Synthetic turf is tough

By Cliff Newell

The Lake Oswego Review, Nov 15, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Vern Uyetake / Lake Oswego Review

Rain or shine, Bonnie Freiston,left, and Donna Lindell can practice their putting strokes in the backyard of their Lake Oswego home. It’s now a good place for golfers and dogs.

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For 10 years, Donna Lindell and Bonnie Freiston had been plagued by water drainage problems at their Lake Oswego home.

Not only was it the heavy rains that characteristically fall in this area during the winter months, it was the moisture coming off the surrounding hills and the large amount of underground water – so much that the area is called Hidden Springs, they said.

“Every summer we had to have our landscaping redone,” Freiston said. “It was a constant effort to get rid of the water.”

It wasn’t just that. Where there’s water, there’s mud, and the women’s two dogs, Max and Bailey, would constantly come romping into the house with their muddy paws. And since they are cocker spaniels, that meant when it comes to muddy paws Max and Bailey rank at the top of the dog kingdom.

But happy days are here at last.

Last summer the women contracted with Chris and Lynn Holvey’s Cascade Greens to install synthetic grass in their backyard, and now a swampy yard and muddy paws are things of the past.

“This is the first year we’ve been anxious for the rains to come so we can really test it,” Lindell said.

What stands out about their yard is that half of it has been turned into a putting green, which Freiston designed herself. Since both women are golfers, that is something to be prized just for itself.

But the best thing is that instead of soggy ground, the turf is firm. Drainage is excellent and it is easy to keep clean. There is even a rolling mechanical device that can change the speeds on the green by tightening up the turf or leaving it more grown out.

Other than using a plastic rake if the grass looks too flat or a hose if the lawn looks too dusty, there is no maintenance.

Best of all, the yard passed the dog test.

“They love it, that was the real test,” Freiston said. “When I asked Chris and Lynn about it, they laughed and said, ‘They won’t know the difference.’

“When we’re putting, the dogs wait for the balls to go into the holes. They think the putting green is their play area.”

And when the doggies do their business, Lindell said, “We wisp it right up. It stands on top of the grass.”

Certainly, things have turned out about as well as could be hoped since Freiston started going lawn shopping last February.

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