Science of green keeping

Greens are completely unnatural and need constant close care.
Weekly sanding
Rolling
Feeding
Disease control
Spoon feeding particular nutrients

Very few public courses can afford complete care. In fact, the majority of private courses can’t either.

Inundating rains can destroy months of good work.
Just the way it is.

That is kind what a figured.

The best golf courses in the world are in the desert!

Computer program has 26 recorded days of rain totaling 14 inches since August 1 on my course. It’s a quagmire out there!

Is there any movement toward doing artificial grass like they’ve done with football?

I believe the issue is heat in summer and ones that putt well don't hold a shot well and ones that hold a shot well don't putt well.

I think they could figure out some of that shot stuff but not the heat factor.

Plus the upfront investment.

Daily maintenance is manageable and way easier than real greens plus no chemicals and water to worry with.

If they figure out the shot/putt stuff I could see courses with cooler temps considering it.

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People have backyard artificial greens that are nice, but have very limited traffic and are easy to maintain.
On a much larger scale, their still needs to be maintenance performed daily to keep the surface smooth.
Even putt-putt courses have a hard time maintaining their surfaces.

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pretty sure it's basically impossible to check a ball up on an artificial green. They're fine for putting, but hitting shots into them not so much. You'd have to have taller artificial turf to hold balls on the green, and that would obviously not be conducive to putting on the same green. They also wouldn't be cost effective.

And like you said, those turf greens would get beat to hell very quickly, and you can't just regrow turf like you can grass.

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Only two architects predict that a full 18-hole course made of artificial turf will be built sometime in the next 10 years. Most feel the tremendous cost of synthetic materials would not be recouped by savings in water and chemicals because of the short shelf life of synthetics. Others, like Kansas City architect Todd Clark and his associate Brent Hugo, are unsatisfied with the performance of artificial turf on several par-3 courses they’ve built. “The greens that putt well won’t hold a shot,” Hugo says, “while if we add enough resilience to hold shots, they putt erratically.”

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golfdigest.com/story/a-full-18-hole-course-of-synthetic-turf-we-surveyed-20-course-architects-about-the-future-of-design-here-are-their-predictions

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the artificial turf conversation is a joke right.

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I don't think people are joking. I think people who pay so little for golf either cannot complain about sketchy greens or be open to other options like artificial turf.

What do you expect from Webb? Even though Brec has loads of money, I’ll never expect a nice course.

They need to increase all green fees by $10 across the board and close periodically on a Monday for maintenance and have real marshalls that enforce course rules and pace of play.
Also to offfer a decent food and becerage option would be useful as well.

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BR and Louisiana has plenty of natural sunlight to produce quality greens. It’s not the dark side of the Moon.

There are plenty of products available to provide sugars for the carbohydrate process to feed greens, and continue photosynthesis in the event of low light or even absence of sunlight.

It boils down to the haves and have nots. You can’t have a Dom taste on a Natty Lite budget. It’s simple.

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I don't know you don't mention the downpours and crazy storms in this. You need more budget because you can watch your chemicals wash away on a 0% chance of rain day.