When BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, retained NewsMark Public Relations to help raise awareness for its active role in the community, and its new state-of-the-art sports complex, we knew we had a winner.

This is a club with a distinguished history and the choice of many professional athletes for both practice and competition.

Community caring members at BallenIsles also formed the BallenIsles Charities Foundation (www.BallenIslesCharitiesFoundation.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission of “Making a Difference” in the community. It renders financial support to area organizations providing civic, educational programs, health and human services and support for the environment. We’re pleased to help the Foundation’s charitable fundraising events as well as other charitable undertaking at BallenIsles such as Arnie’s Army Battles Prostate Cancer – Arnold Palmer’s unique fundraising golf challenge against Prostate Cancer, to the annual Play for P.I.N.K.Tournaments benefiting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, to the Palm Beach County’s Sheriff’s Office program that uses the values and skills of tennis to establish an encouraging environment for children, BallenIsles is an ongoing news story for both lifestyle and business editors.

We’ve been pleased to position a club with a rich PGA heritage that continues to ramp up its tradition of creating exceptional golf and tennis experiences.

Did we mention that Venus and Serena Williams make their home there? Us name droppers? – Perish the thought.

Not surprisingly a Who’s Who of former and current Grand Slam champions have played on the new BallenIsles Stadium court, including Venus Williams, Virginia Wade, Stan Smith, Fred Stolle, Mats Wilander, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, Mikael Pernfors, Jimmy Arias, Aaron Krickstein, Van Winitsky, Gigi Fernandez and Alina Jidkova.

So when BallenIsles Country Club’s Member resident and world-class tennis sensation, Venus Williams took on record holder of the fastest serve in WTA history, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy on the Stadium Court of the Club’s new state-of-the-art Sports Complex we had all the ingredients for a terrific news pitch.

The Women’s Doubles Exhibition featuring Williams vs. Schultz-McCarthy was followed by a Charity Return Serve Exhibition that gave Club Members a rare opportunity to try and return the fastest serves in professional tennis.  The event supported KAPTA – the Palm Beach County Police Athletic League (PAL) Program, founded by Palm Beach County Deputy Sheriff, Ira Peskowitz. PAL uses tennis to establish an encouraging environment for children.

The result has been extensive positive news coverage of  BallenIsles major events on TV network affiliates, in newspapers, online and on the Reuters Times Square billboard, including being ranked  as the # 1 Golf Course donor in the country by Arnies Army, crowned “FACILITY OF THE YEAR” by Troon Golf and BallenIsles GM named Facility Manager of the Year, (not once but twice) by the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA).

“Mark Hopkinson’s media-savvy approach to positioning clients in the headlines has brought us valuable media coverage. We rely on the pro-active and personable approach which truly sets NewsMark apart. They are the most dependable and creative PR firm we’ve ever worked with! We can trust that our agreed strategy will be perfectly executed, schedules are met and details are never overlooked.”

– Brian Merbler,  Director of Club Marketing, BallenIsles Country Club.