What you Need to Play

You need three things to play pickleball: a paddle, a ball, and court shoes (preferably one for each foot). In this section, we provide information about each to help you get the equipment that is right for you.

The Pickleball Paddle

For your initial paddle, we recommend buying something better than the four-pack paddle available on Amazon or big box store. Boxed sets of pickleball paddles and balls are not your best investment. Borrow or try a paddle a few times from a friend or your local recreation center. If you want to go ahead and buy a paddle, here are some recommendations:

Shape

For your first paddle, we recommend a “traditional” shaped paddle.

Longer pickleball paddles are good for certain special uses, like singles, but are not recommended by us for your first paddle or for general use.

Material

We recommend any of the generally available materials with two exceptions: wood cores tend to be too heavy and Nomex cores can be too harsh on the arm.

Weight

We recommend paddles between 7 and 8 ounces (definitely under 9 ounces).

Grip

Grip size and length are important. If you have small hands, look for a grip that is 4 ¼ inches or smaller in circumference. If you use a two-handed backhand (or want to), you will want a grip length of at least 5 inches.

Price

You can find a good paddle for $40-60 and an excellent paddle for $90-100. While you can spend up to $175 for a paddle, this sort of expenditure is not necessary to get a good paddle.

Picking a Paddle

During our pickleball travels, we come across many players using paddles that, in our opinion, are not suited for their game. When we ask players how they choose their paddle, the most common answer is “because that is what someone at my club uses” or “my friend told me to get it.”

Avoid picking a paddle just because others are using it. Try it out first and make sure it is right for you. Another option to help you narrow your choices is to take our short

“test” to see what paddles are recommended based on your personal profile:

Have you played other racket sports?
Are you comfortable holding weight in your hand for more than a few minutes?
Do you need a small or longer grip?
Do you have a paddle budget?

You can access our Paddle Guide for New Players here. If you prefer to just look through our approved paddles and other pickleball equipment, you can visit us at In2Pickle.com.

The Pickleball

There are two types of balls generally used: indoor and outdoor. There is also what we term a “hybrid” ball that provides an interesting option, particularly if you are just getting into the game.

When distinguishing “outdoor” from “indoor” play for shoes and balls, we are referring to the surface of play and not the fact of being inside or outside. Indoors refers to wood or polished concrete floors like in gyms. Outdoor refers to a tennis court surface, usually rough, regardless of whether the tennis court is under a roof.

Outdoor balls will generally not play well on gym floors because they are designed for the rough surface of tennis courts. Indoor balls are the opposite: good on gym floors but not designed for rougher surfaces. Hybrid balls will work on either surface.

Outdoor Balls		Indoor Balls

Dura Fast 40	Franklin X-40	Onix Fuse	The Jugs
	Hybrid Balls

	Onix Pure 2	Penn 40

You can learn more specific information about each of these pickleballs here.

Hybrid Balls

If you are a beginner, start with one of the hybrid balls pictured above. The hybrid balls offer the best “feel” for someone getting started in the game, will generally not break, and will provide you with countless hours of enjoyable game play. Regardless of these balls being labeled as “outdoor” balls, you can also use them indoors or out.

Indoor Balls

Indoor balls are the softest of the balls and will last longer than outdoor balls. Indoor balls usually do not break – they just get too soft for continued use.

Indoor balls are often provided by the facility where you will be playing. If you want to buy indoor balls, just get a 3- or 6-pack (the above options are good choices). The Jugs ball is one of the original balls used for indoor pickleball. The Onix Fuse ball is slightly harder and will give you play that is more similar to an outdoor ball (still can be used indoors though).

Outdoor Balls

For outdoor play, you will usually need to have your own ball with you. Outdoor balls are made of a harder plastic and will break after some play. You will usually want to buy 6 or 12 (if not more) at a time.

The Dura Fast 40 and Franklin X-40 are the most commonly used outdoor balls. Both of these balls are made of harder plastic than the hybrid balls, will not bounce as high, and will normally crack at some point. We recommend transitioning to these balls once you are ready for them or if you are playing in a tournament.

You can find our approved balls and other pickleball equipment at In2Pickle.com.

Pickleball Shoes

If you come from racquet sports, you likely already know the difference between athletic shoes suitable for court sports and shoes that might cause injury. Otherwise, read on.

Unless your doctor has specifically told you otherwise, DO NOT play pickleball in jogging or other non-court shoes. The design of those shoes lacks lateral stability required when you play a sport like pickleball. If you wear improper shoes, you can:

more easily roll or break your ankle
cause long-term damage to the ligaments in your knee
catch the edge of the wide heel, fall, and hurt yourself

Tennis and pickleball shoes are designed with flatter soles and wider toes for lateral movement. Jogging shoes are designed for forward movement but not for side-to-side movement. Pickleball involves a lot of lateral movement and having the right type of shoe is key to avoiding injury.

If you are playing outdoors, wear tennis or pickleball shoes that are designed for this use. If you are playing mostly indoors, you can wear volleyball or badminton shoes – these shoes will generally wear out too fast in outdoor play. If you are playing both indoors and outdoors, you can use an outdoor shoe for both.

Proper Shoes		Improper Shoes

Women’s tennis shoe	Men’s Tyrol shoe	Walking shoe	Jogging shoe

Men’s tennis shoe	Women’s Tyrol shoe	Casual wear shoe

That is all the equipment you need to play pickleball. There are other things that you should have – water, sunscreen, and towel if playing outdoors, and maybe a visor or cap, safety goggles, and sweatband – but shoes, paddle, and balls are a necessity for play.

Check the complete checklist or learn more about paddles, balls, shoes, and other pickleball equipment here >>.

Let’s lace up our shoes, grab our paddle, and get ready to play!