First annual Peach Retreat.

A few of the Piedmont Peaches ventured down to Palm Coast, Florida, last month over MLK Weekend to attend the first annual Peach Retreat. What is the Peach Retreat? I’ve been calling it “Tennis Camp”. A weekend getaway focused on tennis & team building.

We ventured down to Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa after work on Thursday, and made the not-too-bad 6-hour drive from Atlanta, GA, to Palm Coast, FL. I had called ahead to let the staff know we would be getting in quite late. The resort has a 24-hour staff, so we were welcomed just after midnight by a very kind guard at the gate who knew me by name. We were then met at the front doors by a bellman with a luggage cart who helped us unload our luggage and tennis bags, and take everything up to our rooms.

We stayed in a spacious 3-bedroom condo in the main tower, with an ocean view. It was furnished with 1 King, 1 Queen, and 2 twins, and had plenty of space for the 4 of us. While the Racquet Center is over by the Marina and not on the main property, we elected to stay in the main tower for access to the resort’s amenities. The Racquet Center was just a 6-minute drive down the road, and had the weather been warmer, I’d have considered biking there!

Now, what you’re really here for. The tennis! Working with Gene Paul, the Racquet Center’s Director, I developed a schedule for the long weekend. Each day, we started with a doubles tennis lesson, had lunch, and then a court reservation to play a match to test our skills.

The Racquet Center at Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa, selected as one of “The World's Top 10 Tennis Resorts” and a "2025 Gold Medal Tennis Resort" by Tennis Resorts Online, offers a fun and challenging tennis experience for all levels. The facility offers court time rentals or lessons with tennis professionals on eight lighted Hydro-Grid clay courts overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway.

There’s also a variety of clinics, like Cardio Tennis, Shot of the Day, and Doubles Drills, that you can register for.

Since it’s northern Florida on MLK weekend, we knew it wasn’t going to be the warmest weekend ever, but getting out of the Atlanta winter weather was a nice respite. As a cold front was rolling into ATL, we were rolling up to our first morning of lessons.

Day 1 with Gene Paul focused on court placement – making sure we’re standing in the right place to cover the court as a doubles pair – and the 3 S’s of volleying.

• Step - with the correct foot.

• Swing - don’t.

• Squeeze - at the right time, on contact.

We also focused on hitting to the right place, and movement within the court during a point. What set this training apart from our usual team lessons was that we weren’t working on technical skills or technique. We were focusing almost exclusively on doubles strategy. We learned how to build the point, and knowing which volleys are meant to be winners.

After the work day ended, we returned to the courts for some match play. I went head-to-head with Christine for a super fun and competitive match, 6-4,6-2, before heading to dinner down in Flagler Beach at the pier, The Funky Pelican.

Day 2 was much warmer, and we had some absolutely beautiful weather for some doubles play. Our lesson was with Maja, and we really focused on doubles strategy, building on what we learned the day before – standing in the right place and hitting to the right place.

The Hammock Beach Racquet Center teaches “The Stagger” doubles formation, making sure that even when both players are at the net, one is just inside the service line and the other is just ahead of the middle of the box, to ensure someone can cover a lob – especially important for ALTA Tennis players!

We spent the full hour and a half working on strategy and developing our skills as individual players, but also as pairs. Since we don’t have set partners yet on the team, we rotated around regularly to ensure we were learning with each other as much as possible.

We celebrated a great day of tennis with Piña Coladas from the Golden Lion Cafe in Flagler Beach, overlooking A1A and the ocean, before grabbing lunch at my favorite spot: A1A Burrito Works.

After lunch, we knocked out some quick matches and went back to the main tower to freshen up before we headed up to Saint Augustine. We made a quick stop at The St. Augustine Distillery and San Sebastian Winery before making our way down to St. George Street. After looking in a few of the shops, we went to dinner at Forgotten Tonic. I love a unique cocktail list, and Forgotten Tonic delivered. I got the Half Italian, a clarified milk punch that tasted like a salad with Italian dressing, garnished with a tomato, basil, and black pepper oil. As for food, the brussels sprouts and meatloaf, as well as the burger, were standouts.

Unfortunately, day 3 was cold and rainy, so we made it a rest day. Luckily, the resort had plenty for us to do, even in the rain. We opted to relax at the spa and make use of some of the resort’s amenities to recover from all of the tennis we had played so far. I went for the 50-minute wellness massage, and was able to select where I wanted the masseuse to focus. I selected my shoulders, arms, and legs, rehabbing all of the essential tennis muscles. The massage was so nice, I left feeling refreshed and so relaxed. The spa also has hot tubs, a sauna, steam room, and inhalation room (although I still haven’t figured out how the inhalation room differs from the sauna).

We had dinner at the on-site sushi restaurant, Stix, which was really delicious. We followed that up with dessert at Delfinos, where I encountered the only negative experience of the whole trip – a very sad chocolate cake.

On Day 4, our final day, we woke up early to squeeze in one more lesson with Maja before hitting the road. Our only real technical skills practice, we focused on serving for half of the session. Maja was super patient and gave each of us personal feedback on our serves and advice on how to improve them. We then put all the pieces together from the weekend, and did some drills simulating match play to reinforce everything we learned from serve, shot placement, “The Stagger”, and volleys.

We had such an awesome weekend. It really felt like tennis cram school. I personally took so much away from this weekend and am already looking forward to next year’s retreat.

If you’re interested in joining next year’s Peach Retreat, you can fill out the interest form here.