I had an absolute battle on my hands trying to get this into the ground. I don't think it's particularly hard ground here, but I think you could make the spike about 2 or 3 inches shorter and it still work, but make it much easier to get into the ground. I had to chisel out as much soil for as deep as I could before hitting it in. It works well now it's in. It's good quality. Very sturdy. Poor design.