Backyard Course Southern Style

[NTA_Shawn]

It's looking good, are you going to run wiring for lights?

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Thanks!
I plan to. I have some of those "old timey" looking Christmas lights that are LEDs. They put off a decent amount of light and plan to run a few strings in the tree. I have a few strings on my back porch and work quite well giving off just enough light.
I just have to figure out the power situation (or lack there of) for the lights and possible water pump(s). I plan to add a few outdoor outlets this fall for my Christmas light displays and can tie into it there instead of having to run a long extension cord.

 

[NTA_Shawn]

After a good early Saturday morning thunderstorm and a nice downpour today, I broke down and got a pump. My whole yard hold water towards the middle and rear (where the course is). The course is under about 3-5" of water and I haven't been able to use it in two weeks because of it. I was going to Lowes to get the pump when my car got stuck to frame in the wet yard. Good thing I still have my '01 Ram 4x4 to pull it out. 30mins later I'm on my way to Lowe's; muddy, wet and aggravated. I handed over about $150 for a 1/3hp, 25gpm pump, 100' 14ga outdoor extension cord and gfci box. I hooked up a dual hose outlet, hoses and ran them towards the street. I took some weed fabric and made a screen to keep the debris out of the pump to make sure it runs at its full potential. Its going to take a while, but hopefully by Tuesday afternoon I can crawl again. I will run it till I go to bed tonight, after work tomorrow and whatever else it takes to drain it out.
Going to get some more dirt and flowers this Friday to fill in the flower garden. Hopefully once I get it filled in the water will divert away from the course and into the neighbor's yard.

 

[NTA_Shawn]

I really don't want to be spending this much money on the course right now. But I guess its preventative maintenance that will pan out in the long run. I did get to put a Wraith front sway bar kit on the Ascender a week or so ago. I was in the process of testing it on the course when the bottom fell out on me (rain). Thanks to Natedog and Itali83 for their help and pictures of theirs. It took me longer to find the parts at the LHS than it did to put them all on. From what little time I did crawl after the install, I did see some change in torque twist. Hoping for better weather soon to try it out fully.

 

[TAT76]

Wow that's a lot of water, sucks for sure.. I would almost pull everything out and use dirt and gravel to raise the area above so water would flow down and into neighbor's.

 

[Itali83]

Thanks for the shout out and the sway bar looks good. I'm going to hopefully start a home course myself this summer as I'm building a berm around my backyard that'll be about 8' high of gravel and fill. I want to build my course into this so it'll have some good elevation changes already there. Just need the sculpt it. Sucks about the water in your yard though.
Ben

 

[skinnyj]

After a good early Saturday morning thunderstorm and a nice downpour today, I broke down and got a pump. My whole yard hold water towards the middle and rear (where the course is). The course is under about 3-5" of water and I haven't been able to use it in two weeks because of it. I was going to Lowes to get the pump when my car got stuck to frame in the wet yard. Good thing I still have my '01 Ram 4x4 to pull it out. 30mins later I'm on my way to Lowe's; muddy, wet and aggravated. I handed over about $150 for a 1/3hp, 25gpm pump, 100' 14ga outdoor extension cord and gfci box. I hooked up a dual hose outlet, hoses and ran them towards the street. I took some weed fabric and made a screen to keep the debris out of the pump to make sure it runs at its full potential. Its going to take a while, but hopefully by Tuesday afternoon I can crawl again. I will run it till I go to bed tonight, after work tomorrow and whatever else it takes to drain it out.
Going to get some more dirt and flowers this Friday to fill in the flower garden. Hopefully once I get it filled in the water will divert away from the course and into the neighbor's yard.

Man... That sucks. I'm lucky. My property has a slight slope to it, so all my runoff goes across the alley and winds up in my neighbor's garage.

 

[NTA_Shawn]

Wow that's a lot of water, sucks for sure.. I would almost pull everything out and use dirt and gravel to raise the area above so water would flow down and into neighbor's.

That's my future plan.

Was talking to the cool neighbor yesterday and we are going to split a dump truck load or two of dirt to fill the low area of our yards. His low area and my low area meet at our fence. The water really sits in those areas and its going to be a mess of mosquitos real soon. Hopefully I will have enough extra cash for some more dirt to raise the entire course. But for now, I am hoping when I finish the flower garden (dam) it will help out a good bit.



Came home today and the course is not soaked! The ground is a bit mucky; hoping to crawl some tomorrow..... Its now 8pm and an unexpected thunderstorm came up from the Gulf of Mexico. :shock: Hopefully this won't last long so I won't have to pump the area tomorrow and I can get some crawling in. The ground is SOAKED and I'm ready for some warm sunny days.

 

[Mike Flea]

Make a storm drain for your layout. Dig a hole, put your sump pump down in it and run some piping out to the street or wherever there's a natural swail that runs away from your course. I'd recommend not sending it towards your neighbors house, no matter how much you and him don't get along. I don't know what your laws are where you live, but if he feels you're doing it deliberately, he can take legal action against you. I've been working for a munincipality for the last 25 years, I see this stuff all the time, and 9 out of 10 times the offender loses.

 

[Bl-air]

^^^^^^^^^ *2

Irritating neighbors only get worse when by-law gets involved.

Of course they won't notice that you made every effort to not flood their property though either.

 

[NTA_Shawn]

I am going to dig a hole and put a 2gal bucket in it with the pump in it and put some sort of screen over it to keep out the debris. I have been running hoses to the street when I pump out the water. Its about a 100' run to the street and right at the street is a small berm. That's good to prevent street flooding into the yard, but keeps yard water in so I have to run hose all the way to the street. Im not pumping into the neighbors yard, but some water may be diverted into his yard when the flowerbed and course raising is done.

 

[HighToy]

These are cool courses. A buddy of mine is working on one now that is tied into his waterfall (fountain).

You could also probably dig a small trough under that big root as well to let water through.

 

[NTA_Shawn]

These are cool courses. A buddy of mine is working on one now that is tied into his waterfall (fountain).

You could also probably dig a small trough under that big root as well to let water through.

That's a good idea too. But there is an even bigger root just out of view that's an issue as well. I would have to see how deep they go into the ground and dig two troughs. I may take a look at that today. I got some scrap 4" pvc pipe I could cut to make it happen.... off to the drawing boards!!

 

[High Angle Five]

All great ideas! I'm looking to do a small backyard course, might grab some scrap wood tomorrow and start building.

 

[NTA_Shawn]

I haven't had much progress with the course since my last update. Family, weather vacations etc...
I have found a source of some rocks, but have to travel an hour or so for them. So that will probably be a weekend trip or ten. I have started raising up the course over this winter some with bags of dirt & mulch got on discount. Its amazing people will discount a bag of dirt with a hole in it. You have to put a hole in it to empty it... and there's little to no dirt loss from the bag. The plan to go in on a dump truck of dirt with the neighbor has been put on hold. So I am working from the back of the track (yard) to the front with fill bag dirt. Eventually I can get to the point where the sump pump will not be needed and all of the water will just run off the property into the street.
Then comes to the point that I got to run the wooden part of the course with a buddy's SCX10 II with weighted tires. I now will be doing some redesign of the angles and such to make it more challenging.
Other than that, no issues or complaints from the neighbors. The climbing roses took well to the lattice and looked quite nice when full and blooming & hid the course fairly well from street view.

 

[CherokeeBilly]

i am in the process of buying a house on 1.2 acres way out in the country. My wife is going to hate that I'm on this thread LOL time to start planning my course. Very nice BTW.