Pickleball Paddle: 3 Tips to Get your Pickleball Paddle ready for the Play

Pickleball Paddle: 3 Tips to Get your Pickleball Paddle ready for the Play.
Players worry about their paddle. Should I get a new pickleball paddle? Tom's paddle looks like a winner. And so on.

Timestamps - 3 Tips to Get your Pickleball Paddle ready for the Play
00:00 - Introduction
00:35 - Why you should use Paddle Tape and How to wrap Pickleball Paddle Grip
06:50 - Pickleball Lead Tape
13:55 - Pickleball Edge Tape
16:37 - Pickleball Conclusion

Once we get the pickleball paddle, we don't give it a second thought. But there are things you can do to improve your current pickleball paddle - the one sitting in your bag. In this video, we go over three things:

1 - how and why to apply an overgrip to your pickleball paddle - prolong the life of the grip that came with your pickleball paddle and keep your grip dry with these overgrips.
2 - how and why to apply lead tape to your pickleball paddle - you can achieve better balance, improve power, move the sweet spot, and reduce pickleball paddle twist with lead tape.
3 - how and why to apply edge guard tape to your paddle - prolong your paddle's life and keep the lead tape covered (if you applied lead tape).

Check out the video and get better results with your paddle.

Good luck out there.
Tony
In2Pickle Player Development
Tony@In2Pickle.com
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Swingweight is not a concept that is commonly spoken of in pickleball but is well-defined in other sports.

The DIYGolfer.com defines it as follows:

I can say it most simply, swing-weight is how the club “feels” in your hand.

In an article on Tennis Warehouse University, Crawford Lindsey defines it more technically as follows:

Swingweight is a measurement of a racquet's resistance to being rotated about an axis going through your hand. A low swing weight makes it easy for the player to swing the racquet (maneuverable). But it also makes it easy for the ball to move the racquet, resulting in loss of power.
The author then suggests an approach to understand the concept:
1. Swing your paddle normally (holding it from the grip)
2. Turn the paddle around (hold it from the top of the paddle) and swing it.
You should be able to tell the difference in the weight of the paddle each time.

Swingweight is derived from three factors:

1. The paddle's total weight; Obviously, the heavier the paddle, the harder it will be to swing (think of a 12 oz wood paddle vs. a 7.5 oz honeycomb paddle).
2. the paddle’s head balance (how much of the paddle’s weight is shifted towards the top as opposed to the bottom). Think of paddle balance like this: your paddle measures 16 inches long, making the middle of the paddle 8 inches from either top or bottom. If your paddle was evenly balanced, you could lay the middle line of your paddle(the 8 in. mark) on the edge of another paddle you were holding, and it would balance in place. A head heavy paddle will balance at a point that is closer to the head than the bottom. And a headlight paddle (which we have not yet come across) will balance closer to the bottom than the head. Below we discuss how you can calculate your own paddle’s head balance; and
3. total paddle length. The longer the paddle, the higher the swing weight. Think of trying to whip around a 30-inch paddle even if it is evenly balanced.

A real-world example. The ProKennex Kinetic Pro Speed has a head balance score of +11. This translates to the actual balance point being 1 3/8” closer to the head than the even balance point. This means that more of the paddle’s total weight is concentrated close to the top than the paddle's bottom. The weight concentration increases the swing weight of the paddle.

This is not a good or bad result. It is just a result. It allows us to compare paddles with each other.

Take another paddle that is 15 3/8” long (same as the Pro Kennex) and has the same gross weight (8.1 oz). But this paddle has a head balance score of 14. We would expect this second paddle's swing weight to be higher (heavier feeling) than the Pro Kennex. If the score of the second paddle was 7, we would expect it to feel much lighter.

The paddle characteristic we are really interested in is swing weight. Head balance is one factor that determines a paddle’s swing weight.

On one last note, you can use lead tape to move your paddle's actual balance point, either closer to the top (heavier) or grip (lighter). Curiously, you can lower the swing weight of your paddle by making the overall paddle weight heavier.

#pickleball