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How my pickleball obsession took me to Palm Beach
Having fallen in love with the sport in the UK, Leo Bear heads stateside to have a go at the US’s latest sporting craze in the Florida sunshine
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Your support makes all the difference.Anyone who’s spent time in the US recently is likely to have noticed a new sound coming from sports clubs, parks and hotel grounds: a cheerful high-pitched “tock” – often accompanied by yelps of joy or frustration.
I’m talking about pickleball, of course.
Declared the fastest-growing sport in America for the third year running, the sporting craze has a slew of high-profile devotees – Taylor Swift, Emma Watson and George Clooney among them. It’s so popular with the “in” crowd that Richard Branson has just installed a court on Necker Island.
Read more on US travel:
Not to be confused with padel, pickleball is played with a lightweight paddle and a whiffle ball (hollow, plastic with holes). It’s great for all ages and skill levels – I’m living testament. Having plateaued as an “advanced beginner” at tennis, I stumbled across pickleball at my local sports club last May and am now one of thousands of Brits hooked.
On a good week, I might play twice. On a better week, four or five times. My fitness has improved and I’ve lost weight. But more than that, I feel like I’ve found my people. Almost everyone I’ve met on the pickleball court is laidback, inclusive, and prefers human interaction to a smartphone.
This is how I found myself sweating heavily on Court 4 at the PGA National Resort & Spa on the outskirts of Palm Beach. Best known for its championship golf courses and extensive tennis facilities, it recently added 12 pickleball courts due to popular demand.
In terms of holiday destinations, Florida is a hotbed for pickleball. With year-round temperatures averaging 25 degrees, it lends itself perfectly to outdoor play, and the Palm Beaches, a swathe of coastline that starts 100km north of Miami, has become a mecca for the sport. Home to 39 towns including glamorous Palm Beach and Boca Raton, it’s long been a playground for the sporty and rich.
“I can’t name too many places better for pickleball,” says coach to the stars Matt “McNasty” Manasse, who hosts clinics and camps at PGA National Resort & Spa and counts Emma Watson, Matthew McConaughey and Will Ferrell among his clients.
“The Palm Beaches have great weather, great courts, great food and you can head to the beach or the golf course at any time,” says Manasse.
In a quest to accelerate my game, I’d booked daily one-on-one coaching sessions with Alex Pop-Moldovan, an ex-tennis pro from Romania who heads up the racquet division at the PGA and led the Orlando Squeeze Pickleball Team to No 2 in the leaderboard last year.
The heat was the biggest challenge. It being June (32 degrees with high humidity), I felt like I spent as much time standing under canvas mainlining Diet Coke and wiping sweat from my eyes, as I did playing pickleball. Alex, meanwhile, stood cool and patient, a sachet of electrolytes always on hand. By day two, I’d grasped the majority of his commands, many of them hilarious: “J-Lo” for “squat lower”; “Minion!” to alert me to a rogue ball rolling across the court, and, my favourite: “all day”, which essentially means “nailed it”.
On day three, I rose at 6am (thanks to jetlag) and sauntered over to the Racquet Centre fully expecting it to be closed. But no, the pickleball courts were humming with players, DayGlo athleisurewear glinting in the early morning sun. I was beckoned onto the clay without hesitation and played several thrilling rounds before breakfast. True to form, that evening, a group of us gathered for sake-fuelled omakase at the hotel’s Japanese restaurant which, I have to confess, led to a slightly later start time the following day.
When I wasn’t doing drills with Alex or playing pickleball with my new friends, I hung out by the pool or took myself off to the spa to have my back and glutes pummelled. Twice, I Uber-ed over to Palm Beach, the nearest big town, for a change of scenery. Located on a 16-mile island with the Atlantic to one side and an intra-coastal lake to the other, Palm Beach has long been associated with moneyed socialites (as anyone who’s watched the recent Apple TV+ series Palm Royale will know). I didn’t get invited to any galas or poolside cocktail parties but I did give my credit card a good battering. Worth Avenue, home of Saks, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Loro Piana, etc, is one of the prettiest and most expensive places to shop in the US – think Rodeo Drive with fewer cars.
