Paddle Lab
How we test
The Paddle Lab has one job: put real measurements in front of you, explain them in plain English, and stay out of the way. Here is where the numbers come from and what we do with them.
What the Paddle Lab is
The Paddle Lab is a research tool from the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball. Both are properties of Pickleball Inc, as is Pickleball Central, the retailer the shop buttons on this site link to. We say that up front because it matters: the store and the lab share a parent, and the lab's job is to be useful anyway.
Nothing in the data changes because of who sells a paddle. A brand cannot pay to be included, to be excluded, or to move. A paddle that measures poorly says so.
Where the data comes from
Every measurement in the lab comes from the John Kew Pickleball paddle database, an independent testing program that has measured 818 paddles from 115 brands on the same rigs, the same way. Swing weight, twist weight and balance point come from a physical pendulum and balance test. Spin is measured in RPM on a controlled strike. Power and pop are ball speeds off a full swing and a punch volley.
We copy those numbers through exactly as published. We do not average them with other sources, re-scale them, or fill gaps with estimates. When a paddle has not been through a given test, the page says “Not measured” rather than showing a guess. That is why power and pop appear on some paddles and not others: the ball-speed test is newer than the handling tests, and it has not caught up with the whole database yet.
The 0–100 bars are John Kew's scaled scores: where a paddle sits relative to every other paddle he has measured. A 50 is the middle of the pack, not a grade.
The lab also lists paddles Pickleball Central sells that have not been through the rig yet. Those pages say “Not yet tested” and carry only the photo, the price and the buy button. Tick “Lab-tested only” on the browse page to hide them.
Our editorial review
The numbers say what a paddle does. Our editors say what that feels like. Reviews on paddle pages are written by the Pickleball Inc editorial team after playing with the paddle, and they cover the things a rig cannot: how it feels off-center, how the grip wears, who it suits. Where a review names a skill level, that is an editor's judgement, labelled as such, and it is the only place opinion enters the lab.
Editors never edit a measurement. If a number looks wrong to us we raise it with the tester and show the published figure until it changes at the source.
Play style and spin categories
Play styleis John Kew's tilt band: whether a paddle's ball speed leans toward the full swing (Power-leaning), toward the punch volley (Pop-leaning), or sits between (Balanced). It is only shown for paddles that have been through the ball-speed test.
Spin category (Elite, Good, Fair, Poor) is the spin RPM in bands. It is the same measurement, just easier to filter on.
Certification
A paddle needs approval to be legal in sanctioned play. USA Pickleball (USAP) certifies for its events; the UPA-A certifies for the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball. Many paddles hold both. We show the status as recorded in the database, in the tester's words, and fold it into one of these for filtering:
- USAP certified
- UPA-A certified
- USAP + UPA-A certified
- UPA-A provisional
- USAP quiet-approved only
- Not certified
- Delisted
- Certification unknown
Certification changes. Check the governing body's current list before a tournament.
Glossary
Testing categories
Every metric on a paddle page, and what it means. The same text sits behind the info glyph next to each one.
Performance
What the paddle does to the ball.
- Powermph
- Power is the speed of the ball leaving the paddle on a standardized full swing, in miles per hour. Two paddles swung the same way send the ball out at different speeds; this number captures that. It is the metric behind “this paddle hits hard.”
- Popmph
- Pop is the ball speed from a short, compact punch volley, the kind you hit at the kitchen line. It isolates how lively the face is without a full swing. A paddle can have high power and modest pop, or the reverse, which is why we show both.
- Firepower0–100 index
- Firepower is a single 0–100 index that folds power and pop into one number. It is a convenience for quick sorting. When two paddles are close, look at power and pop separately.
- Spinrpm
- Spin is how many revolutions per minute the ball leaves the paddle with in a controlled spin test. A rougher, grippier face produces more. Spin category (Elite, Good, Fair, Poor) is the same number in buckets.
- Spin Durability
- Spin Durability is a tier for how well the surface keeps producing spin as it wears. Face textures fade at different rates, and some paddles lose a lot of spin within weeks. The tiers are John Kew's classification. We show the tier as published and do not re-rank it.
- KewCOR
- KewCOR is John Kew's measurement of the face's coefficient of restitution: how much of the ball's energy comes back off the paddle. Higher is a livelier, more trampoline-like face. It is related to, but not the same as, the PBCOR limit the governing bodies test against for certification.
Handling
How the paddle feels in your hand and through the swing.
- Swing Weight
- Swing weight is how heavy the paddle feels in motion, which depends on where the mass sits, not just how much there is. A higher swing weight gives more stability and plow-through on drives; a lower one is faster to get around at the kitchen line. Neither end is better, which is why we never highlight a winner on it.
- Twist Weight
- Twist weight is how much the paddle resists rotating in your hand when you hit off-center. A higher twist weight means a bigger effective sweet spot and more forgiveness; a low one punishes mis-hits with a wobbly, dead response.
- Balance Pointcm
- Balance point is measured in centimetres from the end of the handle to where the paddle balances. A higher number is a more head-heavy paddle, which usually swings heavier for the same static weight. Lead tape or a heavier grip moves it.
- Hand Speed0–100 index
- Hand Speed is a 0–100 index John Kew derives from the handling measurements to describe how quickly the paddle gets around in a fast exchange. It is the flip side of plow-through. Pick your side.
- Face Stiffnesslbs
- Face stiffness is the force, in pounds, needed to deflect the paddle face by a set amount. A stiffer face feels crisper; a softer one feels plusher. Shown where John Kew has measured it.
Physical specs
The tape-measure and scale numbers.
- Static Weightoz
- Static weight is the paddle on a scale. It is the number on the box, and it says less about feel than swing weight does.
- Core Thicknessmm
- Core thickness in millimetres. 16 mm is the common “control” build and 14 mm the livelier one, though construction matters more than the number alone.
- Lengthin
- Total paddle length in inches. Length plus width may not exceed 24 inches under the rules.
- Widthin
- Face width in inches. Widebody shapes trade length for width; elongated shapes do the reverse.
- Handle Lengthin
- Handle length in inches. Players with a two-handed backhand tend to want 5.5 inches or more.
What we will not do
- Sell placement. There is no sponsored slot in the lab, and there will not be one.
- Invent a score. If a number is not a measurement or a labelled editor's opinion, it is not on the page.
- Hide a bad result because of who makes the paddle or who sells it.
- Change a measurement. Corrections happen at the source and flow through.