It's probably every golfer's dream to wake up in the morning, step out of his or her home, and start chipping and putting in their own backyards.

Short of living next to a golf course, Southwest Greens Hawai'i can offer a similar experience. The local company is a franchise of Arizona-based Southwest Greens and specializes in artificial putting surfaces that can be installed anywhere from a small backyard to the roof of a high-rise condominium.

The franchise is co-owned by architect Roger Brasel and irrigation contractor Jim Lebiedzinski and is based in Kona on the Big Island. Southwest Greens Hawai'i also has offices on O'ahu and Maui.

Brasel said he discovered the company when he was looking for a "high end" putting green for a project he was designing, as well as for his own home in Kona. He said he couldn't find anything that fit his needs until a friend on the PGA's senior tour recommended Southwest Greens.

"In conversation with them they said Hawai'i is open and it's one of the few franchises available in the United States and are you interested," Brasel said. "I play golf here with a friend (Lebiedzinski) and we talked about it and decided to buy the franchise."

That was in April 2006, and Brasel said his company has since installed about 30 greens of various sizes, from a 250-square-foot backyard to a 3,000-square-foot green.

Prices vary depending on the size of a green, but Brasel said a low-end project would run about $5,000.

"The smaller ones would be in a person's backyard. That's the bread and butter of this thing," he said. "The typical buyer would be somebody who enjoys golf or has kids that are into golf and wants a nice professional surface to be able to walk out their door and practice chipping and putting on."

Brasel said the company also is bidding on larger projects, including a large condominium that has about 70,000 square feet of space. He also wants to expand more into the multi-family and commercial markets.

He said the synthetic surface also can replace real grass on tennis courts, athletic fields, lawn bowling, croquet and other uses.

One advantage of installing a synthetic putting and chipping surface over real grass is the lower maintenance cost, he said. Grass needs to be constantly watered and mowed, while very little is required once an artificial surface is laid out.

"Typically we'll go back every year and kind of do a tune-up," Brasel said.

The greens are set on six inches of compacted base material. A pad is put in, followed by the polypropylene turf, which has a five-year warranty that it won't fade in the sun.

Brasel said the surface reacts like real grass and delivers a true ball roll. Customers also can add sand and grass bunkers, a second cut fringe and chipping areas.

"You can put in whatever breaks the clients want, so they're very realistic," he said.

Brasel designs the smaller greens and said the larger ones are often drawn up by golf legend Jack Nicklaus' design company, which is affiliated with Southwest Greens Hawai'i.

While he continues work as an architect, Brasel said he hopes to expand Southwest Greens Hawai'i down the road.

"We just don't want to get too spread out too quickly," he said.

Brasel installed a 300-square-foot green in the backyard of his Keauhou home in Kona. He moved to Hawai'i straight out of Oklahoma State University in 1977 with his wife and has been living and working in Kona for the past 19 years.

"I just knew I wanted to live someplace else than Oklahoma," Brasel said. "We thought we'd come and give this a try and it worked out well."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.