NET GAINS

Horseshoe Bay Resort kicks off $10M padel expansion with clubhouse

The clubhouse will give players a place to gather and watch matches between rounds of tennis, pickleball, or padel.

Renderings courtesy of Horseshoe Bay Resort

Horseshoe Bay Resort, a sprawling lakeside destination in the Texas Hill Country about 55 miles northwest of Austin, has broken ground on a $10 million racquet sports expansion. The project will bring four dedicated padel courts and a new clubhouse to the resort by summer 2027.

The expansion will include a 6,690-square-foot Racquet Sports Clubhouse with indoor and covered outdoor gathering areas. It will join the resort’s existing 12 tennis courts — six hard courts and six red clay courts — and 14 dedicated pickleball courts.

Padel combines elements of tennis and racquetball, using a net and tennis-style scoring on a smaller, enclosed court where the glass walls remain in play. The Horseshoe Bay project joins a growing roster of dedicated padel facilities opening around Austin.

“Padel is experiencing explosive growth, and we’re excited our resort owners are going all-in on the specialized, enclosed glass-and-mesh courts required for dedicated padel play,” said Israel Castillo, the resort’s director of racquet sports, in a release.

The clubhouse will include a central lounge overlooking the courts, along with reception, retail, and additional gathering spaces. Planned furnishings include soft seating, high-top tables, televisions, and a counter running along a wall of windows facing the courts.

A 2,632-square-foot covered outdoor lounge will give spectators another place to watch matches. The clubhouse will also sell athletic clothing, footwear, equipment, and accessories, plus chef-prepared grab-and-go food, sports drinks, and ready-to-drink cocktails.

The new facilities will complement the resort’s Mouratoglou Tennis Center, an instructional program affiliated with Patrick Mouratoglou, the longtime former coach of Serena Williams. The Horseshoe Bay center offers private and group lessons, clinics, and camps led by coaches trained in Mouratoglou’s teaching method.

A rendering shows the exterior patio planned for Horseshoe Bay Resort’s new racquet clubhouse.Renderings courtesy of Horseshoe Bay Resort

Horseshoe Bay dates to the early 1970s, when developers began transforming ranchland along Lake LBJ into a resort community. Its original Slick Rock golf course opened in 1972 and later helped revive the Texas State Open. More recently, the resort served as the setting for the return of Golf Channel’s golf competition series “Big Break.”

The resort’s annual events include Balloons Over Horseshoe Bay Resort in April, Beer by the Bay in August, and the Wine, Dine & Jazz Festival in November. It occupies more than 7,000 acres along Lake LBJ and also offers golf courses, a marina, a spa, hotel rooms, villas, and lakeside condos.

resorts hotels padel racquet sports sports

GRAPE EXPECTATIONS

Napa wine brand unites Cali and Texas in new Hill Country tasting room

The Debate/ Facebook

The Debate will source both Napa Valley and Hill Country grapes.

Need further proof that the Texas wine industry has arrived? Celebrated Napa Valley wine brand The Debate is expanding into the Hill Country with plans to open a new Stonewall tasting room in spring 2027.

The brand was founded in 2010 with a slightly esoteric philosophy. The Debate believes that wine isn’t just a product, but a way of “fostering connection through conversation.”

One topic will surely be about the finer points of Napa versus Hill Country terroir. The tasting room will pour The Debate's top-rated wines from California alongside new bottles made from Texas fruit. Additional wine programs under the brand's umbrella will target a range of wine drinkers.

"We've always believed that wine is at its best when it brings people together," said Todd Kerlin, the brand's general manager, in a statement. "Texas Hill Country is writing a genuinely exciting chapter in wine right now, and we saw an opportunity to be part of something real here, not to import an experience, but to build one that belongs to this place and the people in it."

The Debate tasting room Once completed, The Debate's tasting room will presumably look less like The Sims.Rendering courtesy of The Debate

Wine industry vet Jean Hoefliger will spearhead the project locally. He's not an area newb — he's spent the past five years working with Hill Country producers and Texas Wine Consulting.

After years of working across wine regions around the world, nothing prepared me for Texas," Hoefliger said. "The energy here is unlike anywhere else, and so is the sense of place."The Debate plans to partner with regional restaurants and take part in Hill Country wine events as part of its rollout. Membership details, programming, and information on the brand's first Texas releases are expected to be announced closer to the opening.

Once open, it will join two other recently opened tasting rooms on Wine Road 290 between Fredericksburg and Johnson City: playful concept Acquired Taste Wines in Stonewall and Rebecca Caroline, William Chris’ new sparkling wine tasting room in the historic Hye post office.

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