ok, concrete is a no go first of all.

we are building an 11,000 foot gold level course on very very special land. see the keohana thread in the Course design section for details....

its come time to decide on materials for teepds. this will be an extremely lightly played course, except for the occasional (1-2 / year at most) events.

some tee locations can be turf/grass. others are in think woods. i amplanning on clearing several feet on all side of the pad, and treating that area with natural fill like mulch, wood chips, whatever is apprpriate for that part of the course. but what about the pad itself? we are gonna level everything of course. what gives the best natural feel, provides drainage (probably not too much of a problem at this place), is comfy on the feet, and is somewhat maintainable. i have prolly played on almost every pad type out there, and my favs are natural, followed by concrete.

any thoughts on what has workled well, including any tips on digging the foundation, would be very helpful.

thanks

How about treated railroad ties? Form them in with 2 x 12's with lag screws into the timbers.

At Idlewild we have found gravel works better than mulch to control erosion & muddiness around teepads and high traffic areas. Mulch tends to wash away and require more maintenance, gravel gets pounded in and grass can even grow through it with the gravel still producing very good drainage and erosion control.

that aside, have you ever seen sand teepads? not sure how well it would work, i know some baseball diamonds get pretty muddy in the rain...

keep us posted on what you go with for teepads and how it works out...

Fly pads will work great .... ;)100 % recycled rubber...At 88 $ each for 7 years of wear is hard to beat..Call me and I will give you a great price .......Fly18.com
Reese

might check into recycled asphault, it takes a little more work on the front end but if you get them packed down right they are great.

railroad ties? for real? my only experience with railroad ties was slipping off one at the front of #12 (?) teepad at the old version of the Fountain course in fountain hills. wrenched my knee. thankfully didnt need orthro to fix it but i wore a support brace for four years until it totally healed :)

might check into recycled asphault, it takes a little more work on the front end but if you get them packed down right they are great.

never heard of that one... might work. thanks.

i thought of the flypads but do not know enuf about them. i am concerned about how to properly dig and underfill the pad area. we have construction guys that will do whatever we ask, so we could get something real nice underneath

might check into recycled asphault, it takes a little more work on the front end but if you get them packed down right they are great.

never heard of that one... might work. thanks.


It's called "Cold Patch". It's normally used as temp patch on roads until a permenant patch is placed. Very easy to work with.

If you laid the railroad ties level you shouldn't trip. They last 4 ever with that creosote treatment they have on them.

maybe the only time i have fallen while teeing off was when i stepped onto a railroad tie that lined the front of a teepad. when railroad ties are wet they can be pretty slick... plus creosote is carcinogenic, (http://www.beyondpesticides.org/wood/creosote_petition.htm) isn't it?

Yes, I wouldn't eat it.

Ok, bad idea.

Isn't there a more finely gound gravely substance called chat or chit or something? It's small & rough enough to hold up when wet and doesn't float away when it rains like wood chips/mulch...though there will be some that washes away...
.02

whatever you do, don't use sand! It gives too much, it's great for the beach, terrible for teepads. Plus, it get's in everything.
I would recommend the recycled rubber that some running tracks are made of. Also, if these are going to be temp pads, I saw a really creative idea once....take a peice of plywood, and coat it with "rhynolining" or any of those abrasive truck bed liners. Stuff is unbreakable and the grippiest stuff i've ever seen.

It's called chert. You just wanted to say chit. :D

YUP! Chit, chit...CHIT! :cool:

Sand would get into sandals, wouldn't it? :p

Pat, check this stuff out. I thought of going this way in Cedar Hill before the concrete pads were approved.

Polypavement (http://www.polypavement.com/ )

wow, thanks everyone, there are some solid ideaas, some of which i had never hear of that sound excellant. thanks!

sand does get in the sandals, but compared to the other stuff that can get in there, sand is the lease of my fears :)

Pat, check this stuff out. I thought of going this way in Cedar Hill before the concrete pads were approved.

Polypavement (http://www.polypavement.com/ )



Has anyone actually walked on this stuff? If you turned soil hard (chemically) would it be slick?

all i can say is if you use gravel/natural and you could manage to get a compacter out there that would be much nicer.plus compacted gravel would be similar to concerete.

Compacted gravel under a rubber pad is the next best thing IMO. I like the feel of the LaunchPads better than the Flypads but the Flypads seem to be more durable. The important thing is to get a compactor and prepare the base under the pad as well as possible. The constant planting of feet near the front of the pad will create a dip after awhile... the better the base the less of a problem you'll have.

The issue of Tee pads comes up a lot here in Houston and most are against them. The problem is that when it rains you have to wear cleats which stink on most Tee pads.

I've wondered in the past if some of the newer high tech astroturfs that have more give and are more grass like might work for both. I've also seen "fake" dirt at some of the indoor soccer fields that is this finly meshed black rubber that if built up in a box would support both cleats and flatwear.

In Vegas that fake grass is $5 sq ft. It looks really nice. It's used on soccer & football fields here too. On the 4th of July the local news showed how easily it burns.