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By Jim Buice
For the Clemmons Courier

While Forsyth County is adding nine pickleball-specific courts at Joanie Moser Park in Lewisville with $200,000 in funding provided to replace two tennis courts and a basketball court, the county also has looked at providing pickleball at Tanglewood Park’s tennis facility.

“Simultaneously, Forsyth County is in between tennis vendors at Tanglewood Park,” said Damon Sanders-Pratt, deputy county manager. “A survey was conducted to receive input on tennis and pickleball at Tanglewood Park.”

Sanders-Pratt said that the questions were the following:

Option 1 — This option is to continue the status quo. A Request For Qualifications (RFQ) would be developed and advertised where interested tennis facility operators can respond. County staff would review the RFQ’s received and negotiate with a vendor deemed to have the best program and to be the most qualified to successfully operate the four hard courts and six soft courts.

Option 2 — A tennis vendor would not be acquired. Instead, the six soft courts would be converted to six additional tennis hard courts. All Tanglewood tennis courts would become open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis and at no cost beyond the $2 Tanglewood Park drive-in admission fee.

Option 3 — A tennis vendor would not be acquired. Instead, the six soft courts would be converted to 10 pickleball hard courts. All of the courts at Tanglewood — tennis and pickleball — would become open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis and at no cost beyond the $2 Tanglewood Park drive-in admission fee. (This option replaces a county commissioner-authorized pickleball court development project that would be located at Joanie Moser Park in Lewisville.)

Sanders-Pratt said he shared the results with the county commissioners at their March 10 briefing with Option 3 (converting six soft tennis courts to 10 pickleball hard courts with no vendor required) leading the way with 54.3% of the vote.

Option 1 was second with 42.5% wanting to maintain the status quo (with a new vendor required), and Option 2 (where the six soft tennis courts would be converted to hard courts with no vendor required) was a distant third with 3.2% in favor.

“Even though a majority of those responding preferred replacing the soft courts at Tanglewood with pickleball courts, there was still a significant contingent interested in retaining the existing tennis facilities, even if shared with pickleball,” Sanders-Pratt said. “The status quo is going to be maintained at Tanglewood for now, which is represented by ‘Option 1.’ ”

County staff indicated that it intended to move forward with pickleball courts at Joanie Moser Park in Lewisville as directed by the commissioners in October 2021 and funded in January 2022.

Sanders-Pratt said that the four hard courts are currently open to the public at Tanglewood. The soft courts require special care and maintenance, so they are not open without a vendor to manage them.