Teepad Material Suggestions

[otterprods]

First off: sorry if this is a redundant question. I did search around a bit and found some good info about tee pad, and even an 'ask the expert' featuring some well know course designer (I assume). None of it answered my question directly though at the level I need…

I have a pretty rustic 9 hop, par 3 course that a neighborhood group just build around our lakebed here in Palmer Lake, CO. I have volunteer to "adopt" one of the holes to maintain and improve it over time. The firs thing it needs (as well as all the other holes too) is a good material for a tee pad. Tight now it's just a railroad tie sunk in the dirt, with weeds around it. The weeds and the leveling of the dirt I can handle. The rr tie seems fins as a marker for now. So I'll just need to pour or lay some sort of surface to make it more level and clear. Suggestions?

I thought about one of these heavy duty rubber livestock mats which would hold up well over time and not blow away, but it may be too slick. I also thought about some fake putting green turf, but there's a lot of work to prepare the surface and fix it so it won't blow away or be kicked around. Or perhaps just a concrete pad with some texturing on top? Is there some standardized gold standard for tee pads? And perhaps some cheaper but still really viable options to consider? It doesn't need to be a pro course, but I don't want to use cheap materials and have them be ill suited for their purpose and/or quickly destroyed. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

[markmcc]

It seems like the gold standard is a concrete teepad with a textured surface to make it slip resistant. Something like a broomed finish. Lot of discussion regarding size, but minimum seems to be about 4' wide and 8 - 10' long. Premium get up to 5-6' wide and 12-14'long. Some folks prefer tapered pads, etc. but a good 4' x 8' concrete pad will satisfy most.

 

[giles]

I've played on a tee that was a treated lumber platform with astro turf/putt putt grass stapeld down. It was on a private course in durango on a tee that would have been too much trouble to level.

Not sure on the cost but for a private course it would probably do the trick. If I were doing it, I would use screws to mount the top to the buried posts so it could be easily moved or reused.

 

[Cgkdisc]

8 feet long is too short unless it's a "stand and deliver" downhill hole. There's an actual reason why the rule for your release point on a natural pad has to be within 3 meters of the front line because 3m is just under 10 feet. That is in reference to 10 feet being the low end of normal length for a rubber or concrete pad.

 

[jrawk]

suggest going with the livestock rubber pads. Sure, they get slippery when wet, but sounds like this is a course that non-locals wouldn't typically play during foul weather.

 

[notroman]

Our local course recently framed up some teepads using 2x4s and plywood sheet on top, then rubber mats screwed to the top of the plywood. They then buried the pads into the ground to make them flush. They work great.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

^ those look good, but I wonder how well the plywood will hold up after repeated soakings over the years. I suppose it has a lot to do with how well the soil drains - may not be as big a maintenance problem as I think, just wondering.

 

[notroman]

The rubber mats will stretch over time which is why they're screwed onto the plywood and not glued. They're meant to be unscrewed every few years to be re-applied to address any stretching/snagging issues. I suppose you can also inspect the plywood at the time and replace if necessary.

 

[BionicRib]

Our local course recently framed up some teepads using 2x4s and plywood sheet on top, then rubber mats screwed to the top of the plywood. They then buried the pads into the ground to make them flush. They work great.

The only problem with the top pic (assuming it is built like a deck (wood underneath instead of limestone)) is that rubber mats need to be rotated like tires to maximize their lifespan. Mokena is a good example of this......twice a year they lift those pads up, rotate, flip and resurface the limestone underneath. With all those screws that are in that wooden frame it would be an absolute pain to back them all out (if they were not rusted) to rotate them. Summit IL is a prime example of why you do not screw the rubber mat into the frame........those pads are sinking because there is limestone/or some other base that has washed away and there is no way to get underneath there to level it out.

Proper installation of a rubber pad really just requires 6 to 8 long pins and level limestone. If you want to make it look nicer you can frame the outside of the teepad (build a leveling box more or less with drainage) and place the rubber within the frame....not on the frame. Oakbrooks old nine hole course had rubber pads that were built on a deck like frame and ran a screw into the frame all the way around (like 60 screws) and before the course got pulled the tees were starting to rip and tear. Also the deck underneath the rubber didn't let the water drain properly (thats why you use limestone) thats why it took about a day after a rain for them to dry completely.

