Equipment
An indoor putting green that’s like the real thing
There’s nothing golfers enjoy more than perfectly manicured putting greens.
You know the ones — the silky smooth surfaces that are usually reserved for pros and top private clubs.
But no matter what course a golfer plays, his or her greens are never pristine year round. Maintenance and climate take a toll on even the best natural greens.
Yes, synthetic putting greens have improved significantly in the last decade, but the ones that most closely mimic real greens are complicated to install and require constant maintenance. Well, not all of them, actually.
Meet “The Only Green,” a standalone, no-maintenance indoor putting green that allows golfers to raise individual parts of the green’s surface to create different combinations of breaks. Its 4-foot-by-20-foot green has 3 million different break configurations, which means a golfer could putt on a slightly different green every day for about 8200 years.
Tim Ummel, co-founder and managing partner of The Golf Tank, the company that owns The Only Green, says the secret to the product is its special construction that not only allows golfers to quickly and easily create putts with different combinations of breaks — its proprietary surface allows the ball to roll in a way that’s indistinguishable from the best greens in the world.
Ummel and Golf Tank partner Mike Helfrich are golf industry veterans — Ummel has spent 20 years in various golf businesses, while Helfrich was one of the original employees of HotStix, a Scottsdale-based custom club fitting facility.
Their deep rolodex of industry connections led them to form The Golf Tank in July 2012, which was inspired by the ABC reality TV show “Shark Tank.” The Shark Tank features a panel of entrepreneurs, headlined by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who invest in the products and businesses of other entrepreneurs.
Like Shark Tank, Ummel said The Golf Tank plans to invest in ideas and companies where they see growth potential. The Only Green, for example, ranges in price from $3,295 to more than $10,000, which differentiates it from other indoor putting greens.
“We know how to market to those kind of customers, Ummel said. “We’re also looking for equipment that everyone has got to have . . . products like the Olimar Trimetal that completely revolutionized things.”
The company’s first order of business was purchasing a company called “Dream Green,” which was the The Only Green’s old name. Dream Green inventor Rocklin Duffy actually began making his high-end indoor putting greens in 1989. But he was the only one making the greens, so production took seven to nine weeks. That meant that Dream Greens were largely a secret in the golf world.
In September 2012, The Golf Tank officially purchased Dream Green from Duffy, 67, and his wife Lisa. The founders then spent four months creating tooling that kept the greens the same, but allowed them to be produced much faster — in about seven days.
The Only Green launched in January and is sold out of The Golf Tank’s 4000-square-foot Scottsdale-based headquarters, a discreet facility located nearby the Scottsdale Air Center. It’s is available in four different sizes that take their names from famous golf architects: The Ross (2×8), The Old Tom (3×12), The MacDonald (4×12), The Tillinghast (4×16) and The MacKenzie (4×20).
The 2-foot-by-8-foot model will set golfers back $3,295 with a hard maple or ash wood base, while darker natural woods such as cherry, walnut, hickory and bubinga cost $200 more. The MacKenzie, the largest model, has a starting price of $9995. For all the models, custom lengths, headboards and enamel paint logos are available for additional charges as well.
Ummel said that he is pleased with sales of The Only Green so far, and has interested buyers that range from homeowners who want one unit to high-end department stores that are looking to purchase several hundred units to put in the men’s sections of their department stores.
Check out the photos below we shot of The Only Green at The Golf Tank’s headquarters.
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Whats in the Bag
Webb Simpson WITB 2024 (May)
- Webb Simpson what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist TS2 (15 degrees, B2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Blue 70 TX
5-wood: Titleist 913 Fd (18 degrees)
Shaft: UST Mamiya VTS Proforce 8 TX
Hybrids: Titleist TSR2 (24 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD D1 Hybrid 105 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (5, 6), Titleist 680 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 54-14F, 60-04L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Check out more in-hand photos of Webb Simpson’s clubs here.
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Whats in the Bag
Keegan Bradley WITB 2024 (May)
- Keegan Bradley’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. >14 clubs pictured. Obviously, Bradley will reduce that number to 14 for competition. Check out more photos from the tournament here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 70 TX
Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 TX
Irons: Srixon ZX5 Mk II (3-5) Srixon ZX7 Mk II (6-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (52-10 Mid, 58-6 Low)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy WristLock
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Check out more in-hand photos of Bradley’s clubs here.
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (5/7/24): Mizuno 245 irons
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of Mizuno 245 irons.
From the seller: (@JB_007): “1. Mizuno Pro 245 – $1000 –> 950/obo
- Purchased brand new – they have 36 holes on them, with probably 10 premium range balls. Great set of irons, I just am looking to go another way right now.
- 5-PW –> stock L/L/L
- Project X LS 6.5
- Stock MCC Mizuno Grips.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Mizuno 245 irons
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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David Lindholm
Feb 27, 2013 at 11:17 am
Still have found nothing that compares to Big Moss Golf greens. Have had mine for 8 years and no tracking, great product…does not cost thousands of dollars.
Vitor
Feb 17, 2013 at 11:27 am
What are those numbered marks for?
Couples fan
Feb 16, 2013 at 2:27 pm
That’s really nice, but when u start talking prices like that, def not in my budget for a practice green. I think I would get a membership at a nice private club and do my practice there. But you can’t have beautiful weather everywhere, so I can understand why some would want.
Just my opinion….