How long are horseshoe pits

Download Article Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Things You'll Need. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Gather the necessary materials. To build a single pit for casual games, use half of the materials listed here. Cut your lumber to the appropriate size. Do the same for the 2 6 ft 1. Together, these components will form the basic structure of your horseshoe pit.

Use a circular saw to cut your boards quickly and efficiently. Assemble the frame and fasten it with deck screws. Put the 2 48 in cm pieces and the 2 36 in 91 cm pieces together to create the basic outline for the frame. Drive the wood screws through the outer face of the shorter segments into the longer ones to fasten the frame. Part 2. Set aside a stretch of flat, open ground to situate your pit or pits. If you're only building 1 pit, pick out a site where you'll have plenty of room to stand back and throw comfortably.

If you're building 2 pits for competitive play, choose a location that offers at least 48 feet 15 m , including 2 feet 0. Each pit will be roughly 6 feet 1. Set up your frames where you plan on digging the pits.

There should be a distance of 36 feet 11 m between the front edge of each frame. This will make it easier to see if one of the frames is off-center. Mark the ground along the outer perimeter of each frame. The markings will serve as a visual aid to help you get your pits positioned correctly. You should be left with two rectangular outlines. Dig a pit 7—8 inches 18—20 cm deep inside each outline. Do your best to keep the edges of the pit within the rectangular markings. The idea behind making the pits slightly deeper than the width of the boards is to allow the frame to sit just below the playing surface.

Lower the frames into the pits. If you followed the dimensions of the outlines carefully while digging, the frames should fit perfectly. Part 3. Drive a metal stake into the center of each pit. This will provide room for arcing shoes. Instead, get a set purpose-made for pitching from any sporting goods store. The four shoes will be painted in two different colors to help contestants distinguish their shoes. The stakes are made of soft steel or iron. They should be one inch in diameter and 36 inches long.

You should get two stakes with your horseshoe set. If not, in a pinch, you can use two lengths of 1-inch diameter iron rebar. Sand is a cheap, readily available pit fill material that meets NHPA standards. The association will also approve clay, dirt, and some synthetic pit material. The key is that the pit fill should be at least 4 inches deep. For in-ground pits such as the one described here, the NHPA recommends 8 inches of fill. Each regulation horseshoe pit is between 43 inches and 72 inches long and 31 inches to 36 inches wide.

The exact horseshoe pit dimensions are up to you. They just have to within those parameters. After deciding on the pit size, cut the boards to appropriate lengths for the pit sides and ends using the saw. To frame two inch by inch pits, for instance, cut four inch boards and four inch boards.

Mark the dimensions of the pits and dig a trench around the perimeter. Make it deep enough to bury the boards flush with the ground. Nail or screw the boards together and place them in the trenches. Fill in with dirt on the outside of the pits to secure the boards. Excavate the interior of the pit frames to a depth of 4 inches to 8 inches. Line the bottom of the pits with the landscape fabric to suppress weeds. As you can see at the bottom of this cutout I put a 1' by 1' patio stone. A few pictures ago I mentioned if you went too far with your drilled hole I would tell you how to fix it.

The patio stone right underneath the stake will stop the horseshoe stake from dropping on you in the future a commen problem in horseshoe pits. With the stake assembly in place I verify the height of the stake at inches is the target number. I used an old bed frame laid across the court box to get the proper dimension.

Any long straight item will work. 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 quite often as I went. Tip Keep checking the level and tape measure 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. 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 at the front until the string goes right down the middle of the outside boards. 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.

The box has been lined up and ready for pit material. Before I added any I cut out a piece of plywood and laid it on the bottom of the pit. I then added a piece of plastic. The plywood bottom is to act as a divider between the pit material and the regular ground.

The plastic is designed to help hold in the water. Since I am putting in clay pits and clay needs water to stay soft the plastic will help keep it moist. If you are using sand as the pit material don't use plastic but the plywood bottom is a good idea. Now time to fill in the box with your pit material. This is one of my pits filled with clay. On my clay pits I generally keep the middle high at the proper height and keep the sides and front lower. As the clay gets pounded down it works towards the outside and back and you just keep moving it back to the middle.

As a rough idea, you will need about five to six bags for each pit setup. You can now grab your professional horseshoe set and start pitching. Could you imagine summer without enjoying a fun horseshoes game set up in the backyard?

Horseshoes is one of those classic backyard games that will never grow old. But for a proper game, you need a proper pit. In our step by step guide we hope we were able to answer questions like, how do you set up one?

Here is a recap of the set up and the horseshoe game measurements:. And here are the horseshoe pit materials you will need to build your own according to the above pit specs ….

From learning horseshoe pit design to building and setting up your boxes, it all matters towards the success of your game. While you could enjoy horseshoes by merely sticking two stakes into the ground, official horseshoe pits will add professional flair and will make you the star of the neighborhood. Now that you know what it takes to build a horseshoe pit , grab your horseshoe set, get concepts into action, and impress everyone with your lawn gamer skills!

To get the most fun out of your outdoors time — make sure to check out our other backyard games articles about ladder ball rules and best ladder ball sets to choose from….

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