Play On Your Own Turf With a Backyard Putting Green

In today’s hot real estate market, backyard amenities are definitely on the upswing. Just ask TGC Texas owner Allison Zabbia. For the Frisco-based company, which specializes in installing backyard golf greens, inquiries are up 30 percent year-over-year.

“Homeowners want to create experiences without risk to the pandemic. We’ve seen a significant interest in both putting greens and game courts,” she says.

As an authorized Tour Greens dealer and exclusive partner of Arnold Palmer Design Company, TGC creates custom, full-scale designs featuring multiple cuts of the highest-quality synthetic turf.

“Our customers have really creative ideas which we help bring to life,” says Allison, who runs the company with husband Derek.  

Next month, TGC will begin building a Masters-inspired Augusta 13th hole replica—albeit smaller—but matched to the tee, down to the famous Rae’s Creek. Directly adjacent, plans call for a Versacourt half-basketball court. Augusta 12 is another popular request, a hole that Golf magazine calls the sport’s “scariest par-3.”

“We’ve done everything from 260-square-foot side-yard putting greens to 4,000 square-foot greens with multiple tiers of putting surface,” says Allison.

In most cases, prices range from $6k to $60k.

Coronavirus has only strengthened the home putting green business. Paul Johnson, owner of Tour Greens Mid-Atlantic, told the Wall Street Journal, “It was like a switch flipped.”

We asked Rob Brinkley, Director of Editorial and Communications for Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, to send over any local listings featuring putting greens. Turns out, there are no shortage of golf aficionados in the Metroplex.

Case in point: a three-acre Willow Bend estate on White Rock Creek sporting prime views of Gleneagles Country Club. Not only is the club’s 36-hole championship course within walking distance—the backyard features its own putting and chipping green. Inclement weather? No problem. There’s a simulator room inside.

Prefer a condominium? You’re in luck. The 4,160-square-foot penthouse at Fort Worth’s Neil P condos—complete with private putting green—is on the market. The price tag? Just under $6 million.   

“The rooftop has a number of wonderful areas and amenities—and that putting green takes it over the top,” says Briggs Freeman listing agent Ashley Mooring.

According to Realtor Cindi Caudle, who represent Hall Arts Residences, homeowners are enamored by the property’s on-premise putting green.

“We have one buyer who suggested extending the golf turf to the roof of the building next door so he can practice his driving skills,” she says.

Does a golf course makes economic sense when it comes time to sell a home? Results of a realtor.com analysis of U.S. home listings from June 2019 through May 2020 found over 10,000 properties included the words “putting green” in the description field. Overall, homes with those key words were 5 percent more expensive per square foot and spent five more days on the market than comparative houses.

Not surprisingly, Phoenix sports the most listings with putting greens: 1,740.

Los Angeles ranks second (733). Rounding out the top five: Riverside, California (698); Las Vegas (456); and Houston (318).

“It’s not something where someone is going to buy a house or not because of a putting green,” Steven Solomon, a Florida-based agent with Douglas Elliman, told the Wall Street Journal.  “For golfers, it’s a benefit to have it. If you’re not [a golfer], there’s a ‘Wow, I could have this!’ reaction.”