Palm Springs, CA tennis
- Thread starter mario58
- Start date
LuckyR
Legend
Nope, but report back with your review.
TW Staff
Administrator
I grew up in the desert area and the JW Marriott has a really cool feature where you can play tennis on hard, clay, and grass courts. The club has twenty courts so there will always be some available. The club is run by the Peter Burwash International group and the tennis director is Jim Leupold. I know they offer private lessons as well as clinics. There use to be a "fun wall" that is an interactive wall you can hit against (like hitting at lighted targets), however I am not sure if that is still there. I love the surrounding area with the snow on the mountains and the great weather. Don't forget while you are at the JW Marriott to take the boat ride to dinner one night!
Brittany, TW
JW Marriott -- I assume you mean Palm Desert and not Palm Springs. Are you staying in the Desert Springs Villas I or II or the Hotel.
If you are staying in Villas II you get free tennis. Otherwise DSV I and the hotel require that you pay. The folks at the tennis shop will provide free player matching. Check in with them regardless and have them put your name on the available list since they will call you to fill in on "a page". You can also start your own "page" and they will find players for you to play with.
It's a great facility!!
If you are staying in Villas II you get free tennis. Otherwise DSV I and the hotel require that you pay. The folks at the tennis shop will provide free player matching. Check in with them regardless and have them put your name on the available list since they will call you to fill in on "a page". You can also start your own "page" and they will find players for you to play with.
It's a great facility!!
How much did a lesson with Jim cost? Thanks.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Ironwood
Professional
Considering an RCI timeshare exchange into Palm Springs this fall and looking for one of the RCI resorts with a decent tennis facillity. The two most promissing from the research I can do on-line appear to be Palm Springs Tennis Club and Desert Isle of Palm Springs. They are not tennis camps, but are resorts with decent looking courts....at least on the basis of the stock photo on-line. Would love to be able to book the JW Marriott, but it's not available to me on a trade. Does anyone have any experience with either resort above?
I usually stay at the fancy La Quinta Resort when I'm down in the desert (mostly for their clay courts), but I hear good things about the Palm Springs Tennis Club, with their 11 hardcourts, matchmaking, and lots of pools and hot tubs. Desert Isle only has 2 hardcourts. Both places look great, but if I had a choice, I'd go to the Tennis Club.
i've played there. i highly recommend it. the grass court is terrific, and the entire place is maintained beautifully. the best part may be the staff. jim leopold has some records for longest rallies (the destroyed balls from that record are on display in the lounge area of the pro shop). terrific guy. actually the best part of the whole facility is the staff. there is a (sporting goods store) down the road (google it) with an indoor court and 20+ current rackets to demo. so, since it's hotter than &#@! in that area during summer, what i do is hit the courts first thing in the morning for 3 sets in the heat, then go to the indoor facility nearby to demo some rackets indoors.
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topspinlob
Rookie
my wife and I will be visiting Palm Springs in a couple of weeks.. are there any courts that have drop-in tennis? or places to play some "pick up" tennis? .do some hotels have tennis matching services? we will be staying at the riviera...thanks in advance!.
If it interests anyone I have 2 houses located on a golf course just minutes away from the Indian wells tennis facility that I rent out for a very good price.
Both houses are 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage, swimming pool w/ jacuzzi. They are very spacious and sit right in front of the greens at the golf course. They are professionally decorated as well. There is also a gym for you tennis training needs.
When ever I go I make sure to play at Indian wells. If you call in just ask them to set you up for a tennis match they do it every time. I always seem to get setup with some great singles and doubles matches.
Email Colby@uoregon.edu if you are interested and I can give the link to may site to see pictures and read more about it or I can give you a call and tell you all about it.
Both houses are 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage, swimming pool w/ jacuzzi. They are very spacious and sit right in front of the greens at the golf course. They are professionally decorated as well. There is also a gym for you tennis training needs.
When ever I go I make sure to play at Indian wells. If you call in just ask them to set you up for a tennis match they do it every time. I always seem to get setup with some great singles and doubles matches.
Email Colby@uoregon.edu if you are interested and I can give the link to may site to see pictures and read more about it or I can give you a call and tell you all about it.
