tee pads- concrete vs. dirt

[twmccoy]

Well, the course I usually play (lighthouse) has these lousy dirt teepads that get all swampy when wet. I generally throw fairly well off them, but there are a few that are cratered to the point they are unusable. Even dry they can be treacherous.

Anyway, I played a couple courses last weekend that have concrete pads. Boy, it is so much easier to throw from flat concrete without worrying about tripping. I was able to throw farther from them than the dirt pads.

I think all DG courses should spend the $$ and get concrete pads. I never realized it made that much difference, but it does.

[Eric O]

Yeah it is a huge difference. The course I frequent most has crappy rubber pads. They get slick with debris and are injuries waiting to happen. Concrete getting poured in a couple weeks, will make the winter golf season much safer and more enjoyable.

[Thatdirtykid]

well maintained "natural" pads arent bad, lighthouses problem is they are very messed up.

a cheaper alternative to concrete is crushed rock pads, they can be re leveled easily and offer good traction in any weather.

Concrete is still best

[Eric O]

crushed rock pads

What? You mean like a bed of rough gravel?

[Dogma]

crushed rock pads

What size/type/depth of gravel works well? We've got dirt ones that become slippery mud when wet, and we get rain often. Concrete is too expensive for now. An inexpensive alternative to dirt would be a big improvement.

[Thatdirtykid]

varrying from a half inch to an inch and a half I think is ideal.

If you slope your teepad (dirt) slightly, tamp it so its packed well, add an inch or so of sand level that out nicely, and do the crushed rock over the sand, tamp the rock, add dirt to the top water down lightly and tamp again. It should be pretty solid. It may need alittle dirt added to keep the rocks in tight on occasion (after big rainstorms ect). They offer good traction and will stay level for a while especially if you sink them so that the pad is level with sourrounding ground so the rocks dont move too much.

[swel304]

the local course I always played on has nice concrete pads. I never realized how much it helped until I went and played our other local course which has dirt pads. I just dont feel comfortable doing a runup on an unlevel patch of dirt, and it just screws my throws all up. I should probly go play it more often though so i dont get so accustomed to the nice pads.

[Thatdirtykid]

yeah, especially if you ever plan on playing a course with 800' holes, you know you wont have a teepad at all for that second drive

[kvanorsdel]

I've been thinking about teepads more and more. While I agree Cement are the nicest the course I play each day at lunch has rubber pads that are horrible maintaed and very dangerous when wet. I

I've been thinking has anybvody ever tried preparing the teepads like Thatdirtykid sayed above but just below the surface installing those metal grates that are made out of 1" flat stock and welded together in a grid to stop the "dip that inevitably occurs on non cement pads? It seems like it would be a good substrate for beneth rubber pads as well to keep them flat and safe.

Something like this
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[twmccoy]

well maintained "natural" pads arent bad, lighthouses problem is they are very messed up.

a cheaper alternative to concrete is crushed rock pads, they can be re leveled easily and offer good traction in any weather.

Concrete is still best

Yeah, South suburban actually poured gravel on the first teebox and it is great. Now they need to get a truckload and do the rest, but level them first. Tees 6, 7 and 8 are huge holes. The gravel is actually a decent alternative to concrete because it provides decent footing and prevents mud.

[-Frank-]

I think gravel would be a great surface to throw off of. I almost fell on my ass when throwing off of slippery wet concrete the other day. I don't think you'd ever lose traction on gravel.

[chris86wm]

I think gravel would be a great surface to throw off of. I almost fell on my ass when throwing off of slippery wet concrete the other day. I don't think you'd ever lose traction on gravel.

The guys at the local course here have "traction lines" in the cement on most of the concrete tee pads. That seems to help ALOT when its rainy.

[Thatdirtykid]

I think gravel would be a great surface to throw off of. I almost fell on my ass when throwing off of slippery wet concrete the other day. I don't think you'd ever lose traction on gravel.

thats not a problem w/ most concrets, I have seen pics of courses that use polished concrete wow that stuff is slick. Raked concrete is my favorite.

And using metal ribs would be great, it would hold the gravel in place, but would that really be much cheaper than concrete?

[chris86wm]

Raked concrete is my favorite.

Thats what its called! I was thinking of what to call it for the longest time and the best i could come up with was "traction lines" LMAO

[Luckyg71]

I hate courses where the concrete is too short and their is a big drop off at the end. Sometimes I cant even do a complete x-step. I like to run up when I throw, thats why I like natural pads better, you can take as big a run up as you want. If you just move the natural tee pad around to reduce the wearing down, it will be ok.