Court Booking Rules

Court Booking

The Club operates an online Court Booking System.
Booking Sheets are opened at 7am every day for 7 days forward, eg courts for Monday 10th November will become available to book from 7am on Monday 3rd November.
Members may book up to one court a day for singles or doubles play.
Court bookings are for 1 hour periods.
Two successive court bookings are allowed for doubles play and one hour for singles play..
Players must add their opponents’ names to court bookings – this is beneficial as it allows any named party to check-in on arrival. Plus the system will send an email to all players on the day of the booking to remind them of their booking.

Guest Fees

Members may play guests if desired upon payment of a Guest Fee.
Guest Fees are £5 for adults and £2.50 for Juniors (Under 18) per visit.
Guests must be paid for before playing (please send payment to Blackheath Lawn Tennis Club 40-03-16 81660756 and mark as ‘Guest’) and names must be entered on the sheet in the tennis pavilion.
Guests may be played up to a maximum of 3 times (after which they should join the Club).

Ball Machine

Members may hire the Club’s ball machine. The ***Ball Machine opponent option must be selected on MyCourts to record this.
The ball machine fee is £5 per session.
The ball machine must be paid for before playing (please send payment to Blackheath Lawn Tennis Club 40-03-16 81660756 and mark as ‘Ball Machine).

Check-in

Any named party to a court booking may check-in.
This can either be done via the screen in the Club House (you will need your PIN number given when you were added to the booking system), or via the GPS check-in on the mobile website (stand near the Club House, open the website on your phone, click GPS check-in and it will check you in, sensing your proximity).
Check-in can be done up to 1 hour before or up to 3 hours after playing.

Floodlights

Court floodlights are available for the winter months.
To operate them, please use the card payment machines in the Club House.
Lights can be booked for one hour per payment at a cost of £4.50.
Lights will come on quickly if they have been off for a while.
If already on from the previous session, please ensure they do not go out before you start your session, otherwise they can take up to 15 minutes to get back to full power.
If paid before the hour booking starts, the lights will stay on for the full hour.

Changeover

Court booking sessions run for one hour and players should vacate the court prior to the expiry of their session, to allow the next players their full time allocation.

Clay Court Sweeping

To maintain the Clay Courts in best condition and as a courtesy to the next players, players on clay courts should stop their match 5 mins before the hour changeover and sweep the court using the court sweeping brushes provided.
Please sweep up and down the court, ie back of court to net and vice versa – this distributes the clay in the best fashion.

Cancellations and No-Shows

When unable to play (even when due to bad weather), members should cancel their bookings as soon as possible.
Please ensure courts are cancelled a minimum of 24 hours prior to allow others to book the court.
The system automatically assumes a "no-show" when the court remains booked without having been checked-in.
You will receive a no-show email on the day following the no-show.
At this stage, there are no penalties for no-show, however the no-shows and cancellations are logged and reviewed by the committee.

Cancelled Court Alerts

If you wish to receive an email alert when courts are cancelled, please use the “Cancelled Court Alerts” on the left navigation.
These can be set to day and hour ranges if you are looking for a particular time and are very handy to secure last minute court bookings.

Pre-Booked Sessions

In the winter, usually on Saturdays and Sundays, matches are pre-booked with a normal start time of either 10.30am or 13.30pm.
Club Social Sessions are pre-booked every Wednesday evening 6pm onwards, Thursday morning 10-12pm and Sunday afternoons 2-5pm and all eligible Senior members are welcome to attend. Balls are provided.
Team Training is occasionally pre-booked on a Monday evening during the winter months.
- Occasionally courts will be taken out of booking to allow for maintenance.

White Board Waiting System & Grass Courts

The online booking system is not currently used for the grass courts. Instead the White Board system operates for these courts.
The White Board is situated on the left as you enter the Club House.
At busy times it is important that you sign up on this board – all players must be named, along with the time you started playing.
If courts become busy, this system enables players waiting to see who is due to come off first and the time a court will become free.
If there are players waiting the playing time is one hour per court.

Club Rules, Policies & Procedures

More information on Club rules, policies and procedures can be found on the Club website.