Pickleball & Tennis Court LED Lighting Retrofit

An LED retrofit of the court lighting at an RV resort community in Tucson. New heads went up on the resort's existing poles, so the pickleball and tennis courts got modern light without new poles, new foundations, or a trench across finished hardscape.

Location

Private RV resort community, Tucson, Arizona

Scope

LED retrofit of the pickleball, tennis and adjacent amenity lighting

Approach

New heads on the existing poles — no new poles, foundations or trenching

Setting

Active resort — courts and walkways stayed in use around the work

Scope of Work

A retrofit, not a rebuild

The resort already had poles in the right places. The fixtures on them were what needed to change. Reusing the poles and the existing circuits kept this job out of the ground entirely — nothing to pour, nothing to trench, and no courts closed waiting on concrete to cure.

Survey & fixture selection

Poles and circuits first — confirmed what the existing poles, arms and branch circuits could carry before anything was ordered
Heads matched to the mount — flood-style heads on the straight court poles, area heads on the existing curved arms
Aimed for play — heads set and tilted to the court surface rather than spilling across the grounds

Working an occupied resort

Lift access — pole work reached from a boom lift staged on the hardscape, keeping equipment off the court surfaces
Live equipment overhead — several poles also carry resort communications and PA gear that stayed in service throughout
Daily turnover — courts handed back to residents and guests at the end of each shift

Electrical scope

Fixture changeout — old heads removed, LED heads mounted, terminated and weather-sealed at the pole
Circuits and controls — existing branch circuits and switching reused and verified rather than replaced
Verified at the pole — each head checked under power before the lift moved on

What it covers

Pickleball and tennis — the primary play surfaces and the poles around them
Adjacent amenities — shuffleboard, seating and the observation-tower area lit off the same poles
One fixture family — a consistent head across the complex instead of a patchwork of leftovers

Sequence

How the retrofit ran

A retrofit lives or dies on what you find on the pole. The order below is what kept this one from turning into a pole-replacement project.

Step 1

Survey what's already up there

Every pole walked before ordering: mounting style, arm condition, what else was hanging on it, and what the branch circuit was feeding. That is what decided which head went where.

Existing light poles with new LED heads above the tennis and pickleball courts at an RV resort in Tucson, Arizona

Step 2

Change out the heads

Old fixtures off and LED heads on, worked from a boom lift staged on the hardscape. The poles carrying resort communications and PA equipment were worked around live — that gear never came down.

Boom lift positioned beside resort light poles during an LED fixture changeout at an RV resort in Tucson, Arizona

Step 3

Aim it and hand it back

Each head tilted to the play surface and checked under power, then the courts went straight back into use — no concrete, no restoration, nothing left fenced off overnight.

New LED heads on poles flanking the covered observation tower between the courts at an RV resort in Tucson, Arizona

Photos

On site

New heads, existing poles, and a resort that stayed open the whole time.

LED court lighting on existing poles above the tennis and pickleball courts at an RV resort in Tucson, Arizona — New LED heads across the courts

Close view of a new LED flood head mounted on an existing court light pole at an RV resort in Tucson, Arizona — LED head on an existing pole

Boom lift staged beside resort light poles during the LED fixture changeout, with poles also carrying communications and PA equipment — Changeout from a boom lift

Two poles with new LED heads flanking the covered observation tower at an RV resort in Tucson, Arizona — Lighting at the observation tower

Why a Retrofit

Better light without opening the ground

The expensive part of court lighting is almost never the fixture — it is the poles, the foundations and the trench. When the existing poles are sound and in the right places, the right answer is to leave them alone. That is a judgement call that needs someone who does both the electrical and the civil work, because the alternative is a contractor whose only tool is a new pole base.

Request a Bid

Existing poles, arms and circuits reused — no foundations, no trenching, no hardscape restoration.
Licensed electrical in-house for the changeout, terminations and circuit verification.
Boom-lift work staged off the courts, so play surfaces were never used as a laydown yard.
Communications and PA equipment sharing the poles stayed live through the whole retrofit.
Courts returned to service at the end of each shift instead of at the end of the job.

Have courts, a lot, or a site that needs better light?

Sports courts, parking lots, RV resorts, HOA common areas — we will tell you honestly whether it is a fixture swap or whether the poles have to come out, and price it either way.

Start a Project Inquiry