Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2001 Headline: FIND DAN COLLINS IN HIS BACK YARD, JUST PUTTING AROUND Source: Gerald Ensley DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER      You know how it is. Dan Collins got a new toy, now every kid in the neighborhood is banging on the door wanting to play with it.      Except the "kids" are grown men, who all want to chip and putt about Collins' home golf green.      "The flag is in a different hole, so I know somebody was out here playing yesterday --- but I don't see $1 in the honor box," Collins joked on a recent Saturday. "All my buddies love it. Before we go out to play golf, they'll show up here and say, 'Let's practice.' "      Such is a golfer's dream home-entertainment center: An artificial putting green, complete with greenside sand trap, artificial fairway and tee box. The four-hole green is set amid pine trees on the side of the Collins' home off of Ox Bottom Road, and framed by azalea bushes to give it just the right Masters touch in the spring.      It was installed by Kenny Knox, the former Florida State and PGA Tour golfer whose five-year-old Tour Greens by Kenny Knox Inc. company installs artificial turf greens and courses around the nation.      The green and its accouterments cost $10,000, and were a 25th wedding anniversary present to Collins from his wife, Louise. It is a testament to the value of being a dutiful husband and father.      Dan Collins, 47, is a pilot for Southwest Airlines. A retired Air Force pilot, who commanded a squadron during Desert Storm, Collins moved the family 16 times during his 21-year military career. But when he retired four years ago, he told his wife he would live wherever she chose.      She chose Tallahassee, where the two of them had graduated from Florida State in 1975. Her husband agreed even though he often must spend an entire day commuting to and from the Southwest Airlines hub in Houston. They are the parents of two children, Danielle, 21, who attends FSU, and Paul, 19, who attends Tallahassee Community College.      "He never buys anything for himself. He always put himself last in the family. He was well overdue for a good present," said Louise, 47, who teaches adult education. "I'm sure some people will think it's extravagant --- and I did think to myself 'Oh my gosh, that's several months' pay.' "      "But lots of people in Florida have pools or boats. This is cheaper and less maintenance than either one."      Though their anniversary is not until August, Louise surprised her husband with the green in December. He left town at dawn on a Thursday, with Knox's crew arriving shortly afterward and working furiously for three days to complete it before Collins returned at 10 p.m. Sunday. The next morning, his wife stopped him after he awoke and headed toward the bathroom, whose window looks out on the green, and demanded he follow her.      "I thought, 'She must have got me that truck I wanted,' " said Dan Collins, who always drives the family's oldest car.      Collins was properly stunned --- and delighted --- by the gift. Because he travels for a living, he likes nothing better than puttering around the house when he's home. And putting has proved even better.      Neighbors and friends regularly stop by to play on the green. Collins, his son and his father, when he visits from Georgia, stage heated competitions.      Maybe most appreciative is Bubba, the Collinses' 5-year-old dachshund who loves to play in the sand trap --- nicknamed Bubba's Bunker --- and sun himself on the green.      Collins has devised an 18-hole format, in which all four holes are played from each of four starting points: the green, the sand trap, the short stretch of fairway and the tee box, located 25 yards away. A 14-handicapper, Collins said the green has helped his game considerably--- as he proves by defeating a visitor 7-6 in a skins game that turns on Collins winning three of the four putting holes.      "It's really been a confidence builder, especially in putting and working out of the sand," Collins said. "My golf partners want me to give them a stroke a hole when we play."      Knox, who still holds PGA Tour records for fewest putts in one round (18) and four rounds (93), certainly touts the golf value of his "short-game complexes," as the artificial turf and sand mixture play the same as natural grass. But he notes the complexes also improve a home, and require little maintenance other than sweeping off and an occasional rolling of the green for smoothness.      "You can put them in a place that's not growing grass and turn an unsightly area into a beautifully landscaped area," Knox said. "It's great for giving the kids something to do and for keeping Dad at home more."      Collins agreed that getting his golf fix at home "does keep the marriage going." His only problem may be coming up with 25th anniversary gift of similar impact for Louise in August.      "I'm scheming on that right now," he said with a smile.