A new club offering year-round pickleball is gearing up to make its Johnson County debut.
Ace Pickleball Club will officially open to the public in Olathe on Aug. 30.
The fully indoor club has already opened for memberships — for which new members can get their first month of play for free.
Ace Pickleball is opening at 1445 S. Mahaffie Circle
- The pickleball club took over a space just off 151st Street and Mahaffie Circle, near the Kansas Rush Soccer Club.
- Natural Baseball Academy previously occupied that space.
- Once it opens, Ace Pickleball’s regular hours in Olathe will be from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Ace Pickleball offers pickleball for all skill levels, all year
The courts at Ace Pickleball are divided by skill level — starting with beginners, then ranging up to intermediate and advanced players.
The new Olathe club has 11 full-sized courts, as well as a smaller “dinking” court (a non-volley zone meant just for warming up and practicing).
Choosing a level ultimately comes down to each member’s discretion, based on their own experience and comfort level.
“We want everyone to feel welcome here,” said Jason Gilmartin, general manager at Ace Pickleball. “We aren’t going to assign them a beginner, intermediate or advanced label. We want them to kind of play where they feel comfortable, and as they grow, they can advance up to the higher ones.”
Though walk-in play is available when there’s space on the courts for it, Ace Pickleball is primarily membership-based, with members having the ability to reserve courts in advance.
This marks Ace Pickleball’s Johnson County debut
Ace Pickleball Club’s initially got its start in Roswell, Georgia, in 2023.
Prior to opening the new club, franchise owners Alex McCarty and Mitch Morse also own a second business together — Kansas City-based Premium Outdoor Grills. The duo launched that business in 2018, and the online business sells a variety of grills and grilling equipment.
McCarty and Morse are pickleball enthusiasts themselves, going back several years. By bringing Ace Pickleball to Olathe, the duo hoped to create a pickleball environment where players could focus solely on honing their skills — moving away from the vibe of “eatertainment”-geared venues like Chicken N Pickle and TopGolf.
“I think it’s a focused environment for people to be able to get good at competitive games, no matter what their experience is,” McCarty said. “You don’t have to schedule in advance, and you don’t have to come with a group. A lot of the things that would create barriers to someone being able to get in a game, we have tried to remove here.”
Ultimately, the team at Ace Pickleball said they’re looking forward to drawing in Johnson County’s pickleball enthusiasts. So far, they said the community has responded favorably and are eager to get in the doors.
“I can tell you, just in talking to the general public, the name is out there,” Gilmartin said. “There’s interest all throughout the community.”
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