Understanding

Austin Pickle Ranch's
Open Play Policies

We are committed to making the Ranch the premier pickleball experience in Austin. After taking into account your feedback and reviewing open play usage, we've noticed that a few of our members have been booking multiple open play sessions in a single day. This has led to reduced play opportunities for all members and goes against our policy of allowing only one reservation for Open Play per day.

Effectively immediately, we’ve updated our system to allow members to book one Open Play reservation per day.  We also are introducing a new Standby List to allow members to play in additional Open Play sessions if space is available.  

Here’s a quick guide to help you maximize your membership and enjoy your time at the Ranch!

BOOKINGS & CHECKING IN  

Reservations For Fair Play

To ensure that all of our members have a fair chance to play, we will update our reservation system to enforce our booking policy of one Open Play reservation per day. Want to play more? Check in at the front desk to join our Standby List.  

Don’t Forget To Check In

All players must sign up and check in with the front desk staff before the session starts. This will allow us to help quickly fill empty slots and allow others to join in on the fun. If you don’t check in within 15 minutes of the scheduled start of the Open Play session, you may forfeit your playing rights. 

Save Your Preferred Spots

We would like to allow you to keep your most desired daily Open Play session times. So please update your current reservations by August 26th our team will begin canceling instances of multiple reservations on August 27th that are booked for the same date for Open Play sessions

ON THE COURT

Court Policy

You must start playing only at your session’s start time and end your game at the end of your reserved session. If you’re interested in playing beyond your session time, please check in at the front desk to join our Standby List.

Be Kind on the Court:

Texas is the ‘Friendship State,’ and we want our players to guide that in their play. Please find the closest Ranch Hand or find Tim or Jeff if you are concerned or email us at Play@austinpickleranch.com. 

No Show Policy Changes

Due to a high level of no shows for Open Play sessions, we will implement a no-show policy in the coming weeks. 

GRACE PERIOD & NEW STANDBY POLICY 

Signing Up for the StandBy List

Players can check in at the front desk to see if additional session slots are available.  Priority is given to those who are on the reservation Waitlist. 

15-Minute Grace Period

We get it, life (and Austin traffic happens). We’ll hold your spot for 15 minutes after the Open Play session start time. After that time, we reserve the right to give your spot to another player on the standby list.  

More Competitive Programming

In the coming weeks, we will begin requiring verified DUPR ratings for specific higher-level programming. A guide on how to link your account can be found here.  

Standby List

The standby list is designed to allow walk-in players and members who have already used their daily open play reservation to join open play sessions when space is available. There is no guarantee of entry for standby players, as it depends entirely on no-shows or cancellations by reserved players.

Here’s how it works: 

  • Standby Play is currently FREE!  
  • Players interested in joining an open play session without a reservation for that session can sign up for the Standby list upon arrival at the facility at the front desk. 
  • Players must be at the facility to get on the Standby List and can only add their own name.
  • Players can only be on one Standby List at a time.

As the open play session begins, staff will monitor the attendance of reserved players.

If a reserved spot is unclaimed 15 minutes after the session start time, the staff will begin calling players from the standby list in the order they signed up. 

Players must be present and ready to play when their name is called at the front desk, as the spot will be offered to the next person on the list if they are not.