Hacker's Puttgarden

We have built 5 greens since 1990. They were all named by my son, Phil. Starting at 2 he coined the name Puttgarden. The Hacker's Puttgarden, built in 1992 was the second one we started. As time went on Phil named the rest of the greens. The "Hacker's Puttgarden" was appropriately named as a combination of  Puttgarden and the thought that Dad was a hacker.

The Hacker's Puttgarden in April, 2001,  with a fine set of double cut stripes, showing the difference almost a decade of TLC can make.	Mid way through construction the collar and approach had grown in while we installed the putting surface and bunkers.	Pea gravel drainage  was covered with landscaping fabric, then soil mixture on the green and white limestone trap sand in the bunkers.	Finally the entire putting surface was covered, graded and seeded. "Hey Dad. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Can we have some fun now"?

 

Puttgarden	Temporary Green	Hacker's Puttgarden	New Green	The Biggie

 

Green	Name	The Whole Story
1	Puttgarden	Our first green was "The Hacker's Puttgarden", locate right in front of the house. We just finished building the house and were looking for just the right landscaping to put in front. A putting green seemed like just the thing we needed. We built retaining walls to give a level surface and blend with the surrounding shrub beds. Then installed a drainage field of perforated plastic pipe covered with 4" of pea gravel, a layer of landscaping fabric, then 6 inches of a soil mixture made of 3 parts sand, 1 part topsoil and 1 part peat moss. This ~1000 sq. ft. kidney shaped green was great for putting practice but not so great for chipping. A few broken windows later we decided to build one out in the yard, away from the house.
2	Hacker's Puttgarden	There was a place in the yard for a 50 yard shot into an ~1000 sq. ft. green.  It was on the side of small hill away from the house. We started by low mowing an area in the lawn and topdressing to make a push up green . After getting it established and the ball rolling well we realizing the grade was too steep and breaks too severe. We decided to go ahead and contour the green into the hillside. This was much more work than making a pushup and meant destroying the green we built to pitch to. So as not to lose that feature we built the Temporary Green out in a flatter part of the yard.
3	Temporary Green	The "Temporary Green" was built as just that - a temporary green to practice pitching to while the new Hacker's Puttgarden was under construction. We marked out a 30 foot diameter circle, mowed it low and applied topdressing, seed and water. After many layers of topdressing and over seeding, a fine bent grass covered surface was established. Although intended to be temporary this green exhibits some unique character and has remained
4	New Green	The New Green was the first real "golf hole" we built. The Hacker's Puttgarden, although great for chipping practice was a small target and only a 60 yard shot at best. This NEW green was much larger (~3000 sq. ft.) and a longer shot (110 yd.) It was built to near USGA standards with a pea gravel filled drain field and 12 inches of soil mixture. It was the next green built shortly after we began naming them, hence the name "New Green".
5	The Biggie	The Biggie is the "biggest" golf hole on the property. It was the last one built and has ~5000 sq. ft. of putting surface and is an 180 yd. shot from the men's tees. Ladies yardage is ~160.  It too was built to near USGA standards and incorporates large stone retaining walls. These make for interesting elevation changes (and putting breaks) and 2 large unique greenside bunkers.