I would imagine the advancement of artificial playing surfaces will continue, with regards to the environment and maintenance costs especially.
When someone can produce all the characteristics of good turf(firmness, resiliency, texture, etc.) I think we'll see it used on higher end projects and in areas that are currently high traffic or high maintenance areas, with the probable exception of the putting green...and who knows, maybe even the putting green some day.
Joe
There is artificial turf that meets your criterion, Joe, it is a combination of the type of polypropylene and the mixture used as infill. One problem is that the infill is moved on each tee shot (par 3 irons), and even though it can be brushed back into the 'divot' by the golfer, it will still be rather soft until it is rolled. It is a problem, but as far as artificial goes, it gives one the most realistic feel vis a vis real turf.
The problems are similar with a fairway turf, however the 'divots' would be scattered over an area, rather than concentrated on one area of tee.
As far as greens go, you can infill a green to hold a ball from 180yds, however that green will be, by nature of the infill, rather slow to putt. We can make the greens to club/tour speeds, but it will not hold a ball, unless it has a *lot* of backspin. So there is a tradeoff - putting speed vs holding. I could see that some clubs may wish to use artificial in their practice areas, to reduce water, fertilizer etc.
I see more usage of artificial turf in the tee areas. Installation costs are too high for fairway. In the tee areas, it does offer some cost savings, since no watering, fertilizing or cutting is required, daily maintenance would be about the same in costs too, I would think.