Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch will be welcoming multiple national pickleball events to its courts over the next few weeks.
November 2-5, the club will be hosting “MLP Dallas by Margaritaville,” a coed, team-based Major League Pickleball tournament featuring around 100 of the sport’s players in a winner-take-all battle for the coveted Pritchard Cup, per the MLP webpage.
Additionally, the Brookhaven Country Club is set to host the 2023 Biofreeze USA National Pickleball Championships from November 6 to 12, showcasing some of “the best pickleball players in the world,” according to USA Pickleball.
This event has been a part of pickleball’s growing popularity, bringing together the three major professional pickleball organizations — MLP, Professional Pickleball Association, and USA Pickleball.
MLP Dallas will consist of four days of tournament play between teams representing cities across the country, divided into “premier” and “challenger” levels.
The premier level includes teams from Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, Austin, Miami, Arizona, Chicago, Brooklyn, Columbus, the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Utah. The challenger teams will hail from Frisco, Austin, Florida, St. Louis, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, California, Seattle, and Southern California.
The National Championships used to be played in Indian Wells, California, but the move to Brookhaven allows for a more expansive capacity and a more centralized location. The tournament will serve as a weeklong festival with many other events, including opening ceremonies, a celebrity tournament, and live music and activities.
Professionals and amateurs will play in the National Championships and be divided by skill level, age group, and type of pickleball (indoor or outdoor) as they compete for more than $275,000 in prize money.
Brookhaven underwent a $5.3 million renovation project to prepare for the events, including the addition of 26 pickleball courts, six tennis courts, and two courts for padel, a type of doubles tennis that originated in Mexico.
Some courts will be temporarily converted into pickleball courts to allow 78 total courts for the tournaments. The rest of the club’s courts will remain available and open for use during the tournaments.
MLP Dallas begins at 9 a.m. CT on Thursday and continues through Sunday. The 2023 USA National Pickleball Championships will follow, running from November 6 through November 12.
For more information about Brookhaven Country Club, click here.