Fluffy
New User
To apjones01: Take a day to go see Joshua Tree NP. One of the most beautiful national parks so close to town. Pictures do not do it justice. Take Hwy 62 north of Palm Springs to the town of Joshua Tree. Turn on Park Blvd and I remember a visitor center on the right. Once inside the park, you can drive to an overlook of Palm Springs if clear (no rain). Many easy hikes to do. Exit the park on the Southeast entrance on your way back to Palm Springs. Lightly traveled and some jaw dropping scenery. You will exit out on Hwy 10 southeast of the Palm Springs area. Ask for info at the visitor center.
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Thank you! This is definitely on our list, but we were lacking some details. Much appreciated.
tavarua
New User
Stayed there a few times... You can play on hard, clay, or grass courts. They have gondolas that can take you from inside the lobby to the restaurants. The restaurants are pretty expensive. There's a Starbucks in the lobby for early coffee and a treat. They also have lots of charging stations if you have an electric car.
Got it. Thanks for the tips!
NE1for10is?
Semi-Pro
When I was there they had a mixer where you could play on all three surfaces, clay, grass and hard. You played on each surface with different groups for a while and kept personal scores. The ones with the highest scores at the end got a prize of some free court time. It was the most fun ever. A buddy I travelled with wound up winning a prize, so we got an hour of free court time, which we used to play more on the grass court. I had never played on grass before, so it was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend it. I was sore for days due to all the different muscles, apparently needed to play on grass.
Thanks for this. I leave this evening for a week out there and will definitely be checking this out. I’ve also asked them to get me matched up for an opponent for tomorrow.
One thing I learned... with the resort fee (I think you’re forced to pay), you do get one hour of free hard court time each day and also two racquet rentals per day
TennisFreak004
New User
I love the JW Marriott. It has very nice hard courts as well as a few grass courts. It is a little bit of a walk from the hotel but nothing terrible. I will be there in two weeks as well.
Thanks! Have you been out there this time of the year before? Wondering how crowded it is at this time- I called the pro shop this week and they indicated it’s been slow.
tavarua
New User
Yeah, It may be slow now, but it will be booked solid during the event. Or, maybe this "Coronavirus" may have an effect on the crowds???
I just got back and will post a full review of the their program shortly. To answer your question though... it was pretty busy last week and they were expecting extremely heavy activity leading up to the tournament. Never heard anyone there express any virus concerns.
Here are my thoughts on the JW Marriott and their tennis program after having spent a week at there:
Tennis-related pros:
- The instructors are generally good. I worked primarily with Zack and Shea and both give very good instruction with positive attitudes
- The head of the program, Jim Leupold, was out for the first half of the week I was there. However, I did take one clinic with him after he returned and he was quite knowledgeable as well. He also went over the allotted time by 10-15 minutes
- The clinics are all helpful for beginner / intermediate players who are still learning the game
- The courts are all in good shape, including the grass. First time playing on grass for me and it was a great experience
- Their round robin doubles event is pretty cool, though you need critical mass (it was canceled the first day due to lack of participants)
- They never cancel clinics or drills, as long as they have at least one player signed up. In mine, participants ranged from 2-10. The advance drill session went one day with just one person. In other words, if attendance is light, you can get some personalized instruction in clinics / drills for a fraction of the cost of a lesson.
- There are six courts with lights for night play. You can just walk onto those.
Tennis-related cons:
- Based on my experience, they vastly oversell their ability to match you up with players (i.e. "guaranteed player matching"). This created some friction at one point, as I asked for a free half-hour lesson when they weren't able to match me (in accordance with their policy which is posted online). They matched me one day with a player who was 1.5 levels above mine; we ended up just hitting as I would have been slaughtered in a match. You're probably better off just going to the clinics / drill sessions, being social and asking if players want to play / hit at a later time.
- Private lessons are $100. I took one and really didn't get that much out of it.
- The clinics and drill sessions aren't cheap at $35-$50 for each
- Bring sunscreen - you'll be directly in the sun on any of the courts
- They don't really screen levels for the clinics (but do for drill sessions). So, just understand that if you're a 4.5+, you may end up playing / hitting with a 3.0 in a clinic
Some other tennis notes:
- They'll string racquets for $20 if you have your own strings
- They advertise demo / rental racquets being available (covered with your resort fee) but note they partner with Wilson, so that's all you'll get access to
- This is a PBI facility, which means they have a very specific teaching method. They drive home the point that "contact" trumps everything else in tennis. You can have bad footwork, an off grip, poor follow through, etc. which is all fine, as long as you make contact. They drive home that point ad nauseam. I get it, but not sure I entirely agree, though that's probably a topic for another thread.
