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The July/August 2026 Issue Is Here!
At The Fort in Fort Lauderdale, there is a stadium built for 1,500 spectators and elevated walkways designed to frame every match just right. But when co-founder Brad Tuckman talks about what makes the place work, he points to a group of members gathered around a backgammon board at the bar. Not waiting for a court. Not watching one. Just spending time together.
By his estimate, roughly 90% of the restaurant’s business comes from people who aren’t even there to play.
That one detail sets the tone for the entire July/August 2026 issue of Pickleball Club Magazine, and it captures the thread running through every club we feature: pickleball gets people through the door, but everything else is what keeps them coming back.
Read the full July/August 2026 issue here
Inside the Cover Story: Every Detail by Design at The Fort
The Fort is home to 43 pro-regulation courts, but its defining features aren’t measured in square footage. Before opening, Tuckman visited pickleball facilities around the country and studied everything from traffic flow to spectator sightlines, then built a club where every feature answers the same question: how does this improve the guest experience?
A few things you’ll find inside the cover story:
- Why the restaurant sits directly above the beginner courts, and what Tuckman hopes diners think when they look down
- How ideas from facilities like Pictona were adapted, refined, and reimagined
- Why Tuckman says he is “perpetually disappointed,” and why that mindset keeps The Fort improving long after construction ended
The full story starts on page 16 of the digital issue.
The People’s Courts: Turning Pickleball Into a Destination
In Portland, owner Dave Sacks took a former indoor bike park and turned it into an entertainment hub where pickleball is the centerpiece but never the whole show. The People’s Courts pairs 12 courts with bocce, axe throwing, cornhole, ping pong, a full bar, and a kitchen, and it works with only a limited membership component by design.
Hundreds of regular players still visit multiple times each week. The challenge, Sacks says, is helping everyone else discover the rest. How he does it, from corporate events to a bocce league that calls the venue home two nights a week, is in Match Point on page 30.
Swing-N-Pickle: A Family Entertainment Center That Happens to Have Pickleball
Most facilities are designed with one customer in mind: pickleball players. In Albuquerque, Swing-N-Pickle owner Kevin Shrader flipped that idea on its head. His 20,000-square-foot facility mixes four pickleball courts with golf simulators, batting cages, arcade games, and family-friendly hangout space, so a single group can split up, do different things, and still spend the visit together.
Five months in, Shrader is candid about what he is still learning, and that honesty makes this one of the most useful reads in the issue for anyone weighing a mixed-use concept.
Community Over Concrete: Three Clubs Proving the Point
The issue also features operators showing that retention has less to do with the build and more to do with the relationships built inside it:
- Premier Pickleball Club (Redmond, Oregon): Jamie and Mack Carlson run a nine-court indoor club where members have offered to work the front desk just so the owners can take a day off. One member called it “the best place on earth, instead of Disneyland.”
- Bellevue Pickleball Club (Bellevue, Washington): Susan Tai painted four courts pink to honor breast cancer awareness. Her contractor called the idea stupid. Members now call the facility “the Pink Palace,” and the contractor has admitted he was wrong.
- New York Pickleball Club: After 40+ years of building health clubs, a frozen yogurt franchise, and independent movie theaters, Dave and Laura Rose spent nearly two years studying the industry before opening. Every decision came back to one question: “If we were members, what would we want?”
Each story digs into the specific programming, hiring, and design decisions behind the community. The kind of detail you can borrow for your own club.
Flip through the full issue now
What Club Operators Will Take Away From This Issue
Whether your facility opened last month or has been running for years, this issue is built to leave you with something worth borrowing:
- A facility-design checklist hiding inside The Fort’s story: every element should answer “how does this improve the guest experience?”
- A revenue lens from The People’s Courts: events, food, and social programming can reach audiences traditional memberships never will
- A differentiation play from Bellevue: a bold, personal brand decision can become your most recognizable feature
- A pre-opening discipline from New York Pickleball Club: two years of studying other clubs answered the questions that matter before the first court was built
How to Read the July/August 2026 Issue
- Read it free online: the full digital edition is available now in the issue viewer
- Get every issue first: subscribe to Pickleball Club Magazine and get club-business insights in your inbox
- Catch up on recent stories: browse In The Kitchen for more operator interviews, like TapNPaddle’s look inside a high-performing club and SPORTIME’s approach to hiring and developing staff
- Missed the last issue? The May/June 2026 issue with the Buyer’s Guide and 2026 State of Pickleball Report is still live
FAQ: The July/August 2026 Issue
What is in the July/August 2026 issue of Pickleball Club Magazine? The issue features a cover story on The Fort in Fort Lauderdale, plus features on The People’s Courts (Portland), Swing-N-Pickle (Albuquerque), Premier Pickleball Club (Redmond, Oregon), Bellevue Pickleball Club (Bellevue, Washington), and New York Pickleball Club. The unifying theme: pickleball gets people through the door, and everything else keeps them coming back.
Where can I read the July/August 2026 issue for free? The full digital edition is available in the online issue viewer at BlueToad. No login is required to flip through the issue.
Who is Pickleball Club Magazine for? Pickleball Club Magazine is the business resource for pickleball club owners, operators, investors, managers, and industry suppliers. It is not a consumer pickleball publication; every story is written for the people running facilities.
How often is Pickleball Club Magazine published? The magazine publishes bimonthly, six issues per year, with new operator stories published weekly at pickleballclubmag.com.
