The ModGolf Podcast: A Brief History Of Synthetic Turf
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In this slightly different format for the ModGolf Podcast, show creator and host, Colin Weston, offers a documentary-style podcast focussing on the fascinating history behind the development of and the future of synthetic turf.
Colin reached out to Jeffrey McDaniel - the Global Director of Business Development at Synthetic Turf International and architect Bob Johnston, who specializes in designing high performance sport surfacing to help with understanding the origins and future of this universally used sport surface.
"While in Sarasota Florida I was invited to PopStroke, which is a fun and challenging 36-hole mini golf entertainment experience. I was impressed by the quality of the synthetic greens, fringe and rough and it got me thinking about the origins of artificial turf. I wanted to learn the why, when and how synthetic turf came to be, along with the evolution of the materials and fabrication techniques over the past six decades."
- Colin Weston, creator/host ModGolf Podcast
So who invented this product and why? Artificial sports turf was first brought to fame when used in the Astrodome in 1966, a newly-built stadium in Houston, Texas. AstroTurf – a short-pile synthetic turf – was installed because they were struggling to maintain their natural grass field due to a lack of sunlight.
For most of the 1965 Major League Baseball season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass and were desperate for an alternative.
Click HERE or on the image below to listen to Colin's story and interviews on the history of synthetic turf.
The stadium owners and engineers needed a solution quickly, so they decided to try out a grass substitute made of artificial fibers called ChemGrass. The product was first used at Moses Brown School in Rhode Island in 1964 and became popular quickly. Today, the brand is known as AstroTurf and is manufactured in over 60 countries around the world.