Jon, as you rightly surmise, there are few cons or negatives except the less natural appearance.
The players would prefer a good quality artifical green in fescue colour to the weedy appearance of the Chambers Bay US Open greens.
Artificial greens are suitable for the US Open for the following POSITIVE characteristics:
- Fast with Stimpmeters up to 14
- Firm, with as much as concrete conditions
- Consistent and regular playing surface so putting quality is the same on all greens
- Good aesthetic colour for TV
- No risk of weather and climate altering the conditions overnight
- No risk of disaster agronomics
Add to that the general positives
- Environmentally friendly - no fertilisers, no fungicides, no pesticides, no herbicides, no water needs
- Easy to maintain - no cutting, no coring, no feeding - only brushing, cleaning and "dressing"
- Cheap to build - minimal substructure, no irrigation, no expensive quarzsand, no subair
Artificial grass is already used in many sports such as tennis, bowls, field hockey, soccer.
Artificial grass is used extensively in golf practise areas.
It's only a matter of time till the technology of artificial golf grass takes the hassle out of green keeping and becomes part of the pallet available to competition golf.
Having said that, I personally would prefer to play on good grass surfaces, but for the US Open it's a "no brainer" - instead of killing the greens with scalping of natural grasses to obtain unnatural stimp readings and the associated problems, simply provide the all encompassing solution of a sustainable artificial green !!!
I'm sure Ian Poulter would love it.