Court Orientation Questions Checklist

Write down the times of day the court is most likely to be used, and by whom, rather than assuming it will be played on evenly from morning until dusk.

The direction a court runs is judged against the hours people genuinely play, so a vague answer here weakens every later discussion.

Note which parts of the year the court is expected to be in use, including whether play is meant to continue once the evenings draw in.

Low sun behaves quite differently in the darker part of the year, so a court used all round raises questions a summer court never does.

Record who will play on the court, at what level, and whether organised or competitive play is intended now or at any later point.

Level of play changes which guidance applies, and it is among the first things a specialist contractor and a governing body will ask about.

What applies to competitive play is for the relevant governing body to confirm and cannot be settled from a general description of use.

Note whether coaching, group sessions or junior play are expected, since people standing at the side face one direction for far longer than players do.

Coaches and onlookers occupy fixed positions, and sun in their eyes is regularly left out of an orientation discussion altogether.

Write down the hours when the court would be busiest, and whether those are the same hours at which the sun sits lowest over your site.

The overlap between busy hours and low sun is the whole reason orientation is discussed, and only you can supply the first half of it.

Note roughly how long a typical session runs and whether players change ends, since that decides how long anybody faces one direction without relief.

Sports where ends are swapped spread the effect of low sun, while sports that do not concentrate it on the same player throughout.

Stand on the proposed court area and note where the sun comes up and where it goes down, marking both directions on a simple sketch of the site.

A sketch marked with the sun at both ends of the day is immediately readable by anybody, and it asks nothing more than a walk outside.

Go out at the hours people would actually play and note where the sun sits and whether it is in your eyes when you face along each possible line of play.

This one observation, repeated at the right hours, is worth more than any amount of reasoning about compass directions done indoors.

Repeat the same observation in the darker part of the year, since the sun rises and sets in noticeably different places as the seasons turn.

A site judged only in high summer misleads badly, because the sun both sits lower and shifts along the horizon as the year moves on.

Photograph the view along each direction the court could run, taken from about eye level at the hours of heaviest expected use.

Photographs taken along the line of play show a specialist exactly what a player would be looking into, which no plan can convey.

Note any glass, water, pale render or parked vehicles that throw reflected light across the site at particular hours of the day.

Reflected light is easy to miss because it appears only briefly, and it shows up on no plan and no aerial image whatsoever.

Record the compass direction of each possible line of play, write it on the sketch, and draw no conclusion at all from what you have written.

A recorded direction lets a specialist apply whatever guidance applies to the sport, which is not something to work out for yourself.

Which orientation suits a given sport, level and location is for a specialist contractor and the relevant governing body to advise on.

List everything tall enough to throw shade over the proposed area, including the house, outbuildings, walls, hedges and trees on either side of the boundary.

Things beyond your own boundary cast shade you cannot remove, and they are the ones most often left off an early sketch.

Note at what times of day shade reaches the playing area and how it travels across it, rather than simply recording that the site is partly shaded.

Shade moving across a playing surface is a different matter from constant shade at one end, and only timed notes tell the two apart.

Note how much further shadows reach in the darker part of the year, when the sun sits lower and shadows lengthen considerably across the site.

A shade sketch made in summer understates the position badly, which matters most on sites hemmed in by buildings or tall growth.

Note which parts of the area stay damp longest under shade, since ground that dries unevenly tends to behave unevenly once it is played on.

Persistent damp under shade drives moss and slow drying, which are upkeep questions long before they are orientation questions.

Whether damp lying in one corner counts against a direction of play is for the specialist contractor to say, not to be read off the shade.

Note whether the things casting shade lose their leaves, since the shade pattern during the playing season may be nothing like the winter one.

A bare hedge and a hedge in full leaf are effectively two different obstructions on the same site at different points in the year.

Note which trees or hedges are still growing, which are outside your control, and which may be subject to local protection you would have to confirm.

Shade that will worsen as growth continues is a planning matter, and shade you are not free to remove is a constraint rather than a choice.

Whether a tree may be pruned or removed must be confirmed with the local authority and a qualified arboricultural professional.

Note the direction the wind usually comes from on this site, reading what you already observe from washing lines, flags, gates and leaning growth.

Vegetation leaning consistently one way is a long record of prevailing wind, and it can be read on a still day without waiting for weather.

Note whether wind funnels between buildings, along a hedge line or through a gap, since the effect on one part of a site can be quite local.

Funnelled wind explains why one position is unpleasant to play on while another a short walk away is perfectly comfortable.

Note which faces of existing buildings and fences show driving rain, moss or heavier weathering, and mark that direction on the same sketch.

