Clarke Memorial Swim Center

Beautiful pool, clean water, good temperature. The locker room is showing its age, but the grounds are welcoming and well-kept. Go, have fun!

Do not go here. My family and I went here to obviously swim but one of the big pools were closed and the only ones available to swim in were the swimming lanes. Once me and my cousin went to swim in the swimming lane one of the employees came out and told us we couldn't swim? What is the pool for then... anyways this was the first time that me and my family have ever experienced someone being racist towards us. All the other people could swim and we were the only people of color in the pool that day. My cousins were splashing in the water and they called us out but when the other people did the same thing no one said anything. So please don't come here.

Open by reservation only right now for lap swimming.

While it's a little tough to get reservations (they go SO FAST!) I'm immensely appreciative of them for opening up and coming up with a system for those of us jonesing to get in a pool.

They're a saltwater pool now (I just moved to the area, but my understanding is that they did not used to be saline), which I love as it's a little easier on skin and hair.

In addition, they keep the place immaculate- every time I'm there swimming, there are lifeguards wiping down all the surfaces repeatedly, and they enforce social distancing very well.

I'm really excited to get to swim here more often once things calm down.

Clarke Swim Center is nestled in the gorgeous Heather Farm Park/Community Center in Walnut Creek. I came here for a 2-week adult swimming class (7 x 90 minute classes) called Swimming Saves Lives. Its FREE and taught by Walnut Creek Master swimmers. 15 students with a personal coach assigned to each student, along with awesome head instructor Kerry O'Brien. Lots of volunteers and support staff. I actually had three different teachers - Paul, Bosco, and Beverly.

The swim facility is nice. Plenty of bleachers to store your stuff since bathrooms have showers, benches, but no lockers. Pools are all outdoor with varying depths and separated by lanes. Lots of parking.

The instructors here are great! I especially like Kerry's use of iPads to show techniques and then videos of each student swimming. The style taught is freestyle, which means your face is in the water 90% of the time. To breathe, you practice with a Finis center-mounted snorkel. They also offer kickboards, buoys, noseclips, thermals, and fins if needed. More advanced students can practice side breathing with head roll (without the snorkel). Some of my classmates aced the class and was able to swim the length of the pool.

Overall, I had a great time. I'm not yet a swimmer, but I'm more confident in the water and feel pretty good with the progress I made. I can swim freestyle with goggles and the snorkel. Without the snorkel, I struggle with timing my breathing and body stability. Next time I head to vacation, I'm packing goggles and the snorkel with me so I can practice on my own!

Great pool, but the COVID reservation system must have been designed by a sociopathic narcissist.

Reservations open up exactly one week (to the minute) before the allotted time. And they go in seriously 10 seconds flat. The result is 1) want to go the same time every week? You can't because there is no way to both be checking in to swim and making your next reservation 2) want to swim once a week? The way to accomplish this is to set at least three times the previous week when you sit nervously by your computer, constantly refreshing and hoping you get a spot (you usually don't) 3) want to swim more than once a week? Hah, hah, hah, good luck. Prepare to live your life next to your computer doing refreshes and going crazy, and definitely no way to have a regular schedule, don't even dream of that.

Please for God's sake, how about at a minimum setting it to 8 days or 6 days so people can try for a regular schedule. Better yet, how about letting people request times by a certain time each week for next week and having some kind of lottery / allocation system where everyone can at least get one slot?

I know, I know, this is impossible (as they have told us in email), but it's not impossible. Only impossible in the sense that they are too lazy to try.

Great pool for us lapswimmers! Friendly staff, pristine pool and courteous co-swimmers. Locker rooms are basic, but what do you expect for an excellent Olympic sized public pool?

In four short weeks, my four year old went from being scared of water to swimming under water to collect the pool toys that were tossed. The instructors were very kid-friendly and my soon really took to them all although Carter was his favorite. He now has enthusiasm for swimming and is so proud of his floating abilities! Highly recommend.

Lucky to have been able to call this pool my home for the last 7ish years (probably more). There are three pools, diving well, 50m lap pool, and a baby pool. During free swim in the summer there are inflatables for kids to play on, I believe it's only $2 for wristbands. The lifeguarding staff is very helpful and are all super nice. During the off season there are always lanes open for lap swimming and plenty of kick boards and pull buoys to use. The swim team practices at 3:30 during weekdays and the pool closes at 4:00 for general lap swimming. The only issue can be the parking just because it shares a parking lot with the park across the street which is also a very popular spot in Walnut Creek.

Let me preface this with "it's not as good as my favorite pool" (which I will not reveal to prevent crowding).

However, I really like that the lanes are all set up for 50m - and the only weird thing is that it's shallow. It's like swimming parallel to the shoreline for your entire swim - instead of leaving the shore and heading out for open water.

The water in the pool seems to be a mix of mostly salt with some chlorine - and in my single experience so far, folks are pretty considerate when they jump in your lane to not get your way if you are the faster swimmer. One Russian father with two boys was very good about paying attention to where my friend and I were in the lane (we started off circling to be considerate) - and when I got to the end to do flip turns, the dad would pull the boys out of the way if they weren't swimming fast enough and I never once had to go up for air or pause because of them. That was mighty considerate (and those boys were good little swimmers!).

The staff at the front were super friendly and helpful. When my friend and I arrived, it seemed very jolly and my friend said - "We've never been here" - one of the young men behind the counter made excellent use of body language: he cleared papers. put his hands down, made eye contact and said "I'm here to answer any of your questions." Dang! People pay extra for that in some places! Super friendly and helpful the whole lot of them.

The locker room was wet and kind of messy. Giant hairballs in the drains on the floors, the water doesn't get too hot but it was pretty laid back and not too crowded. I'll be back in the next week or two and update if I need to.

My daughter just finished 7 consecutive weeks of swimming classes 4 times per week. We are very happy to have enrolled her there. She learned a lot!
I am not a swimmer and I could never teach my child the way she was taught at Clarke memorial.
With very few exceptions the teachers are absolutely fantastic. My daughter is among the youngest, so it was important that the teachers speak "kids" language. All but one teacher was engaging and warm, which the 3 year olds needed a lot. They focused on what the children needed and met them exactly where they are. If they were scared, they made them comfortable; if they were comfortable, they made them swim with a board; if they were comfortable with the board, they made swim without it.
The staff is also absolutely fantastic. I managed to help my friend get a spot mid week (as it was available) with no fuss or drama. The pool manager that they was just great. Then it turned out my friend's child was too afraid to be in the water without mom, so the pool manager added one more teacher to this class. By the end of the week, the child was ready to be a swimmer.
I wish the teachers had name tags, so I can praise them by name.