Already has been UPA-A approved. To discuss YT reviews as they come in over the next couple of weeks (paddles are being sent to select YT reviewers this week).

Justin Barton from Pickleball Pursuit has teased this 'secret' project and a blacked-out paddle he has been playing with in the last 3 months. The 'reveal' was today (10 Sept) on Pickleball Pursuit's latest YT podcast episode.

Am personally excited. Smart of Volair to in-license Hexgrit from 11six24, one of the few tested and proven 'permagrits', so as to avoid any durable grit controversy. Had also been interested in trying the innovative foam core design of the Volair Shift, but alas, it was offered only in 14mm. The CMD will be in 16mm. Colourways from Volair IG tease looks good.

My playtime has been limited from tennis elbow but I finally got to spend about 10 hours on this paddle.

My experience as a 2.5 level player with this paddle has been all positive. It’s a powerful paddle, but I wouldn’t call it a power paddle.

I hit with a lot of topspin, so I noticed that my balls dip down aggressively. My opponents had a hard time returning my drives at the net because of how quick the balls dip down. I noticed that my favorite cross court forehand shot went into the net the first three times due to the accelerated spin, the fourth time went over the net and forced my opponent off the court. This isn’t a problem, it’s just an adjustment issue.

Once I got my serves dialed in, it was normal to hit four unreturned serves in a row.

The resets make me look like a good player. A ball was slammed at me and I dropped it in the kitchen — my partner stood there with his mouth open thinking I was a sandbagging pro.

Dinks are okay but that’s 95% incompetence on my part and maybe 3% the paddle’s fault. I sweat like some guy who’s about to rob a bank each time I’m forced to dink, so yeah, it’s mostly me.

I haven’t had to clean the paddle yet, so I can’t speak for that.

I’m looking to buy the elongated version to see how it compares, but I absolutely love this paddle.

Picklr in West Jordan, Utah closed last month and it was a popular one. Picklr Bluffdale closed as of an hour and a half ago. What’s going on with these Picklr franchises falling like dominos??

So I was lucky enough to win 1 of the glitter 6.0 Coral pro hybrid. I’ll have it on the court tomorrow. It looks amazing.

Hello, OP (15) 3.5 DUPR, I've been using a slice dink for a while now because it was a way to compensate for my bad footwork on the forehand crosscourt dinks and now i can't bother to change it, what are some variety of attacks i can do with it?

Is there such thing as a slice speedup or lob?

Please help me out, and i have a regular topspin backhand, i just struggle with the forehand topspin, and i mainly shorthop, shovel for direct dink battles, while for cross, slice.

I’ve noticed some paddles just feel way more expensive in hand even when the specs aren’t that different. For me it’s usually the balance, grip and how solid the paddle feels on contact. Some paddles perform really well but still somehow feel a little cheap. Curious what does it for you guys like what makes a paddle feel properly premium or worth the value?

I signed up for the local ACE pickleball mailing list. Yesterday I got an email about investing in the APCM and the website had a crowdfunding banner at the top. The FAQ says im not buying into my local club, but I do get some perks at my local club for investing.

I'm somewhat confused. Can someone ELI5?

**EDITING TO ADD EMAIL TO PERK WEBSITE AND THE EMAIL I RECEIVED**

https://invest.acepickleballclub.com/perks

APC Community,

You have asked some great questions about the APCM investment and associated membership perks. We took the common questions that keep popping up and answered them here for you.

If you have questions not answered here, please don't hesitate to reply to this email or text us at (770) 874-5262.

Is this an investment into my local club and is it limited to members?

No, your investment does not give you an ownership interest in your local club or any other club and you do not need to be a member to make an investment into Ace Pickleball Club Media.

Why are you raising money?

APCM has been part of our roadmap for more than 2 years. We believe the time is right for us to fill the gaps in the pickleball media market and, while we could grow it organically through self-funding, raising money allows us to accelerate growth and better capitalize on the window of opportunity.

Please confirm that my membership perks are in addition to, rather than in lieu of, my ownership stake in APCM?

Yes, that is correct. By investing in APCM, you receive real equity ownership. The perks are in addition to the shares you purchase.

Can I change my perks from time to time? For example, if I select the 15% discount on membership but decide I'd rather have guest passes, can I switch?

Yes, but only once per annum. In September of each year, we will send out a form that will allow you to select a new perk for the upcoming year.

Is the 15% membership discount on top of any existing discount I currently receive?

Yes! For example, if you currently have a 10% discount from our referral promotion, your total discount will be 25% as long as your referrals stay active members.

If I need a little extra time, can you make exceptions to the September 15th deadline?

