Video: Touring Dave Pelz's Backyard

Dave Pelz opened up his backdoors for HGTV's Million Dollar Rooms to show off his backyard, that includes a replica of the TPC Sawgrass' 17th hole. Thanks to reader Burke for this.

The video:

Comments

[digsouth]

Nice! Of note is that Lance Armstrong live out that way somewhere. My middle daughter's boyfriend's parents (everybody got that?) and neighbors had a big time dispute with Armstrong, and some water/environmental issues...resolved a couple of years back now.

Pretty doggone nice fake grass at the Pelz place.

[rick1v]

ok, I'm not the biggest Pelz fan (he once told a golfing buddy of mine, who went to one of his schools, that he had a nice swing. note, this dude has one of the most horrid swings ever, hmm.), BUT that is an amazing back yard.

[Jim S]

I am very happy that it's made from artificial grass. That's the right decision for an arid climate like Texas.

[KLG]

If the practice surface makes it impossible to lay the sod over the ball, how useful can it be, especially for the short game?

[DTF]

That video is inappropriate and should be embargoed. Imagine how something like that makes people who only make $57,400 per year feel.

Having said all that.....awesome!

Ky, I used to really abhor practicing off mats but I've come to love it. Two things changed my mind...(i) one day I was bitching about mats and my buddy said "you know I practiced off a mat indoors all winter every winter and still managed to win the Ohio State Amateur", and (ii) after living up north long enough and being faced with them at even the finest clubs like Baltusrol and GCGC, I learned that pre-round they can be a great confidence builder and really allow you to zero in on some decent tempo pretty easily!

(or should I say less likely to destroy confidence than poor turf conditions that a lot of ranges present)

[KLG]

Del: Sounds good to me. I'll try them next time I'm out.

[AG]

My artificial turf sales are on the upswing in my landscape business. The stuff is improving all the time. Once we put one down the neighbors flock. We feature SynLawn FWIW.

[RLL]

Anyone thinking of forking out for artificial turf because it's "maintenence free" is in for an exhausting and/or expensive surprise... I'd like to know what the annual budget is for the "not maintenence" of Mr Pelz's backyard...

[AG]

Maintenance is primarily cleaning and grooming. Blow, vacuum, or sweep. Some turf has tiny pellets to help the blades stand up. That's the small cloud you see fly up in some stadiums. That has to be replenished. Ours comes in three different lengths and a putting surface. Surface prep and installation is typically about $85 - $100/ sg. ft. So, as RLL says, not cheap.

[RLL]

Plus after it's there, it needs constant back straining raking to keep the "grass" standing up straight or even close to the way it was installed. If you have a lot of foot traffic (or kids) anywhere near it, expect it to be utterly flattened. So unless you have a Pelz-like "staff," you're gonna be doing a lot of "working out" before you pull a single golf club from your bag. Not to mention the odd things like any neighborhood cats within a mile of your yard turning your bunkers into their own personal (i.e., marked) outdoor litter box... And if you have anything like raccoons, they just LOVE to pull their claws across it -- preferably right next to one or all the cups on your green... and you don't just tap that down afterward like a ball divot either... And then be sure you have liability insurance in case a neighbor's toddler runs barefoot across any of it at high summer's heat -- the surface temperature can quickly get above 120-deg, and you find out fast that dark green plastic grass burns human (and/or animal) skin. In fact, I would wager that where Pelz is, he can only venture out into the center of his heat bowl at or near sunrise. (It holds the heat for a good while after dark, too...) In fact, his assembly must be like a gigantic cooker waiting for the naive to step onto it without a canteen or Gatorade nearby... Either that or he's happy fishing golf balls out of his TP Sawgrass #17 even if only to cool off for a spell...

But hey, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love mine! It's where you'll find me perfecting my 64* lob shot and the rest of my short game almost every weekend. And the maintenence is great conditioning -- especially when it gets your heart rate up right before you practice those Augusta-like slippery putts...

;=]

[AG]

Most of our installations aren't Pelzian in size! 400-600 sq. ft. average. It works very well in transition areas where it's tough to grow grass and maintenance is manageable. It's -17 deg. here now. Grass dormant.

[fyg]

Roughly 15 years ago, I heard Pelz pontificate that if Nicklaus would just lose some weight he would become the world's #1 golfer again. At the time, Nicklaus was at least 55, probably edging towards 60.

I never paid any attention to Peltz after that.