- Also covered with a resort fee is one free hour of court time per day. In my experience, they didn't really enforce that (basically give you what you want), but again, it wasn't that busy during that week
Resort notes:
- The Marriott was nicer than I thought it would be. They recently did a renovation to many of the rooms, so ask if you can get one of those.
- The pool area was not very busy while I was there and fairly nice
- As others have noted, the place is MASSIVE. I'm a fast walker, but it could take people ~10-15 minutes to walk from hotel room to the tennis facility
- Not a golfer, but the courses looked amazing
- Not a fan of hotel restaurants so I ate elsewhere the whole trip
Happy to answer questions...
Tennis-related pros:
- The instructors are generally good. I worked primarily with Zack and Shea and both give very good instruction with positive attitudes
- The head of the program, Jim Leupold, was out for the first half of the week I was there. However, I did take one clinic with him after he returned and he was quite knowledgeable as well. He also went over the allotted time by 10-15 minutes
- The clinics are all helpful for beginner / intermediate players who are still learning the game
- The courts are all in good shape, including the grass. First time playing on grass for me and it was a great experience
- Their round robin doubles event is pretty cool, though you need critical mass (it was canceled the first day due to lack of participants)
- They never cancel clinics or drills, as long as they have at least one player signed up. In mine, participants ranged from 2-10. The advance drill session went one day with just one person. In other words, if attendance is light, you can get some personalized instruction in clinics / drills for a fraction of the cost of a lesson.
- There are six courts with lights for night play. You can just walk onto those.
Tennis-related cons:
- Based on my experience, they vastly oversell their ability to match you up with players (i.e. "guaranteed player matching"). This created some friction at one point, as I asked for a free half-hour lesson when they weren't able to match me (in accordance with their policy which is posted online). They matched me one day with a player who was 1.5 levels above mine; we ended up just hitting as I would have been slaughtered in a match. You're probably better off just going to the clinics / drill sessions, being social and asking if players want to play / hit at a later time.
- Private lessons are $100. I took one and really didn't get that much out of it.
- The clinics and drill sessions aren't cheap at $35-$50 for each
- Bring sunscreen - you'll be directly in the sun on any of the courts
- They don't really screen levels for the clinics (but do for drill sessions). So, just understand that if you're a 4.5+, you may end up playing / hitting with a 3.0 in a clinic
Some other tennis notes:
- They'll string racquets for $20 if you have your own strings
- They advertise demo / rental racquets being available (covered with your resort fee) but note they partner with Wilson, so that's all you'll get access to
- This is a PBI facility, which means they have a very specific teaching method. They drive home the point that "contact" trumps everything else in tennis. You can have bad footwork, an off grip, poor follow through, etc. which is all fine, as long as you make contact. They drive home that point ad nauseam. I get it, but not sure I entirely agree, though that's probably a topic for another thread.
- Also covered with a resort fee is one free hour of court time per day. In my experience, they didn't really enforce that (basically give you what you want), but again, it wasn't that busy during that week
Resort notes:
- The Marriott was nicer than I thought it would be. They recently did a renovation to many of the rooms, so ask if you can get one of those.
- The pool area was not very busy while I was there and fairly nice
- As others have noted, the place is MASSIVE. I'm a fast walker, but it could take people ~10-15 minutes to walk from hotel room to the tennis facility
- Not a golfer, but the courses looked amazing
- Not a fan of hotel restaurants so I ate elsewhere the whole trip
Happy to answer questions...
Not worth it
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
Robert, I rarely am on the forum but even though your post was a while ago, I thought I’d reply.
I stayed at the Palm Springs Racquet Club a couple of years back, in the mid November time frame. Court availability wasn’t hard to come by and was most crowded in the morning hours. I didn’t attend any drills or classes but they do have them, mostly targeted at 3.0 to 4.0 levels. They also had ball machines that I took advantage of later in the afternoons just before it got dark. The room we had was decent but not spectacular, but my wife and I made that decision knowing we were going to be out and about trying to get as much sun and warmth before returning to our cold and wet home. So high end accommodations weren’t on our priority list. The club had a weight room and a couple of tennis courts with pickleball lines at the far end away from the racquet club area itself so we played pickleball a few times as well. Staying there gets you court privileges.
