Golf forum

I have just spent the morning laying 30m2 of turf having spent last weekend and evenings this past week digging, stamping, raking, rolling, raking, fettling and watering.

Any expectations I may have had regarding the flatness of my new lawn have lowered.

It has demonstrated to me how chuffing difficult it must be to build and maintain a green to the quality that we all take for granted avery week.  Even the worst greens I have played will be streeets better than my rolling english countryside lawn.

I appreaciate my lawn is not constructed to USPGA or any other standard but hats off to you guys..

It would have been relatively easy to have a lawn equal to, if not better than any USGA spec, if you had purchased the finest quality turf in the first place. 

Bents and fescue grass is what is required but I expect your turf will consist mainly of ryegrass and will constantly need cutting.

I had a lovely lawn in London and I used to cut every other day during the growing season and I used to be able to putt on it and also play bowls, it was that good.

I am not a lover of USGA spec greens at all, give me the old fashioned ones with real grass.

Just seems a pity that an opportunity to have the perfect lawn is lost, but I do understand that you need a hardwearing lawn with children running around on it.

Getting it flat may be time consuming, but well worth the effort in the long run.

Build them a sandpit and practice your bunker shots.

I'll give you a tip Stuart....

Lay it green side up......you tosspot

John, what a ridiculous piece of advice! Why can't you be sensible like my good friend David?

I've layed plenty of lawns in my time. The most important piece of advice I can give is ensure the base is well rotovated. If your using existing topsoil, give it 2/3 weeks to settle, were you will find the weather will do a lot of the levelling.Don't be afraid to lay on a mix of grit/ash/soil, which will aid drainage. Strange but true, is that that one of my best lawns was layed on a sub base of crushed rubble. Once layed, " the wetter, the better", as the best lawns tend to be the ones that have had the most water on during the 1st month.

 If you are not prepared to water regularly,don't be afraid to lay a lawn in the autumn, as long as you can keep off it until the spring and it does not get covered in leaves.

Finally, cut the new turf as long as possible for the 1st 6 months, to protect the root system, and use a decent mower.

Generally, I stick to the standard grades of turf, which look fine if maintained. It seems pointless paying more if there is trampolines and the like going on the surface and a major cause of poor lawns is poor maintenance.

Good luck