given a multifunctional role as it is recommended for use in landscaping, football and soccer fields. No information was found about the infill that is used with this type of artificial turf, although a news article reporting an installation in a Werribee yard explains that the grass has a combination of sand and rubber granules brushed into it.