 

[BionicRib]

^that top pic looks almost identical to Oakbrooks old pads. Sure they will do the trick, but they won't last as long as they would if you could rotate them like tires.

 

[Peterb]

The gold standard for tee pads is concrete with a brushed finish. They can last 20+ years and have little to no maintenance. There really isn't a better alternative. If you have the ability and permission to build concrete pads, do not waste any time on anything else.

 

[BionicRib]

pavers can work too.......very time consuming and need to be done right though.

 

[Kenny53691]

I've played on a tee that was a treated lumber platform with astro turf/putt putt grass stapeld down. It was on a private course in durango on a tee that would have been too much trouble to level.

One of our local courses had some astro turf and we took some of it up because one day is started raining during league night and most of the guys about fell on it because it was getting too slick. I don't know if all astro turf is that way though.

 

[EWSdiscgolf]

I say concrete. They last tons of years until they finally ware away.

 

[storyboy]

Our college just built a new 18 hole course and they used a rubber material with texture built into the material. It's awesome stuff, but I don't know what its called. And its covered in snow right now so I can't take pictures.

 

[otterprods]

Lots of great suggestions on here, thanks everyone! So it looks like the consensus is concret (5x10 or larger - esp. in length) with a brushed finish. That would be really hard to do on my own since it's more concrete than I can carry down there and mix up in a wheel barrel realistically. Plus I'd need extra help because I'm not that good at framing and laying professional concrete that will be even and won't crack over time.

I like the paver idea, because that's something I could just chip away at over time and people could still play while it's in progress.

Pre fabricating some sort of wood thing and then attaching turf to it sounds do-able, but I worry about involving wood ether way.

The cow mat may be the easiest thing. They're only $20 per mat, won't blow away easily, will last a long time and hold up outside in extreme weather pretty well. The drawbacks are that they can get slick when wet and they're only 4x8.

So I'm really leaning toward the pavers, but if that start looking cost-prohibitve when you x it by 9 or eventually 18, maybe just the mats. Concrete pads sound great, but I don;t see the city even allowing cement and other work trucks down there, much less the expense of it.

I'm only doing one hole right now, so the cost won;t be really high in any case. But part of what I'm doing is setting a standard for the rest of the holes down the road. Thanks agin everyone. I'll rep as I can.

 

[Kenny53691]

This is what was used that the Osage Grove course near Cincinnati, OH
Teepads : 4x6 PT lumber, from 84 lumber - @ $1500($83/tee)
2 rolls Fly18 rubber for 18 5x10 tees = @ $ 2700($150/tee)
@ 30 tons of gravel(2 types) - provided by park(@$50/ton)
Concrete currently runs for about @ $100 per cubic yard, then add the framing which could be about $15 per tee x 18 = $270. there are several concrete calculators to use once you decided what size tee for the course, just google it. Then you have to figure out how you can transport the materials to each tee area, this varies greatly depending on access to course. We and most use heavy equipment to do this and that can get costly if the parks don`t already own the equipment(skid steer). More details that can lower or increase costs, gimmie a call sometime to chat about it if ya like. Hope this helps. I always prefer concrete but with Goshen it was more feasible and less costly for the rubber ones. I would consider nothing smaller than 6'x12'x4" as a nominal tee size and go from there. Shorter holes can have a shorter size as so would longer holes have a larger tee based on the shot required. Hope this helps.

 

[BionicRib]

I would say atleast 5 by 12 for concrete. (the cost isn't that much more). The wood for the leveling boxes can vary depending on how level or unlevel each tee needs to be. If you order rubber from fly pad you'll only be able to get 5 by 10 (which kinda stinks).

Launch pads who hasn't been active had the ability to customize the roll size a little better, I've heard they are still around, but you just have to know how to get in contact with them. (I suggest looking in the old pdga magazines when they were made out of paper........they used to have ads in there and I don't think the guys number have changed.)

Fly pads are more durable, but launch pad is a better surface that breaths/drains better (thus they don't last as long as flypad)

Concrete is definitely the way to go though if you have the money for it.