Extra clearance when shoveling snow from tee pads

[Deaf Leopard]

I noticed at my local disc haven that the tees would have dried and drained better if the snow had been shoveled an additional foot away from the borders. This would allow the sun and air to melt any residual ice and clears a path for the water to soak up in the ground when up-hill and run away from the pads.
It's a lot of work when clearing 18 spots but it seems like it would have been worth it in the long run.

 

[LeewayeDiscGolf]

It all just depends on who happens to get there first and if they have any tools at their disposal. A lot of times my son and I will get to the course first only to have not brought along a broom or shovel. We will clear as best we can with an old disc or our feet. Other times we will show up too late only to find the tee a treaded down sheet of ice. Alot of our tees also are surrounded by woodchips, so clearing an extra foot or two requires not tossing all the woodchips with the snow. I'm all for the clearing of extra space to allow safer footing and better drainage/meltage, it all just comes down to who is doing the clearing of the tee.

 

[MarkDSM]

I have been doing a ton of snow clearing this winter and do take pride in it.

Extra shovel around the pad is good, but I weigh how clean I get the tees against fatigue and how I think the snow will melt and blow back. My local courses are quite hilly as it is and adding in walking through snow, carrying a shovel, and cardio recovery after clearing a nasty pad.. it can be draining.

I think one of the smartest things is to clear a patch behind the teepad for helping to stomp snow off boots. Knocking the snow off benches and stumps is classy too.

//I do get slightly annoyed if a group beat me to the course and stomp packed snow on a teepad.
(much extra work) I say, if you are not shoveling a snowy pad, throw from the side or behind the pad. (probably better footing if not clearing the pad anyway)

 

[Disc Golf Live]

I have been doing a ton of snow clearing this winter and do take pride in it.

Extra shovel around the pad is good, but I weigh how clean I get the tees against fatigue and how I think the snow will melt and blow back. My local courses are quite hilly as it is and adding in walking through snow, carrying a shovel, and cardio recovery after clearing a nasty pad.. it can be draining.

I think one of the smartest things is to clear a patch behind the teepad for helping to stomp snow off boots. Knocking the snow off benches and stumps is classy too.

//I do get slightly annoyed if a group beat me to the course and stomp packed snow on a teepad.
(much extra work) I say, if you are not shoveling a snowy pad, throw from the side or behind the pad. (probably better footing if not clearing the pad anyway)

Word. I carry a shovel and plastic sled in my car all winter. Hate to get there after a bunch of yayhoos has trampled the pads and walked all over the fairway.

Only addition I'd make is to note that good sense dictates that players walk in a single path as much as possible, the fewer footprints out there, the easier it is to find plastic.

Bring on Spring. I'm tired of roller-free rounds, although I would note a few shorter holes are easier for me with a snowler than a roller.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

I have been doing a ton of snow clearing this winter and do take pride in it.

Extra shovel around the pad is good, but I weigh how clean I get the tees against fatigue and how I think the snow will melt and blow back. My local courses are quite hilly as it is and adding in walking through snow, carrying a shovel, and cardio recovery after clearing a nasty pad.. it can be draining.

I think one of the smartest things is to clear a patch behind the teepad for helping to stomp snow off boots. Knocking the snow off benches and stumps is classy too.

//I do get slightly annoyed if a group beat me to the course and stomp packed snow on a teepad.
(much extra work) I say, if you are not shoveling a snowy pad, throw from the side or behind the pad. (probably better footing if not clearing the pad anyway)

This is word for word what i would have said.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

We put a sign up at one of our courses politely asking people to clear the tees OR tee off from next to them.

Suprisingly it's worked pretty well. We've seen several sets of footprints next to tees and even picked up a mystery shovelperson that has cleared off all 28 tees without every taking credit/announcing it.

 

[JC17393]

I try to shovel extra areas around the tee pads, for all of the reasons already stated (drainage/melting, area for players to stomp snow so it's not tracked onto the pad, etc). But the biggest reason I do it is in preparation/anticipation of getting more snow. If the only part that gets shoveled is the rubber/concrete of the pad, eventually it's going to become a foxhole in the snow. A foxhole that eventually will start to shrink on itself. My goal is to have twice the area of the actual pad cleared of snow, allowing for an area to walk onto the pad, and area to follow through in front as well as some space on either side as well.

It's the same mentality I use when plowing the driveway...push the snow as far back as I can each time I do it so there's room to put the snow from the next storm.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Unless you're the one schlepping around the shovel and doing all the hard work, don't complain that the pads aren't cleared well enough for you. :\

But thanks for the snow clearing tips.

 

[Future_Primitive]

Unless you're the one schlepping around the shovel and doing all the hard work, don't complain that the pads aren't cleared well enough for you. :\

Hopefully there is more to your story, like the part where you opted to finish off the job they started and made extra clearance to allow for melting. Otherwise I would tend to agree with Jukeshoe above.

I spent my lunch hour yesterday shoveling off as many pads as I could in the short time I had. I tried to remove the snow immediately around the pads so it didnt melt and flow back on them. But the snow was wet and thick and took longer than I had hoped, so I could only do 10 pads and wasnt able to get a full 6"-12" of extra clearance like I hoped on every pad. So it was either 6-7 pads with the extra clearance around pads or 10 clean pads with minimal allowance around the pads, chose 10 pads vs 6-7 pads.

Maybe they who cleared your pads had similar time constraints. Heck, I am happy when I see someone else has been there and shoveled at all.