Putting green with adjustable topography and multi-ball return

A putting green assembly for use in golf ball putting practice, said assembly comprising a playing mat, a ball hole in said playing mat, means for adjusting the topography of said playing mat, said adjusting means including a plurality of independently controllable actuators located beneath and bearing against said playing mat, said actuators vertically moveable against said playing mat to create inclines therein, means for returning any putted balls on said playing mat to a predetermined location within said assembly, at least one detector for determining whether a putted ball has passed a predetermined location on the playing mat, and a control unit responsive to said detector and for automatically operating said topography adjusting and ball return means, wherein said actuators elevate said playing mat at different locations and create at least eighteen different topographies.

A putting green assembly for use in golf ball putting practice, said assembly comprising a playing mat, a ball hole in said playing mat, means for adjusting the topography of said playing mat, said adjusting means including at least one independently controllable actuator located beneath and bearing against said playing mat, said actuator vertically moveable against said playing mat to create at least one incline therein, means for returning any putted balls on said playing mat to a predetermined location within said assembly, at least one detector for determining whether a putted ball has passed a predetermined location on the playing mat, and a control unit responsive to said detector and for automatically operating said topography adjusting and ball return means,

• said putting green assembly further comprising a housing surrounding said playing mat, said housing including a back wall angled acutely relative to said playing mat, a sloped floor-panel, a gutter channel and a side gutter, said side gutter directing balls to said sloped floor panel, said sloped floor panel directing balls to said gutter channel, said gutter channel directing said balls away from said ball cup.

A putting green assembly for use in golf ball putting practice, said assembly comprising a playing mat, a ball hole in said playing mat, means for adjusting the topography of said playing mat, said adjusting means including at least one independently controllable actuator located beneath and bearing against said playing mat, said actuator vertically moveable against said playing mat to create at least one incline therein, means for returning any putted balls on said playing mat to a predetermined location within said assembly, at least one detector for determining whether a putted ball has passed a predetermined location on the playing mat, and a control unit responsive to said detector and for automatically operating said topography adjusting and ball return means, wherein in said detector signals a score to the control unit if said detector senses a putted ball having passed said predetermined location on the playing mat and not in the hole.

A putting green assembly for use in golf ball putting practice, said assembly comprising a playing mat, a ball hole in said playing mat, means for adjusting the topography of said playing mat, said topography adjusting means capable of elevating a predetermined segment of said playing mat and thereby creating at least one incline therein, said incline causing any putted balls on said predetermined segment to move away from said incline of said playing mat, said topography adjusting means including a plurality of vertically moveable actuators that are arranged beneath the playing mat in a generally rectangular array and at least one additional vertically movable actuator being positioned within said rectangular array, and control means for automatically operating said topography adjusting means.