For One Golf Pro, Extreme Green Fits Many Bills

By Dave Allen

Summers at Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club in New Hampshire are typically picturesque, though the winters could leave something to be desired for golfing diehards. When the club’s Director of Instruction, Jason Sedan, saw an opportunity to repurpose an occasionally used conference room, he knew just what he’d do.  Jason spends the vast amount of his time helping golfers at his On Course Golf Academy take their range games to the course.  But having a diagnostics lab that was ready to go on a moment’s notice was a feature he missed from his winter teaching home at the Butch Harmon Golf School at Floridian National Golf Club.  Jason went to work constructing a hitting bay with high-speed video and 3D motion capture technology.  

All that he needed was a practice putting green that could fit well in the space he had available. In stepped Aqua Greens, a local golf-course builder specializing in floating island greens, who a year earlier had purchased the patent and materials to the Extreme Green adjustable putting green. Sedan had space to perfectly fit a 4- x 15-foot unit, and by the beginning of summer had the perfect complement to his hitting bay.

“It’s super easy to use and has the portability I needed,” said Sedan, Golf Digest’s top-ranked teacher in the state of New Hampshire. “It’s a very useful surface that if I want to practice some key distances inside 6-12 feet, those are the ones that I don’t want to run outside in the heat of the day to practice during my lunch break. I can do that in the comfort of my office and so can my students. I can work through drills and challenges that don’t take much time at all to set up because I can change the amount of slope in 60 seconds, and have it dialed in to exactly what I want to practice.”

It’s that versatility and adaptability that makes the Extreme Green a must for any teaching professional with an indoor simulator or indoor training facility, says Sedan. The 4’ x 15’ Pro Extreme Green model that Sedan has at Lake Winnipesaukee can be adjusted manually, by foot, to create as much as 7% of side tilt on the platform. That’s nearly double what a hole location should ever be cut at and room enough for hard-breaking sidehill putts.  No electrical outlet or batteries are needed. Each aluminum segment has 16 different settings, so that you can increase the break to the right or left or adjust the pitch of the green to simulate a faster or slower putt.

“While I’d love to invest in an automated platform, I really needed something that could be picked up in a pinch if we needed to host something in the room,” said Sedan. “The price difference makes this an absolute no-brainer.  I really like that I don’t have any mechanical parts to worry about. This thing is rugged and I see nothing about this product that would keep it from lasting a very long time.”

Besides its durability, Sedan also likes that Extreme Green has a faster turf surface available that runs as high as 11 to 12 on the Stimpmeter—a device used to detect the speed of the green. That makes the surface ideal for teaching elite amateurs and professionals who are getting ready for a big tournament, where such speeds are common. 

Sedan has played a big part in the development of this alternative, faster turf surface, having worked with Extreme Green owner Matthew Gault over the past year to come up with a professional, tour-quality putting surface. Sedan has sampled several types of turf, and he and Gault believe they’ve now settled on one that best replicates the actual break and speed of the Extreme Green. This is vital, says Sedan, when you’re trying to check the student’s aim (as well as your own) and ability to start the ball on line on a breaking putt.

With winter just around the corner, and many golf instructors in the Northeast and Midwest about to take things indoors for the next 5 to 6 months, now is the time to start thinking about how to maximize space in your indoor teaching facility or clubhouse (dining room, locker room, pro shop, etc.), and adding an Extreme Green. The same goes for the homeowner who wants to keep their putting stroke sharp over the long, cold winter months, says Sedan.

“For anyone who is legitimately trying to work on their game year-round and get rid of excuses as to why they’re not a better putter, here you go,” said Sedan. “Anyone with a basement, office or extra bedroom that they’re trying to do something with, it’s a must.”