It's the Pits!

One of my projects this summer is to build horseshoe pits in my backyard.  I purchased a set of horseshoes last summer, stuck the stakes in the ground and dumped some playground sand around each one.  Being that we bought the house last year, that's about as much time as I had to spend on the pits.

This year we are doing some work on our deck and removed a bunch of old, weathered 2 x 6's.  I cut down the 2 x 6's and built two 3-sided "boxes" with each side measuring 4 feet.  My intention is to slightly bury the boxes, dig out where the sand will go and lay down some weedblocking landscape fabric.  This should prevent weeds from growing up through the sand and hopefully slow down the washing away of the sand into the dirt below.

Riding the Early Train this morning I was looking at pictures of horseshoe pits on my Blackberry and now I am wondering if I should take some more time, do some more planning and "do it right."  I came across what looks like the official measurements for horseshoe pits and realized there's more to it than I originally realized.

Below are a couple of pics that I may base my design on.  I'd like to try to repurpose as much of the wood from the deck as I can.

I like the fairly simple design of this one but it looks like the throwing platform is a little small.

I am liking the shelf on the back for holding "beverages."

Once I get started building the pits I'll post it up.  Cheers!