When to replace your pickleball paddle

The truth is, sooner or later, you’re going to have to replace your paddle. Paddles aren’t designed to last forever and they have to be replaced. It’s not like you can restring them. So, let’s talk a little bit about what necessitates paddle replacement, not necessarily because you want to replace it, but because it’s actually time to replace it. You can actually blame it for your poor shots.

So, what affects the life of a paddle? Let’s talk about that for a second. First, a lot of things, including what your paddle is made of, how it’s constructed, what materials are in it, and your style of play. How you play has a huge impact on how long your paddle is going to last. Are you a banger and a smasher? Are you more of a finesse player? Are you playing indoors or outdoors? Are you playing on asphalt courts, quartz, or cement courts? All of these have a huge impact on the life expectancy of your paddle. There’s really no answer on how long your paddle is going to last. It could last you two to three months if you’re a really competitive player and you’re relying on the surface texture to generate your spin. It could last you two to three, four years if you’re only playing once a week and you know you’re a recreational player.

So, what is your paddle constructed of? Well, the base of most paddles is some sort of core material. I would say probably in about 85 to 90 percent of the paddles out there, it’s polypropylene honeycomb core, which is a plastic core structure with a cell structure to it. There are huge variations in the type of core material that goes into paddles, not just the thickness but also the cell construction. There are different size cells, differences in the wall thickness, and even differences in the flexibility of the core. That’s going to be the majority of the problem area for your paddle, and it usually results in core deterioration or delamination, which is where the paddle face separates from the core.

So, how do you know if you’ve got delamination going on in your paddle? It’s not always as evident as something like a tear or a physical sign of damage to that paddle. It could be an indication that you’ve got damage going on underneath that surface structure. One of the ways you can tell you have delamination is by sounding your paddle. Your paddle is going to feel off periodically. You’re going to hit a shot and it’s just going to die on the paddle, not necessarily because you’ve hit the outside perimeter or the dead spot, but because the ball just kind of drops and doesn’t go where you want it to go. The paddle will probably sound funny. It’ll probably sound like a dull thud instead of a nice sharp snap that you get from a solid laminate.

Another reason to look at replacing your paddle is surface texture. If you rely on that surface texture to generate spin for your ball and you’re a big spinner, any deterioration in that texture is affecting your game. Whether if you’re playing at a competitive level, worn texture becomes more and more important. So, if you’re a competitive player, you may need to replace that paddle if it’s an applied texture once a month or once every couple of tournaments to keep your paddle performing as close to 100 as possible. If you’re a recreational player, maybe not so much, but it’s definitely going to have an impact on how often you need to replace that paddle if you want to stay competitive.