Want to play the Wimbledon way? Check out one of these grass-court facilities in the United States.
Lawn tennis may still be sacred in England, but the grass isn’t so green on this side of the Atlantic. Along with LPs and analog TVs, the game on grass has almost vanished on these shores over the years. The reasons? Americans don’t seem particularly fond of playing the slip-and-slide game and grass courts are costly and difficult to maintain.
So unless you can find and befriend a homeowner like Steve Moore, who carved a grass court out of a hillside on his property in Eugene, Ore., or can join one of the few private country clubs in the Northeastern Corridor, your only real shot at a taste of Wimbledon stateside is at five public courts and five resort hotels.
Two of the public facilities are in the most unlikely of places. First, there’s the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club in Charles City, Iowa, founded and run by Mark Kuhn, a character right out of Field of Dreams who built his court just a two-hours drive from Ray Kinsella’s mythical baseball diamond. Then there’s Wimble-DON in Baker City, Ore., which was named after founder and caretaker Don McClure, a local jeweler.
The others are the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Fla., home of the Sony Ericsson Open, the Buckskill Tennis Club in the former lawn tennis epicenter of the Hamptons in New York, and the Newport Casino Lawn Tennis Club at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.
Many resorts that have lawn tennis also have golf facilities, and the same crews that care for the putting greens also maintain the grass courts, both of which require daily watering and mowing to within a quarter inch. Resort owners mostly keep a grass court or two around as a novelty. “In all honesty, ours don’t get used any more than 20 hours a year,” says Alan Foster, head pro at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., a private club that allows guests at the neighboring La Quinta Resort & Club to play on its grass courts. “Tourists may sign up for the grass courts as a lark, but after a half hour of slipping and seeing the ball skid under their feet, they usually return to the pro shop and say, ‘OK, now we want to play on a real tennis court.’”
Grass Courts in the U.S.
ARIZONA
The Phoenician resort, Scottsdale: 1 grass court; $35 per person per hour, hotel guests only; (480) 423-2488
CALIFORNIA
J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Resort, Palm Desert: 2 grass courts; $20 per court per hour, open to the public; (760) 341-2211
PGA West and La Quinta Resort & Club, La Quinta: 4 grass courts; $10 per person for two hours, only for guests at La Quinta Resort & Club; (760) 564-7150
FLORIDA
Fisher Island Club, Miami: 2 grass courts; $17 weekdays/$20 weekends per court for unlimited play, Fisher Island Hotel guests only; (305) 535-6010
Saddlebrook Golf & Tennis Resort, Wesley Hill: 2 grass courts; $25 per hour per court, resort guests only; (800) 729-8383
Tennis Center at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne: 2 grass courts; $11 per adult per hour, $7 per person per hour for those 17-and-under, open to the public; (305) 365-2300
NEW YORK
Buckskill Tennis Club, East Hampton: 2 grass courts (3 after July 4); $50 per person per hour, open to the public; (631) 324-2243
IOWA
All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club, Charles City: 1 grass court; contributions to the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club Sustaining Fund are accepted; e-mail visit@alliowalawntennisclub.com or visit www.alliowalawntennisclub.com
OREGON
Wimble-DON Grass Courts, Baker City: 4 grass courts; $20 per hour for singles, $30 for doubles; (541) 523-2308
RHODE ISLAND
Newport Casino Lawn Tennis Club at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport: 13 grass courts; $90 per hour for singles, $80 for doubles, open to the public; (401) 846-0642