One of the problems with pickleball is that the sport is so cheap to play. If you don't think so, I can tell you stories of other hobbies that would raise the hair on the back of the proverbial neck.
And the problem with this inexpensive sport, is that I don't see paddles as being particularly expensive. An expensive paddle is about the cost of a single golf club and I've got a bag of those.
The next problem is then to find the "proper" paddle. One that allows the bearer to exceed his ability and strike fear and wonder into the hearts and minds of his opponents, respectively, of course.
My early paddles, still in residence for the most part, started at a modest $130 or so. I then thought it would be a good idea to pick up another one in case I wanted to introduce someone to the game. Back then, there were only three players at the Downs. We'd play two on one and just keep swapping teams. Then break for the Costco hotdog, what a nice morning that made!
I found a retuned paddle at PickleballCentral.com, for about $15. That might have included postage too, I can't remember.
After some testing, I realized that I couldn't tell the difference between the $15 model and the $130 one. Hmm, well that might slow down a normal person, but not one with the bit between the teeth.
I watched reviews and ran into John, the Canadian engineer, who comes out to play on occasion. He is a member of the "Paddle of the month club." I bought another paddle from him. Tried it, no real benefit, passed it on to Whitney as it was supposed to be good for tennis elbow.
I followed that up with a Gearbox Model. Light weight and the control mode. No real difference either. Then I tried the elongated version of the paddle I got from John. No real difference and it didn't improve my game much. I actually returned that one. Not something I tend to do
Then I tried the TMPR Oculus.
Well, hmm, I say. Now I felt more power and more spin. Yes! I knew there was magic out there for sale, one just had to find it! It was rated as a paddle shape that was comforting to a tennis or other racquet player. I think that was accurate. My background is tennis with a lot of table tennis too.
The Oculus didn't last a long time and I moved on to the Blockbuster of paddles, aka, the Hellbender. My thinking is that any increase in sweet spot is worth paying for. I'm not the most obsessive player, so hitting the ball in the middle of the paddle is more a happy accident than through mind numbing hours of practice.
The Hellbender is slightly longer and more of a tear drop shape than other paddles. It had the pop and spin of the Oculus, but maybe just a touch more of each. I liked the longer shape as it's a valuable feature when lurching for a short ball at the kitchen. That seems to happen a lot. I feel the sweet spot is also a touch better than the Oculus.
Alas the Hellbender started to crack and then there was a middle ball multiple paddle collision and a couple of square inches of the face lifted and the edge guard did some splitting and cracking. I glued down the skin with super glue and then welded the edge guard back in place. It seems to be holding, but...
Then I purchased the Diadem Warrior. It's a bit longer than the Hellbender, got good reviews, supposed to be good for dinking and control. It's too early to tell, but it has a lot of the play characteristics of the Hellbender, which is good, and I'm not sure about the better dinking aspects or sweet spot area. The Warrior is the heaviest paddle I've used at 8.5 ounces. I really don't notice the additional weight when I first got it and even when switching back and forth.
I swapped paddles with another player for a game. He had a Selkirk, I'm not sure of the model. It had a nice feel too. I like a subdued impact sound.
There is my story. It looks like the paddle technology is still young. New things should be coming out. I hope it is not like the golf world where it's more hype than reality.
If I were to design a paddle, I would want it to be a multilayer construction so that soft hits would play differently than smashes. I think the rules do not allow for moving parts on the paddles; is compression part of that? I think of table tennis bats where the outer layer provides spin and a foam rubber layer provides power. Since PB is such a soft then hard kind of game, a paddle that plays differently based on the strike makes some sense to me.
If you are looking for your first or second paddle. Try as many as you can and then see if something resonates with you. Weighting on the perimeter may also be significant, and that leads to a lot of experimentation and thinking about what type of game you want to play.
And I still think this is a really cheap sport. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment