Astro Turf

 
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Astro Turf.
 

I don’t think I’d ever played a minigolf course with Astro Turf before this summer.  It takes some getting used to.  The courses with Astro Turf seem to be in better shape than the other courses, though.  And the balls roll truer on Astro Turf.
 

You’d think Astro Turf was invented for the Houston Astros - for the Astro Dome, right??  In fact, during the 50s and 60s there was a lot of interest in improving the physical fitness of young people.  Remember those awful President’s Physical Fitness tests we had to do during the Kennedy Administration??

 
 
In any case, the Ford Foundation was sponsoring studies to find the perfect urban sports surface for schools.  Chemstrand worked from 1962 to 1966 on this project.  The criteria for these surfaces were foot traction, cushioning, wear resistance, weather drainage, and flammability,  among others.


 

In 1964, they installed a synthetic turf called Chemgrass at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island.  This was the first really major installation of synthetic turf.  In 1965, when the Astro Dome was built, they renamed the turf Astro Turf.  Now we use Astro Turf as a general word meaning any kind of artificial turf, even though there are gazillions of other patented turfs.  Kinda like we use the word Kleenex.  Or Xerox.  Or, possibly only old people use those words generically.  I notice my students don’t talk about Xeroxing stuff any more.

(I can’t help mentioning this:  “Astroturfing” is a new political term!!  I just learned this in researching this blog entry!!  It means to use professional political machinery to make something appear to be a grass roots politcal movement!!  Who knew???)

Chemgrass, the developer of Astro Turf, was a subsidiary of Monsanto.  MAN, what a strange company THAT is!!  On the one hand, Monsanto is responsible for:  DDT, Agent Orange (I know, Dow Chemical made it, too), Bovine Growth Hormone, Saccharin, Round-Up, and Round-Up ready soybeans.  AND they’re working on patenting pigs!!!  (OK, ok, it’s complicated to explain, but they’re using a breeding technique on pigs that they hope will allow them to claim a patent on the resulting pigs).

 
On the other hand, they’ve been the corporate sponsor of a huge number of attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  Including:  the Magic Eye Theatre at Epcot, the Hall of Chemistry, and Fashions and Fabrics through the Years at Disneyland.  Most hilariously, they were the sponsors of the Monsanto House of the Future at Disneyland.

The House of the Future opened in 1957.  It had a 10 year run, during which time it had more than 20 million visitors.  It was a mostly plastic house, and featured insulated glass walls, picture telephones, microwave ovens (come on, in 1957!!), electric toothbrushes, plastic chairs, ULTRASONIC DISHWASHERS, atomic food preservation, and plastic sinks with adjustable heights!!  When they finally decided to demolish it in 1957, the wrecking ball just bounced off it, and they ended up having to get a crew to demolish it by hand.  It was nearly indestructible!!

 Remember the phrase “Better Living Through Chemistry”??  I guess mostly Hippies used that phrase.  Well, it wasn’t Monsanto’s phrase - although, I think it should’ve been.  It was DuPont’s.  The original slogan was, “Better Things for Better Living . . . Through Chemistry”.  That was DuPont’s slogan from 1935 through 1982.  In 1982 they dropped the “Through Chemistry” portion.  Perhaps because Hippies had co-opted it!!!

 
Anyway, Astro Turf.  You know, putting surfaces are a huge part of the history of minigolf.  The reason courses could be built so cheaply, and consequently be affordable to play, was artificial putting surfaces.  Still, I’ve got to say, I’m beginning to long for a real grass minigolf course.  I wonder if there is one??

Coming soon:  More adventures in Dollywood!!

All illustrations ©2010 Michael James