Weathered faces show which direction wet weather arrives from, which bears on shelter, fencing and how often the court gets used.

Note where leaves, seeds and blown litter collect on the site now, since a fenced court tends to gather the same material in the same corner.

Debris drift becomes an upkeep burden once there is a surface to clear it from, and the pattern is visible long before the court exists.

Note whether the site is exposed or sheltered, and consider whether gaining shelter would take away the light you have just recorded.

Shelter and light frequently pull in opposite directions, and writing that tension down early stops it being discovered far too late.

Ask a specialist contractor what the wind exposure you have recorded would mean for any fencing, netting or windbreak being considered here.

What a fence, net or screen must withstand on an exposed site is for a qualified professional and the specialist contractor to determine.

Note the longest clear run of ground available and which direction it lies in, described against fixed features rather than measured precisely.

Most plots allow only one or two workable directions, which usually makes the sun discussion much shorter than people expect.

Note which way the ground falls across the proposed area, described simply as which end or which side sits lower than the rest.

The direction of fall interacts with both drainage and the line of play, and it can be observed without any instrument at all.

What any fall in the ground means for a court base is for a qualified professional and the specialist contractor to establish.

List everything standing within the proposed area at present, including drain covers, posts, poles, washing lines, hydrants and existing lighting.

Items in the middle of a proposed court are noticed on the ground and forgotten on paper, which is where the direction gets chosen.

Note what would have to be moved, taken down or rerouted for each possible direction, and keep those notes beside the sketch itself.

The direction that looks obvious on paper often turns out to require the most to be moved, and that only appears once it is listed out.

Ask a specialist contractor what space is needed around the playing area itself for this sport and level, rather than assuming the court ends at the lines.

Owners regularly plan around the marked area alone, yet the surrounding space is usually what decides whether a position works at all.

Margins around a playing area vary by sport, level and location and must be confirmed with the relevant governing body and a specialist contractor.

Draw every direction the court could realistically run onto one sketch, and keep all your sun, shade and wind notes on that same sheet.

Comparing directions on a single drawing makes the trade-offs visible in a way that separate notes reliably hide.

Note what a player would be looking towards along each possible direction, including windows, roads, livestock and neighbouring gardens.

The view along the line of play affects concentration and also how neighbours experience the court whenever it is being used.

Note where a ball leaving the playing area would most likely go for each direction, and write down what lies immediately beyond that point.

Where a stray ball ends up drives the whole fencing discussion, and it changes completely with the direction of play.

What containment a court needs is for the specialist contractor and the relevant governing body to advise on for the sport and level involved.

Note which direction sound would carry from the court, including whether any wall or building would reflect it back towards a dwelling.

Sound reflected off a hard boundary surprises people, and the line of play is one of the few things able to influence it.

Note which neighbouring windows and sitting areas would look onto the court from each direction, recording this before approaching anybody about it.

Having the outlook written down before any conversation keeps that conversation factual rather than defensive on both sides.

Note whether players would look into a neighbouring garden or be overlooked themselves, since both come up once a court is actually in use.

Privacy runs in both directions and the direction of play is often the only lever available once a position has been fixed.

Check any deeds, covenants or site agreements you hold for anything mentioning use of that part of the land, and confirm locally what applies.

What a covenant, deed or local requirement means for a court in this position is for a suitably qualified adviser and the local authority to confirm.

Bring one sketch carrying sun directions, shade pattern, wind direction, fall of the ground and candidate lines of play together on a single sheet.

A specialist reads the interactions between these things immediately from one drawing and loses them entirely across several.

Keep the date and the time of day with every photograph, since a picture of the court area says almost nothing without knowing when it was taken.

Undated pictures often weaken an otherwise careful record, and the missing date cannot be recovered afterwards.

Write down which matters most to you where these pull against each other, such as light in the evening, shelter from wind, or distance from a neighbour.

Trade-offs are unavoidable, and stating your priority beforehand stops somebody else quietly choosing it on your behalf.

Ask the specialist contractor which body sets any guidance on orientation for this sport and level, and how you would confirm it for your location.

Guidance on orientation varies by sport, level and location and must be confirmed with the relevant governing body.

Ask which of the site conditions you have recorded cannot be designed around, so that you learn early where the genuine limits lie.

Knowing what is fixed shortens the discussion quickly and stops effort going into positions that were never really available.

Keep your own preferred direction on a separate note, clearly marked as a preference, so that it does not colour the observations you hand over.

A clean record of what you saw is more useful to a specialist than a persuasive argument for the answer you already favour.