Home games

Last year when the Hildahl family moved into a large home in Spokane Valley’s Northwood community, they loved everything about it – except the backyard.

Situated on a hillside overlooking Spokane Valley, the home offered stunning views from the rear windows and deck. But the only landscaping in the sloping backyard consisted of several small shrubs along a low wall of granite boulders.

“The rest of the yard was dirt and brush,” says Matt Hildahl, a teacher at East Valley Middle School, adding that the Northwood housing association allows homeowners one year to install some form of landscaping.

For Matt, an avid golfer, that meant only one thing: A putting green.

“Ever since my golfing buddy put a putting green in at his house three years ago, I have wanted to do the same thing,” Hildahl says. “I hate to spend two hours practicing at a course – it’s been a bone of contention with my wife.”

So when Matt proposed a backyard remodel, his wife, MaryBeth, agreed. In April, Matt and his cousin, Josh Clift, set to work creating a multipurpose outdoor space that serves not only as a putting green, but as a play space for their two young girls and an entertainment area for family and friends.

“I had no idea we’d be able to do something this cool,” Matt says.

Matt credits his cousin, an experienced landscaper, as the mastermind behind the project, though they both put in six weekends of backbreaking labor to complete it.

They started by building a retaining wall at the rear of the Hildahls’ lot, which backs to a neighboring street, using five truckloads of granite boulders to match the existing wall.

“We were soon labeled the ‘Weekend Warriors’ by our back-door neighbors,” Matt says.

As the new walls went up, Matt and Josh added fill dirt and leveled the yard area with a quarter-inch tilt for drainage. Next they added a three- to four-inch layer of 3/8-minus gravel. After concrete edging was poured at the perimeter of the putting green, they added some variation in the grade to create left-to-right and right-to-left breaks.

“We put some undulation in to keep things interesting,” Matt says.

Three putting cups were installed before they laid the artificial turf. They rented a “Sweepster,” a rotary power sweeper, to scour the turf and make its blades stand upright. Then they filled the turf with 4,000 pounds of sand mixed with crushed rubber to help hold it in place and maintain the erect stance of its “grass” fibers.

“It makes for a smooth surface to putt on,” Matt says.

After evenly distributing the mixture, Matt rolled the green for about five hours to ensure it was well packed. “I would putt a few balls to see how it’s rolling, then do it some more, moving the mixture around with a broom to better distribute it evenly.”

As the putting green and chipping neared completion, the Hildahls turned their attention to other parts of the yard.

“I mentioned to my cousin that we thought a fire pit would be cool,” Matt says.

Josh used several large boulders to create four bench seats in a semi-circle near the chipping area, allowing the boulder wall to serve as a backrest. He then used pavers to create a circular pattern for the fire pit and walkway.

Matt says he had originally envisioned a wood-burning fire pit, but worried that smoking embers might melt the turf. Instead, they fitted a propane tank inside a galvanized tin garbage can and set it into the ground below the paving stones.

They added some steps and solar lighting to create a stairway up to the house, planted two dozen plants and trees, and installed a drip system. The finishing touches included a pair of “rock” speakers for the outdoor sound system – designed to blend in with the existing boulders – and a water feature near the fire pit that is composed of three matching ceramic pots of varying size.

“I bought three water plants to grow in the biggest pot,” Matt says. “It was a unique addition to the project.”

Matt says when it was all over, his backyard had turned out better than expected.

“It was even more fulfilling because I helped build it,” he says, adding, “I can’t tell you the last time I’ve been to a driving range.”