He wanted a place where he could escape from work, even if it was only an hour or two.

But it didn't take long for Camron Howell's convenient journey to become his career. 

Installed a 9-hole putting course in his Queen Creek backyard-a replica of Augusta National Course, and after making his debut with friends and family, the overwhelming feedback became his golf putting course company PuttTek Catalyst.

"When I built a putting court in the backyard, I didn't plan to start a company. I just wanted something special," Howell said of the company he founded in 2015. 

But when someone told Howell he would pay him to make one in his backyard, the 30-year-old competitive golfer accepted him. Thus, PuttTek was born. 

Howell designs the court and supervises every detail, from the vibrant green turf that is soft to the touch and keeps cool in the Arizona sun, to the details that make the court come alive-such as features resembling water bodies and bunkers, footbridges, clocks and even Leaderboard.

Most of Howell's courses are graded 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the hardest. Howell explained that this is as important as the aesthetics and visual aspects of the course. It allows golfers of any level to stay involved and want more, no matter how often they play. He said that many customers continue to play their courses every day after using them for more than a year. 

"It's enough not to frustrate them, but to make them want to do it again," said Howell, whose friends and the university team have been playing courses for several hours. "I don't have alcohol in my backyard, but they stayed for five hours. I don't need to feed them, I don't need to do anything." 

This strategy has been repeated among customers and has driven word-of-mouth growth.

Howell said that in the first two years, PuttTek generated $100,000 in revenue each year. Now, its annual sales are $1 million, which has doubled every year for the past five years. As more and more projects are built outside the state, these projects become bigger and bigger. 

These include a hotel in Las Vegas, apartment buildings in Seattle and Washington, D.C., and properties near restaurants in Alabama and Georgia. Professional athletes using Howell's expertise include former Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin, who built a 9-hole course for them at Corbin's home in Florida after winning the World Series in 2019 . 

Locally, in addition to private residences, PuttTek also offers courses for housing communities, HOAs, and hospitals (such as Banner Children's at Mesa Desert Hospital). 

PuttTek has completed 65 courses and is still increasing. All courses are 100% unique and customized according to customer requirements and the space they must use. 

Gilbert’s homeowner Tom Pittman has the smallest space for Howell to install a 9-hole course. At first, Howell doubted whether it could be cancelled. But after some persuasive lobbying by Pittman and additional creative thinking by Howell, it was accomplished by strategically arranging bridges that allowed several holes to cross each other. 

Pittman and his wife plan to build a Peak Field on the open space on the side of their house. But he happened to see a PuttTek truck driving by his house, so the plan changed. 

In the past two years, Pittman has enjoyed his courses, but he is not the only one. His seven grandchildren like to divide their time between classes and the swimming pool. Pittman's 85-year-old mother puts together with her 3 and 4 year-old great-grandchildren.

Their neighbor’s teenage son asked to come over often to play ball. Pittman said it was cool when teenagers wanted to hang out with him. 

During the pandemic, the Pittmans spent most of their time in their second home in Iowa. Last summer, when they were away, they received calls from family and friends asking if they could use their swimming pool and putting court. For 10 days, when most places were closed, the Pittmans had six different families to enjoy these amenities. 

The course strengthened family relationships and made new friends.

“It’s possible to have this course. It’s great to get friends over and feel comfortable using it,” Pittman said. 

Pittman witnessed Howell's work on other courses and always impressed him.

"Camrun is the whisperer of the course. He is not a desperate and hopeful person," Pittman said. "It was amazing to see him shaping the course... I appreciate the art involved in bringing this course together." 

Howell is a native of Thatcher, Arizona. He won a high school state championship, entered Grand Canyon University with a golf scholarship, and participated in many amateur and national championships. He continued to play competitive golf every year and got his wife's permission to try to become a professional player when he was 50 years old and their six children grew up. 

Before joining PuttTek, Howell owned an out-of-state welfare company. This is profitable, but not satisfactory. He believes that installing a family putting course will be a good treatment project.

One month later, his Mini Augusta course was completed on the weekend of the Masters. Howell had 120 friends attending his class that day, and they all accepted the bridge challenge in order to become a leaderboard. 

A few months later, Howell sold his shares in the welfare company to his former business partner.

"The money is good, but there is space. I don't feel like I'm doing what I was sent here to do," Howell said. "The fact that (PuttTek) is profitable makes it better, but I might go bankrupt and do it, and it's much better than what I did before."

At first, Howell thought PuttTek would create mass production courses that customers installed themselves. But this is not good for Howell. He wants customers to have something truly unique and complete with the same heart and attention to detail as his personal courses. 

"The only way to do this is to shape them by hand like I did in the backyard. I know that building every course will work, but it's much better than mass-producing low-quality things," Howell said. 

This work is paying off. With zero advertising, PuttTek has generated new businesses and followers through social media tags such as influencers and golf channels. Howell has already established contact with the turf company that sent letters of recommendation in his way, and vice versa. 

Howell will soon be able to distinguish the putting court from the putting green. The challenging format makes it more attractive and lays the foundation for special types of connections.

"If you have a course, people will come over and ask,'Can I try it?' They never say,'Can I try your greens?'" Howell said. 

However, when everything was said, Howell said it was not all about the sport, but the friendship inspired by the course.

"If we make people better golfers, that's fine. But our customers value everything we do because their relationship has improved," Howell said. "It has nothing to do with golf, but more with family and friends. This is the satisfying side of it."

Interesting data: According to the National Golf Foundation, more than 24.8 million people will play golf in the United States in 2020, a year-on-year increase of more than 2%, the largest net increase in 17 years.