Layout Guide: Outdoor Courts

USA Pickleball's construction page is short and direct: "Courts should be oriented north–south outdoors." The reason is the sun. Low sun in the morning and evening comes from the east and west, so with the long axis running north–south, players at either end aren't looking straight into it.

On a lot that doesn't run north–south, rotate the courts on the plan, not the lot, and see what fits. A rotated bank of courts often leaves awkward triangles at the corners; those make good places for benches, shade and the entrance.

Outdoor courts are usually built in banks, a block of courts inside one fence. The playing surfaces are the same as indoors (rule 3.A.3):

Fencing usually runs around the outside of the bank, with low divider fences or nets between courts. We didn't research fence heights, gate positions or drainage slopes for this series, so we don't give numbers here. The USA Pickleball / ASBA Pickleball Courts Construction & Maintenance Manual covers outdoor construction; it's a paid publication, and a court builder will work to it.

Lights decide whether outdoor courts earn anything after sunset. Lighting vendors cite the ASBA manual for about 30 foot-candles (about 323 lux) for recreational play and about 50 foot-candles (about 538 lux) for club or competitive play. We couldn't confirm these in the manual or the IES RP-6 standard.

Costs vary much more outdoors because of the poles. One online calculator's database ranged from $13,860 to $52,452 per court including outdoor poles (2026, vendor data). Treat it as a spread, not a quote, and check local rules on light spill if there are homes nearby.

Starting with outdoor courts and adding a building later is one way to phase a project. Outdoors there's no clear-height limit, no column grid and no change-of-occupancy review for a warehouse, so many of the constraints in this series simply don't apply. In exchange, weather and daylight limit the hours you can sell, and an operator in New England noted that "seasonal demand for indoor courts fluctuates" (The Kitchen, November 2024).

If you plan in phases, draw both phases on one site plan from the start: where the courts go now, where the building could go later, and where parking and the entrance serve both. It costs nothing to keep the option open on paper.

Two templates start you off outdoors. The Pickleball Courts (4) template is a 133 × 83 ft fenced lot with four courts, each with its own run-off, and benches for players waiting. The Sports Park template is a 195 × 117 ft site with a tennis court, two pickleball courts, a basketball half court and a beach volleyball court, with benches between.

Court sizes for every sport are in sports court dimensions with run-off.