I wanted to resume playing squash after almost 10 years, since I stopped playing regularly after graduating from CMU. Duke University was one of the rare places nearby (and conveniently) that has squash courts, which it claims to be world-class. It was extremely disappointing to say it was not, to put it mildly.

Access to recreational facilities does not come by default with affiliation with the university (what in Duke is free anyway?!). A membership needs to be purchased for a fee. The recreation facility does not recognize the membership with the physical Duke ID card. It needs to be on an electronic wallet, or you need it on a phone app. There is an app called Duke Mobile which has many information such as dining, transportation etc. consolidated. But Duke MyRec is its own separate app. Fine.

Equipment rental is surprisingly free (for some equipments, including squash racquets) and can be checkout from the Wilson Recreational Center. But those racquets are in a bad condition. Now I do not expect the greatest quality, but the strings are ripped and the racquets are old. And despite having two courts, there are only one pair of racquets to borrow. They do not enforce one-member-one-equipment rental policy, so it is easy for another member to hoard a bunch (true story).

There are two squash courts, but in the Intramural building, which is adjacent and not connected to the Wilson center. That building is locked and cannot be opened by members. One of the staff members needs to accompany the members inside. As far as I can see, there is nothing particularly valuable in that building that members could not access the building by themselves.

The courts are not reservable online, despite the board by the courts mention about reservation policy. Live occupancy status is available online for some facilities and squash courts is not one of them (how could they be), so you cannot know that status before showing up. Because this is in another building, calling from front desk is not helpful either. This just causes an uncertainty in coordinating your play team unnecessarily.

Finally, the courts themselves are definitely not world-class. The glass at the back of the court dampens the ball so much that it is impossible to hit a shot backwards (I have hit such shots elsewhere). The sidewall between the two courts has a net near the ceiling instead of the wall going all the way up, resulting in hearing noises from the adjacent courts and getting distracted by it.

Suppose you show up, and find either the courts are occupied or that the racquets missing. You decide to play another racquet game. There is one racquetball court and a couple of ping pong tables (thankfully in the Wilson center). Tennis is rarely an option because the tennis court comes under the athletics department and not recreation. There is a hybrid pickleball/tennis court outside, but not is not lit, which makes it impossible to play in the evening during the winter months. The only light is from an adjacent building, which Duke boasts as an additional feature.

Duke recreation is so abysmal and does not deserve my money.