A 10-step guide to a garden putting green.

Building a green that truly rolls is engineering, not carpet-laying. These ten steps are the same process behind our landmark work, scaled to a home garden.

1. Choose the site

Pick a spot with reasonable sun and drainage and enough room for a run-up. Even a compact corner can hold a two- or three-cup practice green.

2. Design the green

Decide the shape, the number of cups, and where the breaks and tiers go. This is where a green is won or lost; we preview contours in 3D before a spade goes in.

3. Excavate the base

Dig out the turf and topsoil to depth so the finished green sits flush with the surrounding ground and has room for the sub-base.

4. Build a free-draining sub-base

Lay and compact crushed aggregate in layers. In Singapore this drainage-led base is what clears a monsoon downpour in seconds and stops the green ever sitting wet.

5. Shape the contours

Sculpt the humps, hollows and tiered pin areas into the base itself, so putts read genuine slope. Break is built in here, never faked in the turf.

6. Set the cups

Position regulation 4¼-inch (108 mm) cups on the flat, never mid-slope, with the rim sunk flush so nothing catches the ball.

7. Lay the putting turf

Roll out dedicated short-pile putting turf, cut it to the green’s shape, and join seams invisibly so the surface reads as one continuous green.

8. Dress with infill

Brush in rounded kiln-dried silica at a controlled depth. This weights the pile, holds green speed and keeps the roll true, plain building sand compacts and kills the roll.

9. Add the fringe

Frame the green with a longer, darker chipping fringe so you can practise chips and run-ups onto the surface, and to define the edge cleanly.

10. Tune the green speed

Brush and dress until the Stimpmeter reading matches how you want to practise, around 8–10 suits most home greens: quick and true without being punishing.

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