Colorado Custom Greens, The Birth of the Turf of the Millennium

The Birth of the "Turf of the Millennium"

The Mirage Turf System was introduced in September 1998 by Dale G. Potts. An avid golfer himself, Dale moved from the Midwest to Scottsdale, Arizona, where the weather permitted him to enjoy this sport virtually year round. Shortly after the move, Dale installed a real "bent-grass" putting green in his own backyard.

"I thought my real grass putting green would be maintenance-free. Little did I realize that I would have to mow it 4 to 5 times a week, buy a special 'tiff blade' mower, aerate the green, overseed it once a year, and constantly spread it with different types of chemicals. It was a real nightmare! Because of the high maintenance, what I really needed was a full-time greenskeeper!"

After about a year of fighting the maintenance of his real bent-grass putting green, Dale decided to remove it and install a synthetic putting green in his backyard.

The turf material available at that time was all based on the same premise - they all needed deep layers of sand and top dressing to make the fibers stand upright. It didn't take long before he became frustrated with certain "quirks" associated with his new synthetic putting green:

	It required an extensive amount of sand fill, which created a very fast and erratic putting surface.
	It was hard to control the ball speed, sometimes causing the ball to skip or hop.
	Deep sand-filled putting surfaces are very labor-intensive and very expensive.
	This particular synthetic turf required periodic broom sweeping to help the fibers stand upright and keep the sand level.
	Over time, it became difficult to keep the fibers standing upright and the surface simply became too fast - it was essentially like putting on sand!
	Because deep sand-filled turf has a grain, the ball does not roll the same in all directions.
	Aesthetically, single-color synthetic surfaces were less-natural-looking, almost fake-looking, because the fibers were all one shinny color. (A real green is not perfect in color. Natural grass blades are different shades of green.)

After several months of research, Dale developed the Mirage Turf System. The Mirage Turf System consists of a synthetic turf that is made of polypropylene and nylon, textured, multi-color fibers that have been naturally bent to create a real bent-grass look. The fibers stand up naturally and do not require any sand in-fill to help them stand up or make the putting surface smooth. The spring-set, textured fibers of this new turf have been designed to spring or "bounce back", thus creating a soft, spongy surface making it realistic to chip onto.

The Mirage Turf System, which is what we use at Colorado Custom Greens, does not require deep sand in-fill to create proper ball-speed (our Tour-Putt product has Stimp meter readings comparable to PGA greens). Not only does the Mirage Turf look and perform more like a bent-grass putting green, it also costs less, because the installation process is not nearly as time-consuming. It is not just the turf material that makes up a professional synthetic putting green.. it is the process or system of the finished product. Thus, came the birth of the Mirage Turf Putting Green System!

The Mirage Turf System is most affordable, realistic,
best-performing, multi-color, bent-grass putting surface in the world.

All Mirage Putting Green Systems are installed exclusively by M.P.G.A. certified and trained installers. All installed turf systems conform to M.P.G.A. standards. M.P.G.A. members are professionally trained and certified by Mirage Putting Greens International, Inc. in the technologies and installation of the Mirage Synthetic Turf System. Rigorous training, testing and ongoing seminars assures that Mirage Putting Green Dealers are qualified, from site selection, to base preparation, to turf sculpturing, to proper seaming, to proper roll & ball speed, thus assuring "The World's Most Realistic Synthetic Putting Surface."