Probably 15% of the members of my tennis club here in Washington State have homes in the Palm Desert area so I was able to play at the courts in their complexes. I also was invited to play at Indian Wells, where they had programs running in the morning hours when I was there, but again I didn’t play in those either.
I also saw drill and hitting programs at a complex called Sun City. Fabulously high end tennis facilities but I don’t know if it is available to the public or not. I got an invitation from a homeowner in that complex.
Have a great time!
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
We did about a half dozen hikes while we were there. Depending on where you’re coming from, a lot of the hiking may be vastly different than you are used to, being very exposed and dusty.
We’re from the Pacific Northwest so do a lot of hiking in forests. In Palm Springs, we did a hike on a fully exposed ridge overlooking the city (Lykken trail?), a hike along a riverbed with several oases of palm trees, and a slot canyon hike with ladders. We also did a long day at Joshua Tree. Those four hikes were in direct sunlight for the most part. We also spent a long day up at San Jacinto where we had hoped to summit but didn’t have enough daylight hours, and also a hike through a forest in Idyllwild. Those last two were our favorites, being in forests for a vast portion of the time.
We hiked roughly every other day so the non-hiking days were my tennis days In the morning. Knowing as many tennis friends down there as I do made it easy and almost expected there would be a lot of court time.
Enjoy! I’m envious and would love to head down, especially as we are entering a two week stretch of rain and temps in the 40’s.
We’re from the Pacific Northwest so do a lot of hiking in forests. In Palm Springs, we did a hike on a fully exposed ridge overlooking the city (Lykken trail?), a hike along a riverbed with several oases of palm trees, and a slot canyon hike with ladders. We also did a long day at Joshua Tree. Those four hikes were in direct sunlight for the most part. We also spent a long day up at San Jacinto where we had hoped to summit but didn’t have enough daylight hours, and also a hike through a forest in Idyllwild. Those last two were our favorites, being in forests for a vast portion of the time.
We hiked roughly every other day so the non-hiking days were my tennis days In the morning. Knowing as many tennis friends down there as I do made it easy and almost expected there would be a lot of court time.
Enjoy! I’m envious and would love to head down, especially as we are entering a two week stretch of rain and temps in the 40’s.
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
Have a great time and please post a trip report!
Had a great vacation in Palm Springs. Beautiful place to visit. Great restaurants. Nice temps and lots of great hikes in the area--Joshua Tree.
Keep in mind there are a lot of retirees there.
We stayed at the Omni in Rancho Mirage which is linked to a country club that offers a tennis program managed by Cliff Drysdale's company.
From our hotel room it was just a short walk to the tennis club. Courts were beautiful and in very good condition. Compared to the outdoor courts by me in the *******, these had a lot of grit. Club pro says they surface them every 4-5 years and were surfaced last year. I was impressed how much grit they still had. Maybe that is the advantage of not having a lot of water over the course of a year? Also probably helps with crack prevention. Courts also had lights, but it didn't appear than anyone played at night.
Unfortunately, like many clubs PB has invaded. Of the 3 days we were there in the morning, PB was equally if not more active than tennis.
Day 1 we took a private lesson as a family with the club pro. He did a good job giving us fun drills to play. My daughters don't listen to me, so if we just drilled on our own--it would have ended quickly and unpleasantly. Luciano did a great job picking dirlls to work us through and gave some solid tactical information to help our game.
We played Offense/Defense--he feeds a ball, play out point. Winner comes to net. Only way to score points is to be in at the net. If you lose at the net, the other team advances. We played 2-3 rounds up to 3 pts to win.
He then decided to test our foot intensity with a game called Burn. If you hit the ball out or into the net, you have to run to the side fence, leaving your partner to cover the court. He feeds the winning team and if they burn you with a winner while off the court you have a strike against you. 3 strikes an you are out. I was out first, so it was my wife vs. my daughters. Then my wife was gone and my daughters duked it out. When you go down to singles action you just run to the doubles side-line instead of the fence. Great drill to get you moving.
