County’s Tennis Clubs Courting Wider Audience

The bar was usually full, but sometimes the courts weren’t. Then new owner Ken Stuart took over and now you don’t want to join the Palisades Tennis Club for the card games.

If you want to play tennis, though, there might not be a better place on earth.

And you don’t even have to try to match schedules with anyone: You call the Newport Beach club, select any day and any time you like and pick singles or doubles. After that, all you have to do is show up and remember to bring your racket. The Palisades staff--with an assist from a computer program Stuart wrote--puts together a match with a player or players whose ability level mirrors yours.

“This place used to be old, a lot of guys playing cards and drinking,” said Hans Loschl, a chef at Santa Ana Country Club who was a member at the facility when it was the John Wayne Tennis Club. “But after Ken took over, the whole atmosphere has changed. There are a lot more young people, and you can get any kind of match, any time.” Members are graded on the National Tennis Rating Program, which uses a scale of 1 to 10 at half-point increments. The computer sorts through more than 500 members and the staff starts calling--in reverse order of those who played most recently--until they fill out the match.

The computer also flags your name if you haven’t played in a couple of weeks and a staff member will call to ask why. If you’ve been too busy at work, you’ll be reminded of the stress-reduction properties of exercise and pressed to set up a match at your earliest possible convenience.

Is this tennis nirvana or what?

And the country-club atmosphere remains intact--the men’s locker room, for example, is luxurious--and the courts are nestled against the lush fairways of a golf course.

Palisades hosted the U.S.-Netherlands Davis Cup tie last month and three of the courts have been resurfaced with Plexipave, the same stuff Andre Agassi has on his backyard court. It’s the slowest of hardcourt surfaces, but slows the ball without drastically changing the trajectory of the bounce.

“You’d be surprised the difference it makes,” said Gary Lindstrom, regional manager for California Products Corp., the company that makes the surface. “For average players like you and me, it really makes the game a lot more fun.”

So why isn’t there a line to sign up at Palisades extending down Pacific Coast Highway? The fee. For singles, there’s a one-time payment of $1,000 and a $122 monthly charge; for families, it’s $1,500 and $141 a month.

*

“A tennis court is a tennis court and the outdoors is outdoors,” says Cathy Binnquist, owner of the 30-year-old Costa Mesa Tennis Club, which welcomes anyone who can pay the fee: $4 an hour on weekdays, $6 in the evening and on weekends.

“Really, tennis players have two basic needs, a clean court and a good net.”

*

Binnquist, 47, was director of tennis at the club for eight years before taking over two years ago. Three weeks ago, she received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Southern California College with the help of an athletic scholarship. Needless to say, she was the elder member of the team and in January, her son married her doubles partner.

Running the Costa Mesa Tennis Club is not exactly high finance--Binnquist said she raised the club’s revenue about $20,000 in her first year--but she’s studying the industry and moving aggressively to make it profitable.

And she has a strong group of regulars because she provides more than just a good surface and net.

“We all know the tennis industry is in decline, so my goal has always been to offer an affordable substitute to joining a club,” she said. “We make people feel special, like they do belong to a private club.

“The courts are always washed. We’ve planted a lot of flowers. The restrooms are new and we have a pro shop, which we’re remodeling right now.”

There is no computer program to match players, but Binnquist offers group lessons and also promotes a number of tournaments--for men, women, seniors and mixed doubles--good ways for people to meet opponents of equal skill.

“Matching people with similar ability is a huge, huge factor in the success of any tournament,” Binnquist said. “We rate on the NTRP scale. I’ve only got to watch you hit for a few minutes to be able to rank you.”

For regular players who meet to play once or twice a week on free public courts, the Costa Mesa Tennis Club--open 9 to 9 on weekdays and 9 until dark on weekends--offers a comforting bit of predictability. You can reserve the court two days in advance and play as long as you want to pay for it.

Said Binnquist: “And you know that there won’t be a family reunion with a barbecue on the next court.”

*

Corona del Mar High’s Jenny Meyers ran down a drop shot and flicked a cross-court winner past her teaching pro, Butch Young.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead, but not the smile off her face. It was a gorgeous afternoon for tennis and it’s always fun to slip one past your instructor.

There were no members playing on the courts of the Felipe facility of the Mission Viejo Tennis Center at 3 p.m. this weekday, but a number of promising junior players were being run back and forth by Young, fellow teaching pro Philip Lully and assistant Jason Harnett.

“We have about 200-220 members, it fluctuates all the time, and about half of them are juniors,” Lully said. “Keri Phebus trains here. So do a number of top-ranked juniors who come from as far as San Clemente and Seal Beach.

“The junior program is sort of centered down here and the adults play mostly at the Marguerite courts.”

There are six courts at Felipe and seven at the Marguerite Parkway facility, and members can play at both, reserving courts 24 hours in advance. Membership costs are $35 a month for a single, $45 for a couple and $55 for a family. There is a one-time $25 processing fee to join and no obligation beyond the first month.

