Jraallen

Ordered a 3x5 rawhide mat to replace the 5x5 gosports in the net area, then going to take the 2 5x5 mats and cut them up to make a little fringe area on the front corner mentioned above.. or.. I briefly talked to a local turf installer about possibly getting some scrap leftovers which seems like a possibility once I know how much I’d need. Went down a huge rabbit hole researching turf bunkers.. very cool but not gonna happen as the cost is just too high.. materials/install are one thing, but broken windows are where they get ya. I do have one of those dual height bristle mats at least for hitting at the net so it’s something. planning to do a big cleanup over the next couple days and finally get a good idea of what the space will look like and how I want to do the chipping areas and what I want to do/could do for filling in empty space somewhat tastefully. ohh and some pokemon garden statues arrived, so those will be hiding in the bushes. Goes without saying the cost of those will be added to the strictly necessary part of the budget

This is with the 15mm go sports out in front of the net (old better version I guess) which is certainly better than the other el cheapo I have (seen in second pic near the rust barrel thing), but I recently ordered some used (“professional” outdoor) rawhide range mats (seen chopped up in pic 2) certainly can’t speak to the buddy mentioned above as I haven’t used his mats, but will say the rawhide ones (and likely the ones mentioned above) are muuuuuuch better than the gosports despite these examples being used and “b quality”, especially for chipping. It’s hard to describe but they just feel more natural, less tight, they hold more water but spreads it out and drains better so they pool less even if they may be more damp, and definitely less impacted by unevenness underneath since they’re thick backing. It was definitively an ohh.. wow.. I didn’t know what I was missing moment. Will prob order more if I see some half decent sales but not this second edit: about 10 seconds after saying I wouldn’t order another one this second.. I ordered a 3x5 from the rawhide golf place I got the strips from. Will swap the 5x5 in front of the net out and replace with the 3x5 rawhide I just ordered. Then rather than buying fringe turf for the green, which I was about to do later today.. I figure I’ll just cut up both 5x5’s and use those as the fringe. The fringe is going to be like 99% decorative anyway so it should work out nicely.

I’m in my early 30’s so biased towards a lot of the pop punk type stuff of the era, but fall out boy, from under the cork tree is still a favorite. And well.. have to be careful what I say here.. or anywhere.. but there was this band we’ve collectively agreed as a society were not allowed to admit to liking that had 3 pretty darn good albums during that time frame.

Not an aficionado in any way but I’ve been for the most part… maintaining this humidor since I got it in like 2012. Haven’t smoked any in forever but just can’t bring myself to get rid of it. also objectively not a good pick at all but.. avanti anisette cigars were what my grandfather who taught be to golf used to smoke so they hold a special place for me.

I had one pair a full size down and then got another .5 size down at a later time. I can wear both but the .5 size down is my preference ,I still wear the full size down ones but mostly when only playing 9. The full size is however totally wearable and as you said just snug, but i don’t find them as comfortable. for reference the full size down were the original wolf grey, the half size down were the treated white with gum bottoms. I’m not sure if they made any sizing adjustments between those two releases

Some of you may have noticed how inactive I’ve been in this thread which is I know.. so very strange.. considering my propensity for buying dumb stuff..well that’s cause I’ve been working on this, a combination of a lot of recent purchases that wouldn’t have made sense posting individually. not done yet but functioning.

Originally there was no plan for a fringe but were toying with the idea of a cheap cheap fringe just to place on the 2 yard facing sides and off the corner rather than using larger river round stone but gotta look into that more. we did end up ordering more DG so cost is now 8 bags of DG instead of 4, we used 3 yds of crushed stone not 1, but obviously some was for decorative purposes so not strictly necessary. Still planning to break everything down in the end by bare minimum, bare minimum plus tools most people we need to buy or that will make things easier overall, and then a third section for decorative/extras… even with the extra 200$ or so in dg and 185 or so in 3/8 (if you call ALL of it necessary) I’m pretty sure the all in on necessary is still around low-mid 2k. It’s was all the fun extras and the cantilever umbrella/base for the hitting mat/fire pit that really caused the total to jump.

IMG_0941.mov IMG_0886.mov Glow balls feel super dead when you hit them but they’re fun to watch

Added some stone to the fire pit area but still have a little extra in case. Added mulch and pavers to the back end. Filled in the 2 low points that were identified and re rolled/ re pinned the turf. Doing another round of marking the highs and lows and making notes of what areas roll weird and then it’s time to spread the DG and really smooth it out. definitely rolls a little off due to the 3/8 not having a top dressing, and still shifts even with packing but that should get much better once the Dg fills in all the cracks limiting movement and smoothing the surface. And then.. the infill which I’m pumped for since it’s already holding decent

Glow balls are fun

The flop from hitting net square to green is so hard, the other spots are pretty chill though. Been messing around all week just finding the spots that are weird. It’s not too bad actually, front right and left are both low but I can either just remove a little in the front center to make it a bit of a slope or fill in and it’ll be fine. Still have maybe 1/3-1/2 a yard of crushed gravel I can use to level or finish up the bath behind (also grabbed a few pavers) and have 8 bags of DG for making a nice flat surface once I’m ready. No rush currently, still chilling on it. and no I haven’t tried to flop from the front yard over the house yet

Trimmed the geogrid and added another thin layer of gravel. Geogrid is now barely visible, covered, or in one or two spots around the edges still showing a touch but I’m not too concerned with the edges at this moment. re rolled out the turf stretching it as much as I could by hand, for the final install I have a carpet stretcher but no need to use that yet. going to use it as is for the next week or so and make notes of areas that feel low/high or contours that seem unnatural. Also expecting some rain this week so it might help identify any small pits. Once I feel confident in testing I’ll roll it back up, start spreading DG, and get ready for the final install… and then comes all the “extras” to make it all look nice.

Put down the extra geogrid but will cut it at the point where the ramp starts so that it doesn’t cause water to pool and then taper the stone towards the yard. filled it and flattened, then rolled the turf out just to get an idea of how things will play out. so far so good. tomorrow I’m planning to cut the geogrid and taper the stone, then lay out some line levels to make sure the point where it meets the yard and currently has a little ramp ends up being the low point. Then will fill in the rest of the area (need to fully cover the geogrid as right now maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch is still exposed). once that’s done I’ll roll the turf out again and just stake the corners and mess around on it for some time to get a feel for if there’s any issues, or things to adjust before doing the final top coat of paver base/paver sand and DG. But it is starting to come along and actually look like something besides dirt square so that’s good.