We ended with a game called 40-5. Team needs to win 40 points. If you hit it out or in the net, other team gets one point. If you hit a clean winner from the baseline you get 5 points. If you hit a clean winnter from the air--volley/overhead etc. you get 10 points. Goal is to encourage offense.
It was a good hour and worth the private lesson fee. He encouraged us to be more aggressive moving to the net and make sure we move our feet as we hit volleys instead of stopping and then moving the arm for power--creating higher opportunity for errors.
Due to limited availability of the pros, my wife and I then played in the 9AM Drill. Just one hour, but reasonably priced. Here we mixed with players of many different levels and ages. I think all older than my wife and eye. But it didn't really matter since they were just feeding drills. Get in 2 lines, hit 3 FH on one side, 3 BH on the other side. Once he was out of balls we moved on... Then 2 groundstrokes, approach and a volley. Then Approach volley/volley then Volley. Somehow we got some overheads in. Luciano gave some simple but clear advice while we were hitting balls. You get a lot of hit in. But it wasn't very demanding. Between ball pickups again good general advice. Staying low on groundstrokes and moving into the court. Setting your feet on approach shots and driving foreward. Work on et clearance. Pro was wise enough to know getting into the minutia of everyones strokes would be daunting and a waste of time. I enjoyed it to get a lot of hits in.
Saturday there other pro ran the drill. Another nice guy, a little more reserved but wise again to give just general advice. Similar format. A little more focus on volleys compared to Friday, but not a ton different.
Due to limited availability, we were not able to hit in the 10AM point play--which goes from a feed only format to a live ball situation. This probably would'be been a better fit for me and probably similar to our private lesson.
Being near Indian Wells we drove to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. We accidentally went into the wrong gate, parked close to the box office and began snooping around. They were in the midst of building some of the bleacher stadium seats for the outer courts. As we approached the growing scafolding we were met by a nice security guard who helped direct us to the active tennis club. We drove to Gate 7 and went to the tennis club house which is attached to the main stadium court. Nice little pro shop. Eager to play at Indian Wells I signed up for their drill New Year's Eve.
First, I want to mention how impressive the facilities at Indian Wells are. I've been to Cincy Several Times--they do a great job, But Indian Wells is a step above. The practice courts themselves were amazing with built in lights and some specatator seeding. Pro told me they resurface these courts 2-3 times a year and are trying to speed them up to appeal to the pros.
Next day I came out for the drill. 6 people allowed in. Level of the participants were closer in age and skill to me with one exception. Low and behold it was almost the same format at the Omni. Get in 2 lines and hit groundies, pick up balls, now volleys, now pick up balls and mix in some approach and overhead. Unlike the Omni, we then played live ball for the last 10 minutes or so. Pro gave good general advice again. Price was reasonable for the hour. Glad to have the opportunity to play at IW.
In a magical world, I wish the drills at the Omni and IW offered some secret advice or training that would accelerate my game to the next level. But in reality, what do you expect from an hour drill? On top of that, how can a club truly present a drill that would do that when merging people of different ages/expectations and skill levels. Based on that, I understand the format they use and why they do it. Probably a better format would be to do a stroke of the day for the first hour then after that place participants into an appropriate live ball hour. But, I think the reason we don't see that is because the level of participation just isn't there anymore. If you had 20-30 people this would make sense. But for 6 things are limited and based on chance.
Honestly, if you are going on a tennis vacation and want to make big changes to your game wether you are a 2.5 or 4.5, the answer is mainly private lessions. Yeah you can do the group drills, but I'd use them as practice for the private or warm up for the private. Just playing in drill groups won't really change your technique, a focused drill might give you some ideas and a focused drill can probably help one work on tactics or strategy, but with technique it is going to be hard. Or you need to do a full out tennis camp where you are on court for several hours a day.
Finally, I'm a little concerned about the state of tennis's popularity in the US. When I was a kid and we went on vacation to tennis resorts or tennis heavy areas--SC, FL, CA etc..., the courts were busy. Private lessons, group lessons, people playing matches. People hanging around the club house. At both these Clubs IW and Omni, outside of our drill court maybe 2-3 other courts were busy with people playing. Could this be there are so many clubs in the Palm Springs area that tennis nerds are spread out? Maybe. I just think less people play tennis with the fury they did in the 80's. I'll also note that my visits to Van Der Meer and Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head were busier than Palm Springs but still a shadow of what they were in the past. I believe they had 2-3 courts a day going on plus junior programming. No junior programming for non-club members at the Omni or IW, and only saw a handful of juniors at IW.