Despite a plethora of activities to choose from, my favourite Palm Beach pastime turned out to be cycling its palm-lined boulevards admiring the architecture. Century-old fisherman’s cottages sit shoulder to shoulder with curvy 1950s condos and gated mansions, many of which were designed by the late great Addison Mizner. Most roads lead to the Atlantic so there’s always a breeze and there’s no need to worry if you get lost as the locals (tanned, athletic and clad in designer garb) are unfailingly friendly. Eerily so. “No one honks their horn in Palm Beach,” one pedestrian told me.
When the rain came down (which it did often, in sub-tropical torrents), I took myself off to the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum and The Norton Museum of Contemporary Art – both of which were joyfully crowd-free and filled with fascinating pieces.
On my final morning, Alex greeted me on the court with a trolley of tennis balls and a mischievous grin. Sixty minutes of furious “pop tennis” ensued (a first for me) which turned out to be an amazing stress buster but probably not the best idea before a long-haul flight. Halfway across the Atlantic, my calf muscles seized up completely. Agony. So apologies to anyone on AA flight 6957 who had to listen to me groan back to Blighty. Mind you, nothing worse than what you’d hear on the pickleball court.
Where to stay
PGA National Resort
A sporting mega-resort surrounded by acres of green, PGA National Resort has got it all: golf, tennis (16 courts) and pickleball (12 courts). With 300 rooms and a clutch of restaurants including steak restaurant Butcher’s Grill and Japanese restaurant Sushi by Bou, you could easily stay a week without leaving the premises. Pickleball camps, clinics and daily complimentary open-play sessions operate during high season (December-May). Private coaching ($105 per hour) is available year-round.
The White Elephant
Forget The Colony (too pink) or The Breakers (too big), the White Elephant is by far the best address in Palm Beach. Originally built in 1924, 32 art-filled rooms are inspired by coastal Nantucket. Lola 41 on the ground floor makes an excellent a la carte breakfast and later on, it’s sticky ribs and spicy palomas all around. Neat touches include L’Occitane in the bathrooms and complimentary BMWs to take you anywhere within a two-mile radius. And don’t miss cheese and wine in the lobby every day at 4pm. The concierge can arrange pickleball at Palm Beach Gardens Pickleball Centre (20 mins by car) which has 10 courts (£12 per session).
The Boca Raton
The Racquet Club at The Boca (pronounced bow-ka by those in the know) is old-school and fabulous in all the right ways and has six outdoor pickleball courts. After correcting bad habits and putting you through your paces, Coach Mo will hand you an iced towel and coconut water. Book a room in the adults-only Yacht Club for quiet nautical vibes plus unlimited access to spa facilities.
Rooms at The Boca Raton Yacht Club start from £610
How to get there
You can fly directly to Miami from several UK airports with airlines such as American Airlines, British Airlines or Virgin Atlantic. Flight time is around nine hours. Then jump on the high-speed Brightline rail service from Miami Central to West Palm Beach (around 60 mins).
Other pickleball hotspots
Pickleball now has a presence in 70 countries.
According to Thaddea Lock, the UK’s No 1 female pro who travels the world competing in the sport: “Pickleball is rapidly growing in southeast Asia. Big tournaments are taking place in Bali, Thailand and Vietnam. There’s also a lot of investment in pickleball happening in China.”
California officially has the highest density of pickleball courts, with Florida being a close second. South Africa recently hosted an international competition. Australia now has major league pickleball.
Due to popular demand, luxury hotels across the globe are incorporating pickleball courts into their offering – Kagi in the Maldives is one of the more recent openings.
What to pack for pickleball in the Palm Beaches
- ProXR Beth Bellamy Diamond Series pickleball paddle, £150 pickleball.co.uk
- Skechers “Viper Court Pro” pickleball trainers, £120 skechers.co.uk
- Coola Clear Sunscreen Spray SPF 50, £19 amazon.co.uk
- Fila Pleated Skort, £60 fila.co.uk
- Lululemon visor, £35 lululemon.co.uk
- Kazu Tourer sunglasses, £315 tracksmith.com
Read more: The world’s best hotels with tennis courts
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