Crap courts

[zaph]

More a rant then anything else. I suspect most of you know that joining a tennis club isn't cheap, so you would expect decent courts for your money. Alas not in the case of our local club.

The indoor courts are fine, but now it is that time of year that requires going outside and the courts are crap.
We have what are basically carpet courts, some to simulate a fast court, others that are meant to be slow. The courts have moss growing in them, the nets are regularly broken and the courts are rarely sanded; as they are suppose to be.

Worse members complained that the artificial clay was slow and high bouncing; just like a clay court in fact. So they have now been modified to produce some of the worse courts imaginable. They have completely destroy the bounce, it a place topspin goes to die. Slice barely clears the surface. It is like playing on a slow grass court, the surface is diabolical.

Alas this is a members club and the ground staff are cosy with the committee. So anyone who complains is told to **** off. Is this just my local club or do others have similar problems?

 

[ollinger]

Perhaps you should investigate more carefully before you join a club?

 

[Sentinel]

So anyone who complains is told to **** off. I

Sounds like the STC to me.

 

[stringertom]

Sounds like the STC to me.

STC? Is that where Caitlyn Jenner has a stake in the Sexual Transgenders Club??? I would imagine transition from one "surface" to another could be quite rough.

 

[Mr.Lob]

How do you sand a carpet court?

My club is kept up pretty good. Every once in awhile the roof will leak, or toilet overflow. Outside clay courts are a bit uneven, soft spots. Guess that's normal.

 

[Sentinel]

My club is kept up pretty good. Every once in awhile the roof will leak, or toilet overflow

Sounds like the STC to me.

,

 

[Steady Eddy]

Doesn't sound like a very good club. I hope your dues are cheap.

 

[Crocodile]

Has the club got a teaching pro who is with it, because he/she should be setting the agenda for cutting edge player oriented surface playability.

 

[ojo rojo]

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Sounds like the STC to me.

Does Sureshs lay the "crap" courts himself?

 

[chikoo]

Beach tennis?

 

[Sentinel]

Does Sureshs lay the "crap" courts himself?

He also levels them out.

 

[r2473]

pretty nice nets

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

He also levels them out.

 

[Sentinel]

That looks like Sewretch's foot print.

 

[old man stringer]

only one step perhaps sideways are the cow dung courts in southeast Asia

 

[spaceman_spiff]

More a rant then anything else. I suspect most of you know that joining a tennis club isn't cheap, so you would expect decent courts for your money. Alas not in the case of our local club.

The indoor courts are fine, but now it is that time of year that requires going outside and the courts are crap.
We have what are basically carpet courts, some to simulate a fast court, others that are meant to be slow. The courts have moss growing in them, the nets are regularly broken and the courts are rarely sanded; as they are suppose to be.

Worse members complained that the artificial clay was slow and high bouncing; just like a clay court in fact. So they have now been modified to produce some of the worse courts imaginable. They have completely destroy the bounce, it a place topspin goes to die. Slice barely clears the surface. It is like playing on a slow grass court, the surface is diabolical.

Alas this is a members club and the ground staff are cosy with the committee. So anyone who complains is told to **** off. Is this just my local club or do others have similar problems?

I feel your pain.

We don't have quite the moss problem that you have, but what we've got are lumpy courts. Mostly, it's due to the fact that the lines are separate pieces of carpet rather than the court being one piece with lines painted on. This leads to creases and dead spots since the lines tend to sit up a bit in places. There are also some places where the foundation is starting to get lumpy, so that just adds to the different types of bad bounces you can get.

I've seen flat serves that bounce head high and kick serves that barely get up to the waist. You can also get balls bouncing sideways off the singles and doubles lines.

To make matters worse, my club is almost directly under the flight path of an airport that is only a mile or two down the road, so we regularly have passenger planes (no jumbo jets, fortunately) flying just a few hundred feet overhead that completely drown out the sound. And the cherry on top of the cake is the fact that the courts face east and west. So our evening matches in the summer have us staring almost directly into the sun on a clear day.