From a court quality perspective I give IW and then the Omni the highest rating. Very impressive.
Historically from a tennis training learning experiences I'd recommend in order:
1.) Vic Braden Tennis Academy in St. George Utah--but alas I don't think it exists in its entirety anymore. We took a camp there and it was thorough and very indidvidualized.
2.) Van Der Meer--good private instruction and decent drills.
3.) Sea Pines Resort--good drilling and even with the limitations I mention about drilling above, the pro gave out a lot of good information especially tactitcally. Unfortunately, the private lessons were great exercise, but the pro didn't offer a lot of technique insight outside of "good job" "hit a little deeper."
4.) IW Tennis Garden--you got to play at the 5th slam if possible.
5.) Omni--a fun time. A place to enjoy tennis at a beatiful location. But not a place for changing technique.
All these places have the tennis reputation, but you should always consider what you might spend on a vacation--how can that money be used at home. Find a good local pro and take private lessons. Find a good drill group to work on what the pro teaches you and find good hitting buddies. Use tennis resorts as a place to have fun.
Keep in mind there are a lot of retirees there.
We stayed at the Omni in Rancho Mirage which is linked to a country club that offers a tennis program managed by Cliff Drysdale's company.
From our hotel room it was just a short walk to the tennis club. Courts were beautiful and in very good condition. Compared to the outdoor courts by me in the *******, these had a lot of grit. Club pro says they surface them every 4-5 years and were surfaced last year. I was impressed how much grit they still had. Maybe that is the advantage of not having a lot of water over the course of a year? Also probably helps with crack prevention. Courts also had lights, but it didn't appear than anyone played at night.
Unfortunately, like many clubs PB has invaded. Of the 3 days we were there in the morning, PB was equally if not more active than tennis.
Day 1 we took a private lesson as a family with the club pro. He did a good job giving us fun drills to play. My daughters don't listen to me, so if we just drilled on our own--it would have ended quickly and unpleasantly. Luciano did a great job picking dirlls to work us through and gave some solid tactical information to help our game.
We played Offense/Defense--he feeds a ball, play out point. Winner comes to net. Only way to score points is to be in at the net. If you lose at the net, the other team advances. We played 2-3 rounds up to 3 pts to win.
He then decided to test our foot intensity with a game called Burn. If you hit the ball out or into the net, you have to run to the side fence, leaving your partner to cover the court. He feeds the winning team and if they burn you with a winner while off the court you have a strike against you. 3 strikes an you are out. I was out first, so it was my wife vs. my daughters. Then my wife was gone and my daughters duked it out. When you go down to singles action you just run to the doubles side-line instead of the fence. Great drill to get you moving.
We ended with a game called 40-5. Team needs to win 40 points. If you hit it out or in the net, other team gets one point. If you hit a clean winner from the baseline you get 5 points. If you hit a clean winnter from the air--volley/overhead etc. you get 10 points. Goal is to encourage offense.
It was a good hour and worth the private lesson fee. He encouraged us to be more aggressive moving to the net and make sure we move our feet as we hit volleys instead of stopping and then moving the arm for power--creating higher opportunity for errors.
Due to limited availability of the pros, my wife and I then played in the 9AM Drill. Just one hour, but reasonably priced. Here we mixed with players of many different levels and ages. I think all older than my wife and eye. But it didn't really matter since they were just feeding drills. Get in 2 lines, hit 3 FH on one side, 3 BH on the other side. Once he was out of balls we moved on... Then 2 groundstrokes, approach and a volley. Then Approach volley/volley then Volley. Somehow we got some overheads in. Luciano gave some simple but clear advice while we were hitting balls. You get a lot of hit in. But it wasn't very demanding. Between ball pickups again good general advice. Staying low on groundstrokes and moving into the court. Setting your feet on approach shots and driving foreward. Work on et clearance. Pro was wise enough to know getting into the minutia of everyones strokes would be daunting and a waste of time. I enjoyed it to get a lot of hits in.
Saturday there other pro ran the drill. Another nice guy, a little more reserved but wise again to give just general advice. Similar format. A little more focus on volleys compared to Friday, but not a ton different.