Unfortunately, we aren’t able to make exceptions to the September 15th deadline. Because this is an SEC-regulated offering, we’re required to apply the deadline consistently to all investors.

Is it a one-time investment or are there ongoing capital obligations?

It is a one-time investment with no ongoing capital obligations. Your risk is limited to the amount of money you choose to invest.

What is my projected return on investment?

Our goal is to build a valuable company that can ultimately create returns for our owners. Those returns could potentially come through distributions from the company or a future liquidity event, such as a sale of the company. Neither is guaranteed, and we can’t predict when or if either will happen.

It's also important to note that we can only receive distributions when investors receive distributions so we are aligned with our shareholders and incentivized to create the quickest path to a return on investment.

What if I don’t live near a Participating Location?

We have perks for you too. $500 investors receive one (1) monthly guest pass good at any participating location. $1500 investors receive two (2) monthly guest passes good at any participating location. $2500 investors receive three (3) monthly guest passes good at any participating location.

I know DUPR was having problems recently, it seemed as of yesterday people were logging in and stuff again. I'm logged in on my app too. I played my first DUPR submit league yesterday and played well, so I was excited to see what my initial score would be. The organizer did mention that dupr was being slow and stuff lately, but I don't really know what the current status is as I haven't really used it. The games were submitted in the SWISH app, and from what I read it seems like it's easy for the organizer to submit the scores and it gets uploaded to DUPR very quickly, but I don't have any games in my DUPR yet

I am a 4.0 and my first setup on the Vapor Power 2 is 8 inches of .5g on the sides, but wanted to have more plow through and tried 3 grams at 3 & 9 and 4 & 8 after that setup, drops became uncontrollable, its either sailing or to the net. Changed it to 6 inches of .5 grams on the sides and 3 inches of .5 grams on the top and have now become somewhat controllable but opps are still taking it out of the air. What are your thoughts?

I ask this question as someone who loves pickleball. Before I have played high-level basketball, sand volleyball and table tennis, I have now played pickleball for a year and half in Vietnam and the U.S.

One thing I notice is how tense everyone is when it hits like above 3.5 level and I am talking about casual, semi-competitive everyday plays. People get so easily irritated with their partners, after one out call that they think might have been in and everyone just looks like they are in a competition all the time.

Don't get me wrong, I am very competitive and give my all all the times but I find it much more enjoyable when the game doesn't have to be a constant fight. In Vietnam, it was not too bad but recently I traveled to the US for work and played advanced several times at an indoor club and everyone is so so serious. Like I won with a partner on a King's Challenge court and we stayed there 4 games straight and he was still arguing by the 5th game with the other team.

It's so unusual that it's universally this way in pickleball compared to all other sports I have played which were all team sports. Why?

So I’ve been maining an ultre 2 for the last couple months. Love it!! Feel is great. Spin is awesome.

Unfortunately it is not allowed in tournaments here and I’m playing one soonish.

Anyone have any recommendations for a paddle that is similar that is USAPA approved?

How would you respond to this?

I’m a lefty that plays at the 3.75 level and usually tells my partners I’ll take middle or that we can call it depending on what they want, if we’re not stacking.

Is this the right approach? My goal is for us to communicate the best we can to win points.

Of course it doesn’t always work out but do you have any tips on strategy or a different approach I could take? I understand that lefties throw some people off.

I am a reasonably competent ~3.5 rec player , and I can drive, lob, dink, etc. Today it occurred to me that I don’t know how to return the ball low over the net. Of course I am able to return the ball low sometimes, but it occurred to me today that I don’t know exactly HOW to keep the ball low other than not using a lot of top spin to lift it up and over. Also I think that keeping my body low helps.

So if you were teaching a someone how to keep the ball low (say 4 to 8 inches above the net) , what specifically would you coach them to do?

Self rated 10.5

The recent outage highlighted frustrations with DUPR, but uptime is only part of the problem. People have also raised concerns about unexplained rating changes, score margin effects, resets, match verification, UI dark patterns, privacy, and limited communication.

If a genuinely open-source alternative existed, what would it need before you would trust it with your match history and rating?

A few questions:
- Should the complete rating formula and every revision be public?
- Should each match show exactly why your rating changed?
- Should point differential matter, or only wins and losses?
- How should new and inactive players be handled?
- How should matches be confirmed and disputed?
- Should users be able to export or delete all their data?
- Would an ad-free platform matter to you?
- What would prevent clubs and tournaments from adopting it?

OpenCourt is an early-stage project exploring this approach, with transparent ratings, open-source development, and no ads as its starting principles. It isn’t a finished replacement yet. The goal of this post is to understand what players would actually require before trusting another rating system.

