Artificial Turf in Doctor Phillips, FL

Artificial turf in Doctor Phillips gets asked for in a particular way: people want a green they can actually putt on. This unincorporated part of Orange County takes in land that was once Philip Phillips's groves, including Bay Hill, where the Bay Hill Club and Lodge has hosted the Arnold Palmer Invitational since 1979. Plenty of residents play, and a backyard green lets them work on their stroke at home without a tee time. We also install landscape turf for front lawns, side yards and pool decks, but putting surfaces are where the details matter most.

How a backyard green differs from a lawn

A putting surface uses a short, dense nylon or polyethylene fiber with sand infill, and it rolls only as true as the base under it. We shape the base with fine crushed stone, compact it in thin lifts and check contours with a level before the turf goes down. That is what keeps a ball from wandering off line. Options we can build in include:

• One or more cups with flags
• Gentle breaks and tiers so you can practice reading slope
• A fringe of longer turf for chipping
• A collar where the green meets landscape turf or pavers

Land that used to be orange groves

The area takes its name from Philip Phillips, a Central Florida citrus grower who helped develop orange juice processing. By the early 1920s his groves covered thousands of acres, including land that is now Bay Hill, Orange Tree, Sand Lake Hills, Clubhouse Estates and Turkey Lake Park. Old grove land around Orlando tends to be deep, well-drained sand; the USDA's Orlando soil series, first described in Orange County in 1919, is sand or fine sand to 80 inches or more with rapid permeability. That suits turf. It also means we compact carefully, because loose sand will settle and spoil a putting line.

Lakefront lots need a different plan

Water covers about 29.9% of the Doctor Phillips CDP, and the Bay Hill course lies between the Bay Hill community and the Butler Chain of Lakes. On a lakefront yard we keep turf back from the shoreline, grade so rain moves toward planted buffers rather than straight into the lake, and avoid crumb-rubber infill. DEP's rulemaking materials for the synthetic turf standards adopted after House Bill 683 call for lead-free turf, no rubber infill and drainage that prevents pooling, and we plan lakefront jobs around those goals.

Pools, lanais and summer heat

Turf around a pool is popular because grass at the edge of a deck rarely thrives. But artificial turf can run far hotter than real grass in full sun; one UNLV study recorded green turf as much as 69 degrees F above irrigated grass. Near a pool we suggest cooler-running product lines, a paver path for bare feet and turf placed where afternoon shade falls. A quick hose rinse also drops surface heat for a while.

Finished to match the property

Most homes here are owner-occupied, 67.1% according to Census estimates, and 84.2% of residents lived in the same house a year earlier. People plan to stay, so they expect an install that still looks right years from now. We hide seams, cut clean edges against beds and curbing, and match blade color and height to the setting. If you belong to an HOA, we provide a product sheet and plan for the architectural review committee.

Talk to us

Call (689) 210-0756 to set a site visit. We measure, look at slope and shade, and hand you a written estimate for the green, the lawn or both.

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