How to Build a Horseshoe Court

So it's a new season the suns out and you have decided to put in some new horseshoe courts. Here are a few tips & pictures from my horseshoe court installation.

The first thing you need to do is chose a location. Keep in mind you need about 48ft of flat ground, try to avoid areas which flood during the wet weather. Keep in mind the suns location during the evening hours when your will most likely be pitching(it's tough to see the stake when the sun is shining directly in your eyes) , locate it away from trees which might interfere with the flight of the horseshoe. If you live in a windy location try to locate the courts in an area which may be more sheltered from the wind. And lastly try to keep in mind horseshoe courts can become a trip hazard at night so you might want to locate your courts along the sides or back of the property

The horseshoe court I installed utilizes a railroad tie as the post base. This design has long been the standard method used in horseshoe court construction. More recently some people have been using the 5 gallon bucket full of cement method but using this method greatly reduces the life of your horseshoes along with causing many ringers to bounce off because they are too rigid.

The materials I used are two 30" stakes, one 8 ft railroad tie, 4 pressure treated 2" by 8" by 8ft , two mounting plates, eight 3/8 lag screws, bunch of 3'' wood screws, four fence post mounts,

The equipment used was skill saw, 15/16 drill, drill, hammer, level, 50ft tape measure, large hammer (sledge)

 

First thing I did was make make up my post assemblies. I cut the railroad tie in half. Chainsaw works great but this can also be done with a skill saw. Wow does this stuff smoke when cut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a cardboard cut-out of the proper angle the stake should lean forward at 12 deg. Then used it to set my drill at the proper angle. I drilled it about 7 inches deep as trying not to go all the way through. Tie measured 6" by 8" More on that later. TIP Before drilling the hole make sure there are no major cracks or rotten areas where you will be drilling the hole. I must confess I did not have a 15/16" drill so I used a 7/8" and worked the hole out to size. The danger is if you do not work it out enough you could crack the tie when pounding in the horseshoe stake. The goal is a 15/16" hole

 

 

In this picture I used my card board cutout to set the angle of the stake before driving it into the block. I also marked the stake at 7 inches the same depth as the hole I drilled. I pounded the stake into the block until I felt resistance. Tip It is best when you get close to the line to check the underside to make sure the block is not bulging that would mean you went too far. If you did go too far no big deal just tap the bottom flat and carry on. I will address the solution to drilling too far or all the way through further down.

 

 

 

Once the stake is in place slide the retainer plate over the top. Drill the proper hole size for 3/8 lag screw then bolt down the plate in 4 places. The purpose of the plate is to stop the hole in the tie from becoming enlarged from the constant pounding. If you need some they are available on our products page. Tip When pounding the stake in use a good piece of wood between the stake and the sledge hammer this will stop the top of the stake from getting rolled over from teh pounding

 

 

 

I have the stake assemblies made now time to make the boxes. My goal was to make the boxes to have an outside finish dimension of 3ft by 5 ft. So I cut off 33" off each 2 by 8. Screwed all the boxes together. I chose this size of pit because I was planning to use clay in my courts. I will have 3ft in front of the stake and 2 ft behind the stake. You can go longer 6ft if you wish, but the longer it is the more material you have to fill it with.

 

 

 

I rough positioned the frames measuring from the back of the frames 44ft. I used the tape measure to also align them straight to each other by running it down one side

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dug out both pit areas about 5 -6 inches deep. The nice thing about spring installations the topsoil separates easily. I keep the grass to one side to fill in some low spots around my yard. Tip don't be shy on the dig out make sure it is big enough to only ave to set the frame in a few times.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have set my frame in made sure it was level in all directions. I also dug out my second level for the railroad tie. The depth will be aproximatley deep enough for the top of the tie to sit flush with your first pit dig out. As you can see at the bottom of this digout I put a 1' by 1' patio stone. Remember up above when I said more later. The patio stone is to stop the stake from dropping down on you in the future if you drilled the hole too far or through. In this case the railroad tie I was using was not the best so I was not taking any chances. A nice large flat rock will also work for this.

 

 

The goal is to have the stake sit 14-15 inches from the top of the pit material. Since the pit is not filled yet we use the top of the frame as the guide to set the stake height. With the stake assembly in place I verify the height of the stake. I used an old bed frame laid across the court box to get the proper dimension.

 

 

 

 

 

I have positioned the stake assembly, measured the stake from the front of the court to the front of the stake at 36" From side to side at 18" I made sure by using a level the tie was sitting flat. This will ensure the proper lean, And by using the level on the side of the stake made sure it was not leaning side to side. Now I packed in dirt around the stake assembly packing it in solid quite often as I went. Tip Keep checking the level to make sure you did not move the stake when packing it in.

 

 

Now it is time to do the final alignment on the box. You have the stakes set 40 ft apart. you have each box 36 inches in front of the stake. Now you want to make sure they are in line with each other. Put a nail in the back corner of each pit (same side) Now tie a string to one nail then pull it tight to the other nail. Use this straight line to tap you frames until the string goes right down middle of the outside board. Now you have them in line go ahead and fill in around the outside of the frame and fill in the inside area until you are about 6 inches from the top. That's as far as I have got so far hope to have the remander of the pictures up next week