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Who here plays pickleball? (3 Viewers)

JMC9389

JMC9389

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I caved and went to a few open plays at a place that opened up near me. A ton of fun and a good workout.

I'm still at the beginner stage of things but after only a month of weekly open play, I'm feeling that I'm getting close to being ready for a bit more serious intermediate play.

My dinking is getting better and better and I'm smashing home the lollipop volleys at will, but most times I'm electing to work on my control shots and trying to keep the rally going. My goal the next couple of weeks is to minimize the unforced errors and honing my reads on when to charge the net and when to hang back depending on how I or my partner returns a ball.

I got an Engage Pursuit paddle and am loving the feel so far. Really solid for the value. If anyone is familiar, are their gently used paddles that retail for $250+ that you can buy for $100 worth it? I'd like to buy a second paddle. Prefer American made and leaning towards another Engage paddle.
 
1771372372105.webp


Pickleball is the devil!! 😂
 
Tjislost said:
View attachment 1639271

Pickleball is the devil!! 😂
Click to expand...
It's at the stage of the game that it's still fun for me. Like anything else, when it gets stressful and I don't enjoy it anymore, I'll walk away or play down a rank and go for the workout.

The 3.5-4.5 players I see walking around look way too serious or miserable a lot of the time.
 
Love it. We tried to do a 16-team doubles tourney at work but it never made it to the second round. I play once a month at best but it's always a lot of fun.
 
There’s an outdoor court in our housing community, always busy with a line of people waiting to play when the weather is nice.

I play sparingly and very casually, decent exercise and not as much running as tennis.
 
Tjislost said:
Tennis is a stretch 😆
Click to expand...
In terms of the rules it's very similar. I'm terrible at tennis. Could never serve well. Pickleball is much more beginner friendly, but the flip side as @Apache pointed out is that it's much more difficult to master.
 
Tjislost said:
Tennis is a stretch 😆
Click to expand...
Not really. Our club has 20 tennis courts and 20 pickleball courts, and a substantial number who play both games. Those courts are all full in the morning playing hours.

However, almost all tennis courts in our area are clay, and most players are seniors (50+). And a lot of those seniors are finding out that pickleball's hard courts are causing substantially more leg injuries that our clay tennis courts.

Basic racquet sport skills apply to both games. Most of my playing group are both USTA 3.5 and pickleball DUPR 3.5 rated players. Some 4.0s in each sport, and very few (generally younger) 4.5s.

Long-term Sunday evening research has shown conclusively that it's much easier to play p-ball than tennis while carrying a glass of wine...
 
JMC9389 said:
In terms of the rules it's very similar. I'm terrible at tennis. Could never serve well. Pickleball is much more beginner friendly, but the flip side as @Apache pointed out is that it's much more difficult to master.
Click to expand...

Similar rules? Hardly. From scoring, to doubles positioning, to the reserved kitchen, single underhand serves, required service return bounces, etc. I agree that p-ball is more initially friendly to those who have never played any racquet sport, but that's about it.

As to difficulty to master, again, I disagree completely. Of course "master" is a very broad term. But there are a number of older, retired tennis pros doing very well in pro p-ball: Sock, Isner and others. There are zero examples of the reverse. Tennis is a much more mature sport in many respects, which makes it even tougher to excel.
 
pltrgyst said:
Similar rules? Hardly. From scoring, to doubles positioning, to the reserved kitchen, single underhand serves, required service return bounces, etc. I agree that p-ball is more initially friendly to those who have never played any racquet sport, but that's about it.

As to difficulty to master, again, I disagree completely. Of course "master" is a very broad term. But there are a number of older, retired tennis pros doing very well in pro p-ball: Sock, Isner and others. There are zero examples of the reverse. Tennis is a much more mature sport in many respects, which makes it even tougher to excel.
Click to expand...
Very fair points. The soul of the game is very closely tied to tennis but the rules and actual gameplay are quite different. The idea is the same though. Make your opponent hit the ball out of bounds or into the net or hit the ball and make it bounce twice on their side. That was what I meant mostly.

I came up with a drinking game just now. Pair off and have two separate balls in play while holding a beer/glass of wine. Rally with the player across from you. Dink it into the kitchen and the other player has to return in kind. Losing player takes a sip of their drink. You'll be drunk in 30 minutes.
 
pltrgyst said:
Not really. Our club has 20 tennis courts and 20 pickleball courts, and a substantial number who play both games. Those courts are all full in the morning playing hours.

However, almost all tennis courts in our area are clay, and most players are seniors (50+). And a lot of those seniors are finding out that pickleball's hard courts are causing substantially more leg injuries that our clay tennis courts.

Basic racquet sport skills apply to both games. Most of my playing group are both USTA 3.5 and pickleball DUPR 3.5 rated players. Some 4.0s in each sport, and very few (generally younger) 4.5s.

Long-term Sunday evening research has shown conclusively that it's much easier to play p-ball than tennis while carrying a glass of wine...
Click to expand...
That’s exactly what im saying 😂 pickle ball is substantially easier than tennis, that’s why I said it was a stretch using it as a comparison. Retired pro tennis players have come over and beaten some of the best pickleball players in the world almost immediately, I would bet my life literally and figuratively that that wouldn’t happen with a pickleball player going over to tennis.

Also yes clay courts are way easier on knees than hard courts playing tennis.
 
pltrgyst said:
Similar rules? Hardly. From scoring, to doubles positioning, to the reserved kitchen, single underhand serves, required service return bounces, etc. I agree that p-ball is more initially friendly to those who have never played any racquet sport, but that's about it.

As to difficulty to master, again, I disagree completely. Of course "master" is a very broad term. But there are a number of older, retired tennis pros doing very well in pro p-ball: Sock, Isner and others. There are zero examples of the reverse. Tennis is a much more mature sport in many respects, which makes it even tougher to excel.
Click to expand...
😂 I was gonna use sock and isner as the example but I didn’t feel many would even know them on here so I just said retired pros
 
@jxfan and I played at the last meetup in SQM. We may try to make it a thing at every meetup we go to going forward.

I'm definitely addicted, I play in two ladder-leagues at a local indoor club.

Like my "arc yellow" wrap!?

846.webp
 
JRald07 said:
@jxfan and I played at the last meetup in SQM. We may try to make it a thing at every meetup we go to going forward.

I'm definitely addicted, I play in two ladder-leagues at a local indoor club.

Like my "arc yellow" wrap!?

View attachment 1639405
Click to expand...
In for PHL.

ETA I've read good reviews of the paddle in the foreground. Do you like that as a good paddle for a beginner/intermediate type player?
 
Our tennis group has been encroaching on the pickleball courts by playing ‘Red Ball’ tennis. Basically pickleball rules (no volley zone, 2-bounce rule, underhand serves, etc ) but tennis scoring with a junior foam ball and small 23” racquets. The strung racket instead of paddle allows for much more creative spin shots and the foam ball eliminates the plonking sound.

It’s a fun, easy, enjoy-with-a-drink social game. Highly recommended for tennis players if you don’t want to down-shift all the way to pickleball.
 
Last edited:
toothpic said:
What's a very good bang for your buck paddle for intermediate play?
Click to expand...

Lots of great options in my opinion, just depends on budget.

https://vaticpro.com/collections/paddle
Prism or Saga

https://11six24.com/collections/frontpage
Hurache X Power and Jelly Bean both under $100

https://fridaypickle.com/pages/shop-all
Friday Fever

A bit over $100 but several guys in my group have them and love it.
https://ronbus.com/collections/quan...MItZXp0IzikgMVIVBHAR21sinoEAAYASAAEgIpHPD_BwE
 

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