Photosynthesis and respiration are important indicators of turfgrass health and of stress caused by environmental factors such as drought and high temperature. Current measurements of photosynthesis in turfgrass are limited primarily either to leaf level or small surface chambers. Measurements of photosynthesis and respiration may vary considerably, however, among leaves within a turfgrass canopy or spatially across a turfgrass surface although the latter is not well documented. Our objective was to compare measurements in turfgrass of photosynthesis and canopy respiration from a small surface chamber with measurements in the same area from two larger, custom-designed surface chambers; chambers cover turfgrass areas of 7.09 x 10^‑3 m², 2.5 x 10^‑1 m², and 7.225 x 10^‑1 m², respectively. The larger chambers required less time to obtain measurements of photosynthesis and respiration, which reduced temperature rise in the canopy during measurements and may increase the potential sample number for any given study, compared with the small chamber. The greater area covered by the larger chambers may also reduce variability among measurements compared with the small chamber and thus, result in a greater ability to detect treatment differences in photosynthesis and respiration with large compared with small chambers.