Yards or meters?

I've never heard of a 50 yard pool. Any long course pool built in the U.S. these days will be 50 meters. The majority of the competition pools in the U.S. are 25 yards. One reason for this is most of the pools in use are fairly old. Any new construction is much more likely to be 25 meters or at least accommodate 25 meters through the use of a moveable bulkhead.

Most pools are in 25 yards. Some newer pools were built to meters in the 80/90's . America never went to the metric system ,so theses are the odd ones.

Most are in yards. Some are adjustable with floating docks. Life would be so much easier if everything were metric.

The majority of the competition pools in the U.S. are 25 yards. One reason for this is most of the pools in use are fairly old. Any new construction is much more likely to be 25 meters or at least accommodate 25 meters through the use of a moveable bulkhead. Almost all high school and college competition is in a 25 yard pool, and that is not going to change any time soon. So, any new high school or college pool should be 25 yards long. While it would be nice if that new pool was 25 yards times 25 meters or, even better, 25 yards times 50 meters, that's going to cost a lot more to build and maintain. Given financial realities for a lot of schools, there is a good chance that a decent portion of any new construction is going to be of the 6 to 8 lane, 25 yard variety of pool.

Given financial realities for a lot of schools, there is a good chance that a decent portion of any new construction is going to be of the 6 to 8 lane, 25 yard variety of pool. This makes sense, but I've seen lots of new 50 meter pools going in. Just in your neck of the woods off the top of my head: Iowa, Ohio State, Kenyon and the aquatic center in Holland are all new 50 meter pools. Also Jenison high school. It seems like lots of communities are thinking if they are going to build a new pool they might as well build it right.

Almost all high school and college competition is in a 25 yard pool, and that is not going to change any time soon. So, any new high school or college pool should be 25 yards long. While it would be nice if that new pool was 25 yards times 25 meters or, even better, 25 yards times 50 meters, that's going to cost a lot more to build and maintain. Given financial realities for a lot of schools, there is a good chance that a decent portion of any new construction is going to be of the 6 to 8 lane, 25 yard variety of pool. Agree completely with this. Even the newer pools in the city where I live, those opened 3-5 years ago, are shared with high schools, and are 8-lane 25 yard pools. Even here in the desert, where the majority of pools are outside, 25m pools are much more the exception than the rule. There are 50m pools with bulkheads that can make them 25m. Off the top of my head, I can only think of 1 local pool (other than gym pools) that is 25m, and that one has a 1/2 lane in the long course direction so it is still 8 lanes 25 yards + 8 lanes 25m.

I like the idea of LCY

At the University of San Francisco, where I used to swim on occasion, they have a LCM pool but set the bulkhead for LCY so there can be a few SCY lanes at the shallow end for weak swimmers. If you're training for LCM, it's certainly better than training in a SCY pool but in no way ideal. Seemed kinda silly to me.

The University of Pittsburgh pool was, until a couple summers ago, 55 yards by 25 yards. 55 yards is 50.292 meters, which is 11.496063 inches longer than 50 m. The University used to use a wood bulkhead of just under a foot to shrink the pool for LCM meets. They fixed it permanently to the "right" length two years ago. Pittsburgh also is home to the somewhat eccentrically measured North Park pool: "The swimming pool in North Park was once considered the largest in the world; it holds two and a half million gallons of water (compared to say 20-30,000 gallons in a modern city pool). In the '30s and '40s, before pools proliferated in homes and private organizations, the monstrous North Park Pool seemed a logical response to the "bathing" needs of everyone north of Pittsburgh." www.clpgh.org/.../ppho1.html I think it measures 50 m wide by 110 yards long. A local swimmer, Ronald Gainesford, told me in his youth he raced the 330 yard IM here--three lengths of this gargantuan pool, back in the days when butterfly and breaststroke were the same thing. (Oh, how I wish they would return to this approach today, so that those of us who swim backwards during breaststroke could substitute fly instead.) North Park was one of many great pools built with WPA money following the last Great Depression. Pity that some of the stimulus didn't go to this kind of thing in our era.

Pity that some of the stimulus didn't go to this kind of thing in our era. I agree. It seemed like the perfect time to work on much needed infrastructure projects.