Hey, I was wondering what experiences with trapezoid tees have been. I laid one out in with a four foot end, 10 feet long, and a 6 foot end.

When running up to it I thought it was nice running up to the wider end better, but I have noticed a lot of people saying the smaller end is towards the hole. Why is this? Does the wider end give you too many options at the tee or something?

Anyone know of courses with the wide end of a trapezoid tee going towards the hole?

Normally, the wide end is at the back but some courses have it at the front. In general, having the wide end at the back allows lefties and righties more room to take their runup from an angle verus straight back. In theory, they could do the same thing when the wide end is in front, but it feels more awkward to fully use the pad oriented that way. In addition, since playing the lie from behind the disc is what we do on the course, it feels more appropriate to have a narrower edge in front versus back so everyone is closer to throwing the hole from more of the same point of view, especially on short holes where players can stand near either side and throw without runup.

It is a design consideration as well. A six foot wide tee box would dramatically alter how many short holes are played.

So what's better in the players eye's, trapezoid tees, or a 5 by 10 rectangle?

In my eyes....it depends on the holes. If there is a hyzer route and a turnover route, the fat end in back is good. If there are multiple pin positions possible that are in different areas off the front of the tee, then fat end in front works better. If you pretty much have to throw down that fairway there then rectangle saves concrete and money and is fine.

Wouldn't it better to keep them all similar for aesthetics?

Wouldn't it better to keep them all similar for aesthetics?


I'm not sure you can see them all at once, so as long as they are functional and look good individually in the setting of each hole, that's good enough for me. :)

I'll bet if you asked, players would have trouble remembering whether some tees were different sizes and/or some trapezoid or rectangular. You only see one tee at a time so aesthetics issues are minimal. What we've done at Highbridge is put trapezoids on the long tees and rectangular on the shorts to save some cement and provide some visual differentiation between tees.

I like that idea, we have white and blue tees so that would be nice to have pads that reflected that.

I like the idea of different shapes for the long and short tees. I like concrete dyes as well.

Is the 6x4x10 trapezoid too small ?
That uses the same amount of concrete as the 5x10 rectangular pad.

I prefer 12 feet long trapezoids that average 60 sq ft in a 4 by 6 taper. One thing we've done is slightly bow in the sides to conserve some cement since it's not unusual they end up a little deeper than the budgeted 4 inch height. On open holes with option for max drives and level teeing area, we've put in a few that were 14 feet long.

I'd love to get long pads put in, but we're dealing with the Forest Service in Montana so its tough to even get them to listen to us about tee pads, but we have their ear and are jumping on the opportunity.

I'm coming up with reasons for bigger pads too, so if you have those and any photographic support I would appreciate it.

You can show them the PDGA guidelines published online as additional support for sizing:

www.pdga.com/makecrse.php (http://www.pdga.com/makecrse.php)

This is from the guidelines:
Hard surface tee pads of textured cement or asphalt are preferred. Preferred size is 5 ft wide by at least 12 ft long (1.8x3m). Maximum size is 6 ft wide by 20 ft long with the back end flaring out to 10 feet wide. If you need to conserve materials, make tee pads shorter on short or downhill holes and longer on long holes. For example, a hard surfaced tee pad at the top of a hill on a short hole might only need to be 8 ft long because players will just stand at the front edge of the tee to make their throws.

Thanks for the link, it will be going with the proposal for sure.

This is kind of off topic, but how far past the front of a tee is a player allowed to tee from? For instance, the whole teepad is covered in ice. I want to tee from directly in back of the teepad, off the concrete. How far do I have? 10' from the front? 20' from the front?

This is kind of off topic, but how far past the front of a tee is a player allowed to tee from? For instance, the whole teepad is covered in ice. I want to tee from directly in back of the teepad, off the concrete. How far do I have? 10' from the front? 20' from the front?


If a tee pad is provided, you must tee from the pad. In the case of an ice covered tee pad, I would say that you are playing casually and common sense and safety should prevail. :)

Assuming you mean during tournament play and allowance according to the rules.

(803.02.A)
If there is a tee pad, all supporting points must be on it when the disc is released.

If there is no tee pad, within 3 meters of the front line of the tee area.


Outside of that, the TD may declare pretty much whatever relief they desire as long as it is applies equally to all players within divisions. in other words, TD should not change the relief rules halfway through the round so that players within the same division play the same hole under different relief rules.

OK. I always thought throwing from behind the tee was allowed.

Thanks

If natural pads are being used and they are muddy, you can take relief farther backwards than 3 meters as long as the TD says so. Mud used to be included in the casual relief rule but not any more.

I like the trapezoid teepads the best...

in little rock at burns park i made the new tees 4.5 ft in the front and 6.5 feet in theback and 10 feet longto break it down the trapizoid tees are better and if you want to save money then simply contact your local city parks and rec office and talk to the main guy in charge andask him/her to schedule a concrete truck to come in and use their backhoes the concrete truck can dump concrete into the frontend loader and they can drive it to thetee pad thisis how wedid it in little rock anyway

if you use a concrete truck you pay 75 dollars for 1yard of concrete. 4.5ftx6.5ftx10ft is 55 sf 1 yard of concrete+ 085sf

It's actually 65 sqft for the 4.5x10x6.5 which works out to .80 yards of concrete. If you change up to a 4x12x6 you will need .88 yds. I am working on an estimate for the parks dept. in Roswell GA for finally getting us some concrete ones. I think I am going to build a form out of 18 gauge metal drywall track and then you can just move it from hole to hole and use it for a good way to check the ground for level too.

in little rock at burns park i made the new tees 4.5 ft in the front and 6.5 feet in theback and 10 feet longto break it down the trapizoid tees are better and if you want to save money then simply contact your local city parks and rec office and talk to the main guy in charge andask him/her to schedule a concrete truck to come in and use their backhoes the concrete truck can dump concrete into the frontend loader and they can drive it to thetee pad thisis how wedid it in little rock anyway



Bristow....take a breath, dude!

I'd just like to chime in with my opinion that trapezoids with the wide end to the front are *wrong*. I think it fits with the spirit of the game to have the narrower end to the front, limiting the angles off the tee. Also, having the narrow end in front makes the tee look like an arrowhead pointing the direction of the hole.

What do you think about this style:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/61/211015187_f576b9c181_o.jpg
Wider in the back, rounded fronts? This is how we have them at the Great Blue Heron Disc Golf Course in Norwalk, Ohio.

Foot fault! ;)

I like the inverted coffin style that we are putting in at Stafford:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_L9wmVMLyphU/RxIVFWZg8NI/AAAAAAAAAEY/CcbO9sCmrZM/s1600/17newteepad.jpg

http://stafforddiscgolf.blogspot.com/