The club provides plenty of opportunities to play if you don’t have an opponent in mind. The centers host men’s and women’s doubles, advanced women’s doubles and mixed doubles sessions once a week, in the evening and mornings.

The centers also host a thriving wheelchair tennis program. The Felipe courts are packed with players on wheels every Thursday night.

There are doubles leagues for men, women and seniors--some of which compete with other Orange County clubs--as well as a World Team Tennis-format league. The Mission Viejo teaching pros don’t rate players, but the center hosts USTA-sanctioned clinics so members can have their game evaluated and get an NTRP rating.

*

And for those who would like a little professional advice without the expense of individual lessons, the center offers an adult drill session once a week that is only $4.

“I’m seriously thinking about joining,” said Don Evans, of Santa Margarita, after a singles match at the Marguerite facility with a friend who’s a member. “There are a lot of decent public courts in this area, but you never know for sure if they’ll be full when you get there, or if somebody will show up right after you and stand there looking at their watch.

“This is too good for me,” he said, pulling his soaking-wet T-shirt away from his chest. “I need the exercise but I don’t need any more hassles. It’s worth $35 a month.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Game, Set, Match

Here are some of Orange County’s tennis centers:

* Anaheim Hills Racquet Club

415 S. Anaheim Hills Road

Anaheim Hills

(714) 998-4000

Courts: Seven with lights

Cost: Single membership, $89

monthly

* Anaheim Tennis Center

975 S. State College Blvd.

Anaheim

(714) 991-9090

Courts: 12 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $100 initiation, $55 monthly

* Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club

1602 East Coast Highway

Newport Beach

(714) 759-0711

Courts: 24, 16 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $200

initiation, $100 monthly

* Capistrano Racquet Club

32731 San Juan Creek Road

San Juan Capistrano

(714) 493-7676

Courts: Eight with lights

Cost: Single membership,

$71 monthly

* Costa Mesa Tennis Club

880 Junipero Drive

Costa Mesa

(714) 557-0211

Courts: 12 with lights

Cost: $4-$6 per hour

* Dana Hills Tennis Center

24911 Calle de Tennis

Dana Point

(714) 240-2104

Courts: Eight with lights

Cost: $8.50-$11.50 per hour

* Fullerton Tennis Center

110 E. Valencia Mesa Drive

Fullerton

(714) 870-9955

Courts: 11 with lights

Cost: $5-$6 per hour

* Laguna Niguel Racquet Club

23500 Clubhouse Drive

Laguna Niguel

(714) 496-4665

Courts: 15 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $200 annually, $105 monthly

* Los Caballeros Sports Club

17272 Newhope St.

Fountain Valley

(714) 546-8560

Courts: 30 with lights.

Cost: Single membership,

$75-$100 monthly

* Marbella Golf and

Country Club

30800 Golf Club Drive

San Juan Capistrano

(714) 248-3700

Courts: Six with lights

Cost: Silver membership, $5000 initiation, $185 monthly

* Mesa Verde Tennis Club

3000 Clubhouse Road

Costa Mesa

(714) 549-0377

Courts: 11 with lights

Cost: Not available

* Mission Viejo Country Club

26200 Oso Parkway

Mission Viejo

(714) 582-3570

Courts: Eight with lights

Cost: Single membership, $150 initiation, $90 monthly

* Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis Club

25281 Empty Saddle Drive

Laguna Hills

(714) 831-6660

Courts: 12 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $200 initiation, $60 monthly

* Newport Beach Marriott

Tennis

900 Newport Center Drive

Newport Beach

(714) 729-3566

Courts: Eight with lights

Cost: Single membership, $200 initiation, $81 monthly

* Newport Beach Tennis Club

2601 Eastbluff Drive

Newport Beach

(714) 644-0050

Courts: 19 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $400 initiation, $125 monthly

* Orange County Tennis

Academy

1051 N. Meads Ave.

Orange

(714) 771-2410

Courts: 14 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $525 initiation, $117 monthly

* Palisades Tennis Club

1171 Jamboree Road

Newport Beach

(714) 644-6900

Courts: 15 with lights

Cost: Single membership,

$1,000 initiation, $124

monthly

* Racquet Club of Irvine

5 Sandburg Way

Irvine

(714) 786-5683

Courts: 28 courts, 25 with

lights

Cost: Single membership, $400

initiation, $119 monthly

* Rancho San Clemente

Tennis and Fitness Club

111 Vista Montana

San Clemente

(714) 492-1515

Courts: 19 with lights

Cost: Single membership, $400 initiation, $114 per month

* Yorba Linda Country Club

19400 Mountain View Drive

Yorba Linda

(714) 779-2461

Courts: Eight with lights

Cost: $1,000 initiation, $110 monthly

Compiled by Paul Halpin