Help with clearing out a heavily wooded course.

[Trent B]

At the beginning of the year my brother, me and some friends started making a disc golf course on his property. We have 3 holes in place now but it has been alot of work to get those 3.

The area we're working with is HEAVILY wooded. We have to forge a path for every hole. The trees aren't the issue though. We can work around the trees and actually use them for the shots. The real burden is the underbrush. Saplings, thorns, dead trees(this area was partially logged) and all sorts of green viny plants.

Has anyone dealt with this with pure man power? We really don't wanna spend alot of money to rent a bobcat or hire someone. Just wondering if there is a quicker/easier way to deal with this that we don't see.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Gblambert]

My son and I cut our 18 hole course out of woods that were so thick we couldn't walk through the property without first cutting some paths. For the saplings, small cedars, brush and vines we used chainsaws with the bar set a couple of inches off the ground, sweeping them back and forth to cut everything in a small area to the ground. Then we'd drag the debris into a pile and burn it. We cleared 20+ acres using this process and it went surprisingly fast considering the large amount of vegetation we had to deal with.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Cover it all. Will take some time but smothering roots works well. Burning small piles areas always is a good idea for invasive stuff growing. Could call in local FD to see if they want to do a practice run.

 

[Trent B]

Idk lol. There are so many dead leaves and dead trees. I dont think a fire is a good idea. The tools we've been using are chainsaw,machete,axe,slingblade, and a good ole' fashion rake.

 

[DavidSauls]

The work isn't so much in the cutting, but in the removal of the cut vegetation. It has to be dragged to a pile well off the fairway, or burned, or hauled away, or something. This takes more time than the actual cutting.

The next issue is regrowth. Here, we use herbicides in some places, particularly where we can't mow repeatedly. Otherwise, all your hard work goes to waste in a few months.

The solace is that, where it's heavily wooded, hole construction is more work but, if the woods are shady enough, maintenance is less than in more sunlit areas.

One thing we did on some of our holes was build them in sections. We'd clear enough to build a play a short hole. Then we'd extend it. And extend it again. One of our holes started at 230' and matured at 630', but that took about 3 years, and 4 pin placements. Our most recent hole has a temporary tee; it might be two years until it grows to its permanent tee, which involves not only clearing backwards, but widening the fairway for the longer throws. You need a short-term and long-term plan for each hole, but one benefit is that as you play it in the short-term configuration, you might get better ideas and alter your plans about the long-term one.

 

[DavidSauls]

.....another thing we've done in places is, to begin with, chop everything knee-high and leave the debris in place. At first. It's quick and lets us see what we're doing and where we're going, and if it turns out we don't like it, that same regrowth that normally haunts us, will cover the scars of what we've done.

 

[UP Mountain Man]

Probably the second best money I've spent on my course was the first $80 daily rental for a Billygoat Brush mower.

The best money I've spent on my course was the purchase of a DR Field and Brush mower

 

[zontar]

Probably the second best money I've spent on my course was the first $80 daily rental for a Billygoat Brush mower.

The best money I've spent on my course was the purchase of a DR Field and Brush mower

yes! two days with one of these and you'll make incredible progress.

 

[Trent B]

This is some of the work we've already done.

 

[DavidSauls]

That's some mighty impressive work by hand.

 

[Trent B]

A custom basket made by my brother's friend. Stop sign, grill top, pole, and chains. It's also on a pulley so we can raise and lower it.

 

[Trent B]

This is the kind of foliage we're dealing with. Pictures don't really do it justice. You really have to be able to walk around to appreciate how dense this is. Any tips would be MUCH appreciated! The push-hog is a good idea, we'll have to talk about ponying up the dough for one.

I will continue to record our progress!

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

I was picturing much worse. Looks like chainsaw work to me. Although I have heard good things about the billy goat or brush ox, probably worth looking into.

A couple guys with chainsaws and a fire pit is how I do it. It doesn't go fast, it's not easy work, but I love it and it's so rewarding.

 

[Trent B]

We only have one chainsaw and to be honest it's kinda puny. We only really use it to cut down bigger trees.

I've been wanting to purchase an additional one with a longer blade. Any suggestions of a brand? Preferably nothing over $250.

We never really thought to try the chain saw for clearing the undergrowth.

Ideally we want to have every hole where a mower can go over it. This will simplify our maintenance.

 

[Wendell Baker]

That's mighty impressive clearing. Seriously. Those look refined. I'd be inclined to chainsaw what you want cleared and open it to fellow disc golfers and let them play and clear. Or hire goats. I'm not joking. There's people around here who can drop off goats and those subs of batches eat all the underbrush. Google it it's impressive.

 

[Trent B]

We've been using alot of strong herbicide to assist us but on the holes that are almost complete a mower has been taking that position. If you get it to where you can mow it, you're golden.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

Brand of chainsaw? I'm a stihl guy, something like the ms170 will be in your price range and have enough power to handle pretty much anything involving brush clearing and small trees, or step it up slightly and get the 250, my old 250 ran a good life, never found anything it couldn't handle, now I have the 039 and I wouldn't recommend clearing brush all day with that hog unless you're working on building up your forearm muscles - brush up on your chainsaw safety, wear proper ppe, and be safe one slip or bad kickback and you might not make it to the hospital. Other than that, have fun, running power equipment and burning **** while creating disc golf fairways is about my favorite thing ever

 

[discoriented]

Have you tried a straight shaft weed wacker? Look for one that will take a glorified saw blade and has a shoulder strap. I've got a Craftsman that I've had for years and cleared many a fairway. It also has a head that takes just a single piece of trimming line, about 16" long. I much prefer it to the spools for ease of changing and it's also a thicker gauge of line. Not sure what's out there these days but they can be had for about $150. Good luck!

 

[New013]

Rent goats


Yea that's a real thing


Yea I'm serious