So today I’m gonna spill the beans on why my club finally caved and bought one of those mechanical tennis court dryers. Seriously, we debated this thing for months, and lemme tell ya, it wasn’t pretty.
How It All Started
Right after a pretty big summer thunderstorm one Tuesday afternoon. Beautiful sunshine comes out right after, classic, right? But guess what? Courts were totally flooded. I mean, puddles everywhere. My main crew shows up for evening league play, all pumped, and bam. Courts aren’t playable.
My head coach flipped out. Members grumbled. Me? I just grabbed a squeegee and a bunch of towels, yelled at a couple of kids working summer jobs to help out, and we started mopping. Picture this: we’re all crawling around like idiots, sweating our asses off, trying to sop up the water. Took us nearly two hours to dry just two courts enough to play on. Everyone else? Canceled. Total mess. Revenue down the drain. Again.
The Tipping Point
We got lucky at first – next morning, the sun baked ’em dry. But couple weeks later, surprise, another heavy shower. And another. It became a running joke: “Did Phil bring his towel army today?”
One morning it drizzled, stopped early, but the courts stayed damp. Sun wasn’t hot enough. My phone blew up. League captains freaking out. A birthday party booked all day threatening to cancel entirely. That was it for me. I dragged the club president out there at 7 AM. “Look at this!” I said, pointing at the slick surface. “We gotta pay a full crew to stand around waiting for sunshine? This is nuts!”
The Hunt & The Hesitation
Started digging online. Found all sorts of stuff. Blowers? Noisy beasts, barely shift puddles. Big vacuums? Expensive monsters. Then I found articles about these rolling mechanical dryers – kinda like big carpet cleaners for tennis courts. Sounds simple, right?
Got quotes. Oof. The price tags! You could buy a decent used car for the cost of some models. Arguments started again. “Is it really worth it?” “Maybe next year.” “Sun dries it free!” Then another drizzle messed up a Saturday full of lessons. Money walking out the door. That clinched it. Fine. Let’s just try one.
Getting the Beast & Testing It Out
We went with a mid-sized roller model – looked sturdy. Took delivery last month. First thing I did? Hose down a section of court after closing, just to test it. Grabbed the handle, hit the switch, and started pushing. It’s got this heavy roller underneath covered in special thirsty fabric. Just rolled it back and forth.
Seriously, it’s kinda like mowing the court, but for water. No mopping, no army of kids. Just me, walking steadily. Took maybe 15 minutes to do one court section thoroughly. Surface went from shiny wet to perfect, playable dry. Not bone dry like hot sun, but dry enough. Safe. No slipping hazards. Blew my mind.
- No more wasting staff time waiting for sun or doing hard manual labor.
- No more frantic squeegee marathons.
- We can actually open on schedule after light rain or morning dew.
The Aftermath: So Worth It
It’s been a few weeks now. Any hint of dampness? We roll the beast out. Early morning dew? Dry in time for lessons. Post-rain? Get courts playable fast. Members see it happening – way more impressed than seeing us crawl around with towels.
Yeah, it cost a pretty penny upfront. But man, saving lost bookings and fixing canceled lessons? Plus, no more paying multiple staff just to dry courts? Avoiding member frustration? Absolutely worth it. Our court utilization jumped after we got it – maybe 5-10% less downtime? Feels huge.
Should we have gotten it sooner? Oh yeah. Big time. It just takes that one maddening season of constant rain cancellations to realize: free sun drying? It ain’t free when it costs you business. This roller gets us back in play, fast. Simple as that. Total pain in the butt getting the club to pay for it, but now? Best investment we made.