A putting green on a lot that already backs a course

A backyard putting green in Reunion runs $14–$30 per square foot, typically $18–$25, as of September 2026, well above a plain lawn because the base is hand-shaped rather than screeded flat. On a lot that already backs one of the resort's three championship courses, the surface has to hold up next to real golf, not just look like it.

Reviewed by Luis Austin, owner · Last reviewed September 21, 2026

Building a green a few hundred yards from a championship layout

Reunion's own three courses, an Arnold Palmer design, a Tom Watson layout and a Jack Nicklaus course, all run past 6,900 yards with real elevation change built into the land reunionresort.com. A backyard green on a lot fronting one of those fairways sits within easy sight of players working the same hole, which raises the bar on shaping and grooming compared with a green tucked into a yard with no sightline to speak of. The build itself is the same hand-shaped, tiered base either way; what changes is how closely the finished roll gets compared to the golf right next door.

The 10-foot line that decides the layout

Florida's turf standard sets a 10-foot setback from a natural or constructed waterbody's ordinary water line, seawalls excepted, and several Reunion golf holes route around a lake or a connecting pond. Before staking out breaks and tiers on a course-adjacent lot, we confirm where that waterline actually sits relative to the buildable rear yard, because on a smaller lot the setback can take a bigger bite out of a green's footprint than the fence line alone would suggest.

Why a contoured green still needs an overall slope

Even with tiers and breaks built into the surface for play, a Reunion putting green's base still carries the same one to two percent overall grade toward a drainage point that any lawn does, so the two jobs, holding a shape and shedding water, happen at once rather than one after the other. A green shaped purely for interesting breaks without that underlying slope will hold water in its lowest tier after every storm, regardless of how well the ball rolls the rest of the time. Getting both requirements satisfied in the same base is what separates a green built by someone experienced with the shaping from a flat pad with decoration on top.

Why a green needs deeper excavation than a lawn

Excavation for a Reunion green runs four to six inches, noticeably more than a flat lawn conversion covering the same square footage, because the extra depth makes room for a thicker, hand-shaped base without the finished green ending up perched above the surrounding turf. Too little depth and the shaped layers underneath can't hold their contours once the surface product goes on top; too much and the green sits in a shallow bowl that collects runoff from the lawn around it instead of shedding its own water outward. Confirming that number against the design before the first shovel of soil comes out saves a mid-project correction.

Say you have a course-front backyard

Say you have a 1,800 sq ft backyard on a lot backing the Watson course, with the land sloping gently toward a connecting pond along the rear property line. A 350 sq ft green with a two-tier break and a fringe collar, kept clear of the 10-foot waterbody setback, prices between roughly $4,900 and $10,500 at $14–$30 a foot, with most jobs like this landing near $18–$25 a foot, or about $6,300 to $8,750. Confirming the actual waterline against the survey, not just the visible edge of the grass on the course side, usually happens before the green's shape gets finalized, since a two- or three-foot difference in that line can be the difference between a full two-tier design and a smaller single-level pad pulled back from the water.

Why the fringe is a different product than the green

The taller collar surrounding a Reunion putting surface, the fringe, is a separate turf product from the short putting surface itself, cut and seamed as its own piece so the transition reads like a mowing line rather than a patch. Fringe turf runs at a pile height closer to a residential lawn blend than to the closely cropped putting surface, giving a chip or a rolled approach shot somewhere realistic to sit before reaching the green. Choosing fringe height and color to contrast just slightly with the surrounding lawn helps define the green's edge without needing a hard border.

What we bring to a submittal on a fairway-facing lot

Reunion's association reviews the look of a project before it starts, and on a lot visible from the course we photograph the yard from a couple of likely sightlines before submitting, alongside the usual site sketch and product sheet, so the reviewer sees roughly what a passing golfer would see. That's a practice we've settled on for course-front lots generally, not a rule specific to this community, but it tends to shorten the back-and-forth on a visible green.

Low-E glass near a pool-cage green

Greens built inside or beside a screened pool cage are common in Reunion, and a west-facing sliding door or low-emissivity window nearby is worth checking before finalizing the layout, since reflected sunlight from that kind of glass can soften turf enough to damage it. The fringe around a green, made from polyethylene that starts to give around 175 to 200°F, is more exposed to this risk than the nylon putting surface itself, which tolerates heat somewhat better. A scorched patch along one edge of an otherwise undamaged green usually traces back to exactly this kind of reflection.

Clearing debris from a green's low tiers

Leaves and pine needles collect fastest in a Reunion green's low tiers, the same spots already doing the most drainage work, and letting debris sit there breaks it down into the infill and can slow water movement exactly where the base needs to move it fastest. Clearing those low spots promptly after they accumulate, rather than waiting for a general yard cleanup, keeps both the roll and the drainage performing as designed. A green with several tiers takes a few extra minutes to check compared with a flat lawn, since debris doesn't distribute evenly across a shaped surface.

Questions people ask

Can a Reunion putting green sit right up to a lake at the back of the lot?

No, not under the state standard. A compliant green stays at least 10 feet from the water's ordinary line unless a seawall or bulkhead separates the two, which applies to a backyard green the same way it applies to a full lawn.

Does a green need a different product than a full lawn?

Yes. A green uses a short nylon or textured polyethylene surface cut for ball roll, paired with a taller fringe turf around the edge; see the putting green page for how those products compare.

How long does a two-tier green take to build in Reunion?

Plan on the base shaping and cup-setting taking longer than a flat lawn of the same size, since each tier gets compacted and confirmed before the next layer goes down, plus whatever time the association's review adds before work starts.

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