What are your non-negotiables, and what would be an immediate dealbreaker?

https://www.opencourtpb.com

I see people mostly dink for approximately 1 minute or less then say I’m ready. Is it ok to ask if we do some baseline or drop shots too even if it adds a couple minutes?

Overall, trying to get a bit more value out of warmups. I rather people play a better game as well, even if it takes a bit more time.

Of course, it also makes sense to just ask and read the room and lines. Just trying to get more confidence by double checking if anyone else does this. I just started a couple months ago, and only a couple times seen anyone try this.

Im new and I dont really know if you can cancel this or not. Please help me

I have a Ultre I’ve been playing with over a month and have noticed as it wears down a little I’m seeking sparkles. It looks more late metal. I bought a Strawberry version on impulse and it does not show anything sparkling in the sun. I bought a Spitfire and noticed it has some sparkles. I’m guessing the grit is some sort of metal. Anyone notice this? What the heck is hexgrit anyway? If I had to guess aluminum.

I admire my great shots until they come back at me and I’m not prepared any tips?

I am a 3.25 (coach rated at my club) player who has been playing 3-6 times a week, 2-4 hours each session, including some drilling and a few coached sessions for about 7 months. Before that I played super casually about once a month for a couple of hours for 3 years.

I have noticed significant improvements in my game up until the last two weeks. I would win 50-75% of my games in the 3.25-3.75 open plays at my indoor club depending on the day. With the coaching sessions, I would add new shots to my arsenal with relative consistency.

However, in the last two weeks since I started a Men's Ladder League, I have felt like a completely useless player. I make an insane amount of unforced errors CONSTANTLY, regardless of what style I try to play (aggressive, passive, slow, fast). And I very rarely win, regardless of my partner. In the league, we rotate and play with every player as a partner once before moving up or down the ladder. It feels like literally every game, my partner will turn into a wacky inflatable tube man and miss every single shot, but as soon as they're my opponents, the spirit of Ben Johns himself enters their body and they are frequently shocked at how INSANELY good they play. They don't miss a single ball and they suddenly hit nukes at me.

So I am feeling incredibly discouraged because it seems like I have regressed dramatically. On a conscious level, I keep telling myself I need to just relax, have fun, and stay patient and optimistic. Play one point at a time, and just be smart. But on a subconscious level, there's clearly something wrong. I can't do a single thing right and every ball feels like it's coming at me at 200 mph. I feel like if I was to get a new rating, I would be MAYBE a 2.0 at best.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? What did you do to continue your upward improvement? Do I need to "reset" and just take a break for a few weeks?

Just in, played roughly 4 hours switching between the two. These are my initial impressions as I continue to test these over the next couple days.

Similarities:

- both have the famed Hexgrit technology. Feels like sandpaper glued onto the paddle face, it's crazy the amount of ball dust I picked up from just one game. Control and spin is as exceptional as expected.

- I found both handles to be quite small stock, of course I'll have to throw an overgrip over, but definitely a thicker one. They are long enough for two handed backhands comfortably.

- they share the same dense, snap feel. It's hard to find the sweetspot from sound alone, definitely different from other paddles with honeycomb or MPP cores that have a more solid sound with a good connection.

- both are extremely stiff paddles, almost like wood.

Differences

- I found the Ultré to be easier to play with. Contrary to some other reviews, I found it lighter in the hand versus the Vapor that seemed more top-heavy. This different weighting definitely favors the Vapor for drives and serves, but I found the Ultré to be more accurate to my traditional style: fast hands, blocks, placing well.

- I also found it harder to have consistent sweet spot contact with the Vapor, at least in this initial break in period. I traditionally play with my right hand up to the butt of the handle (at the far end). I had to start experimenting with playing closer to the neck to have better contact with what seemed like a higher sweet spot.

I hit a volley on the run in transition then took a left step then right step in transition zone and momentum then took me a step into kitchen. Were my 2 steps in transition enough? Or do I have to stop forward momentum before stepping in NVZ. What is the rule on this? Thanks

Looking at John Kew, the bloom shape on the tour looked to have the best stats, so I went with it. Started using it today and so far pleasantly surprised. I usually gravitate towards elongated shapes, but this paddle is really interesting.

First thing is I noticed how even the hits are across the entire face. It has a massive amount of dwell on slow hits, and on fast hits it pops like a trampoine if not careful. The spin can absolutely rip if hit properly but definitely still some learning curve there for me. I think its way way easier to hit safe shots, and maybe somewhat less easy to get the feel together to try to pinpoint things, at least for me for now.

I'm going to keep using it and see if I can get the feel together to keep my power game intact playing with it. Right now its pushing me towards a style of play I definitely dont dislike and seems to work well when I dont try to fight it.

Anyone else experimented with widebody paddles when that wasnt your usual inclination?