Due to limited availability, we were not able to hit in the 10AM point play--which goes from a feed only format to a live ball situation. This probably would'be been a better fit for me and probably similar to our private lesson.
Being near Indian Wells we drove to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. We accidentally went into the wrong gate, parked close to the box office and began snooping around. They were in the midst of building some of the bleacher stadium seats for the outer courts. As we approached the growing scafolding we were met by a nice security guard who helped direct us to the active tennis club. We drove to Gate 7 and went to the tennis club house which is attached to the main stadium court. Nice little pro shop. Eager to play at Indian Wells I signed up for their drill New Year's Eve.
First, I want to mention how impressive the facilities at Indian Wells are. I've been to Cincy Several Times--they do a great job, But Indian Wells is a step above. The practice courts themselves were amazing with built in lights and some specatator seeding. Pro told me they resurface these courts 2-3 times a year and are trying to speed them up to appeal to the pros.
Next day I came out for the drill. 6 people allowed in. Level of the participants were closer in age and skill to me with one exception. Low and behold it was almost the same format at the Omni. Get in 2 lines and hit groundies, pick up balls, now volleys, now pick up balls and mix in some approach and overhead. Unlike the Omni, we then played live ball for the last 10 minutes or so. Pro gave good general advice again. Price was reasonable for the hour. Glad to have the opportunity to play at IW.
In a magical world, I wish the drills at the Omni and IW offered some secret advice or training that would accelerate my game to the next level. But in reality, what do you expect from an hour drill? On top of that, how can a club truly present a drill that would do that when merging people of different ages/expectations and skill levels. Based on that, I understand the format they use and why they do it. Probably a better format would be to do a stroke of the day for the first hour then after that place participants into an appropriate live ball hour. But, I think the reason we don't see that is because the level of participation just isn't there anymore. If you had 20-30 people this would make sense. But for 6 things are limited and based on chance.
Honestly, if you are going on a tennis vacation and want to make big changes to your game wether you are a 2.5 or 4.5, the answer is mainly private lessions. Yeah you can do the group drills, but I'd use them as practice for the private or warm up for the private. Just playing in drill groups won't really change your technique, a focused drill might give you some ideas and a focused drill can probably help one work on tactics or strategy, but with technique it is going to be hard. Or you need to do a full out tennis camp where you are on court for several hours a day.
Finally, I'm a little concerned about the state of tennis's popularity in the US. When I was a kid and we went on vacation to tennis resorts or tennis heavy areas--SC, FL, CA etc..., the courts were busy. Private lessons, group lessons, people playing matches. People hanging around the club house. At both these Clubs IW and Omni, outside of our drill court maybe 2-3 other courts were busy with people playing. Could this be there are so many clubs in the Palm Springs area that tennis nerds are spread out? Maybe. I just think less people play tennis with the fury they did in the 80's. I'll also note that my visits to Van Der Meer and Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head were busier than Palm Springs but still a shadow of what they were in the past. I believe they had 2-3 courts a day going on plus junior programming. No junior programming for non-club members at the Omni or IW, and only saw a handful of juniors at IW.
From a court quality perspective I give IW and then the Omni the highest rating. Very impressive.
Historically from a tennis training learning experiences I'd recommend in order:
1.) Vic Braden Tennis Academy in St. George Utah--but alas I don't think it exists in its entirety anymore. We took a camp there and it was thorough and very indidvidualized.
2.) Van Der Meer--good private instruction and decent drills.
3.) Sea Pines Resort--good drilling and even with the limitations I mention about drilling above, the pro gave out a lot of good information especially tactitcally. Unfortunately, the private lessons were great exercise, but the pro didn't offer a lot of technique insight outside of "good job" "hit a little deeper."
4.) IW Tennis Garden--you got to play at the 5th slam if possible.
5.) Omni--a fun time. A place to enjoy tennis at a beatiful location. But not a place for changing technique.
All these places have the tennis reputation, but you should always consider what you might spend on a vacation--how can that money be used at home. Find a good local pro and take private lessons. Find a good drill group to work on what the pro teaches you and find good hitting buddies. Use tennis resorts as a place to have fun.
theattack5
New User
Great post Robert. Appreciate the level of detail.
