Northbrook's Winter Racquet Season Runs Through Private Clubs

The paddle courts at Glenbrook Paddle Club sit on a raised deck with a heating system underneath that keeps snow from building up. Owner Christi Turdo, a former tennis pro who opened the club in 2020, says the result is mild enough that many players take off layers as the game goes on. Starting this fall, those four courts also host the Northbrook Park District's new paddle program, with classes for men and women at every level. They began the week of Oct. 20.

The club's owner is a private business, the program belongs to the public Park District, and the courts are the club's. Most of Northbrook's winter racquet season works that way. The district's 28 outdoor tennis courts are open April 1 through mid-October, so by now they're closed until spring. From November through March, most public racquet programming happens indoors on courts the district rents or shares, and the biggest blocks of indoor court space in town are private.

Four public courts, then the partners

The district's main indoor pickleball space is the Techny Prairie Activity Center, known as TPAC, which has four courts and 90-minute open-gym sessions. The district notes the schedule can change. The TPAC pickleball page lists drop-in play as free for TPAC members, $6 for residents and $8 for nonresidents. Reserving a court costs $35 an hour for residents and $45 for nonresidents, with $10 off for TPAC members. That fee page was posted in October 2025, so check it before you show up with exact change.

Greenbriar Gym is the district's second indoor option. It offers year-round open gym and indoor rentals. This fall's beginner pickleball clinic runs at both buildings on the same Oct. 26 to Dec. 14 schedule. It costs $185 for residents and $235 for nonresidents at TPAC, and $139 and $175 at Greenbriar. The holiday stretch on the district's pickleball calendar includes a New Year's Day boot camp at TPAC on Jan. 1, 2027, priced at $45 for residents and $55 for nonresidents.

Beyond those two gyms, the program depends on partners. The district's indoor tennis classes take place at Northbrook Racquet Club, 2995 Dundee Road, and Glenbrook Racquet Club, 1801 Janke Drive. Adult classes at both clubs are listed through December. The paddle program runs the same way. The district's tennis page also lists a ladies' introductory paddle course through Glenbrook Racquet Club from Oct. 21 to Dec. 16, at $285 for residents and $359 for nonresidents.

What paddle is, and what it isn't

Most people who are new to the sport mix it up with padel. Its formal name is platform tennis. It's a doubles game played on a court about the size of a pickleball court, and it uses tennis scoring. Two neighbors in Scarsdale, New York, invented it in 1928. What sets it apart is the mesh cage around the court. A ball that bounces off the screen is still in play, and Turdo calls that extra challenge the part players find exciting.

The sport was designed for cold weather, which explains why Northbrook's version runs outdoors in November. Andy Wright, Glenbrook Paddle Club's director of paddle, learned the game about 35 years ago from Paddle Hall of Famer Howard Sipe. In the Park District's article on the new program, he described the season this way:

"The game is sanity from October to April."

He also told the district that the club's atmosphere is "like a mid-mountain Aspen." The club has indoor and outdoor seating with TVs and fireplaces. Players can bring their own drinks and order food. Luke Denten, a Park District recreation supervisor, played for the first time the week the article ran and called the game "exciting, engaging and easy to enjoy."

Glenbrook's team also plays competitively. The APTA Chicago team listings include a Glenbrook RC-1 team. For anyone who wants to watch top-level paddle in early November, the American Platform Tennis Association's tournament schedule shows the Chicago Charities event at Glen View Club from Nov. 6 to 8.

Where the indoor capacity actually sits

Four public pickleball courts at TPAC is a small number until you compare it with the private clubs within the same village limits.

Glenbrook Pickle Club advertises year-round play on eight indoor courts, with five open-play sessions a week and in-house leagues. An earlier version of the Glenbrook site listed seven courts. Its fall session opened Oct. 26 with two new leagues, Women's Tiki Tuesday and Bring a Friend.

The largest addition is on Techny Road. Life Time North Shore opened June 26 at 1300 Techny Road with 28 pickleball courts in total, 18 indoors and 10 outdoors. The club covers 114,000 square feet on a 17.7-acre site, and an outdoor pool club is planned for 2027, according to Patch. Its pickleball page lists open play, lessons, mixers and leagues. Open play and leagues are listed as member offerings, and reserving a court requires a Signature Membership. The current schedule preview includes open play by skill level and a mixed-beginner drop-in league.

So a single private building on Techny Road has more than four times as many indoor pickleball courts as the district's main public gym, and Glenbrook Pickle Club has twice as many. The district's lower drop-in fees come with a much smaller supply of courts.

The arrangement continues into spring

The district's biggest racquet project this year is outdoors, and it also involves a partner club. The Park District is spending $1.9 million to renovate West Park, a 24-acre park at 1730 Pfingsten Road. The work includes replacing three tennis courts and is scheduled to finish in November. The USTA gave $105,000 toward the courts through its Tennis Venue Services grant program. Park planning and project manager Nicole Wrobel said that program reviews a project's court engineering and design before a park district is even invited to apply. A $600,000 OSLAD grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources also helps pay for the renovation.

The district's grant announcement says Northbrook Racquet Club and Glenbrook Racquet Club helped gather information for the application. It also says Northbrook Racquet Club will help run programming at West Park. Superintendent of Athletics and Fitness Meri Shea said in the same announcement that "the addition of the blended lines will expand programming opportunities at our courts." The club that hosts the district's indoor tennis classes all winter will help run its newest outdoor courts after they open.

In its latest West Park project update, the district expected the three courts to be substantially complete sometime in October, with the remaining park fixtures following in November. It hasn't announced a ribbon-cutting date. The district's outdoor tennis courts open April 1, so spring will be the first full season on the new courts. The rest of the park will be ready before then. Plans include a new Kompan playground for ages 2 to 5 and 5 to 12, a picnic shelter, a replacement sand volleyball court, and a multi-sport court for hockey and basketball. A new trail section along the parking lot will make a continuous loop of two-thirds of a mile, and a new drinking fountain will have a bottle filler and a dog bowl.

Until April, Northbrook's racquet players will be on the heated deck at Glenbrook, the four courts at TPAC, or one of the private clubs on Janke Drive, Dundee Road and Techny Road.

When we prepare a home for market at Abbie Homes Group, we include details like these, such as how close it is to West Park's new loop or the indoor courts on Techny Road, because buyers ask about daily routines as much as they ask about square footage. If you're thinking about a spring sale, Request Your Home Valuation, and we'll show you how your home's location fits into the story your listing tells.