Hi friends,

We’ve got some fun stuff lined up this week.

We’re sharing first impressions of a few new paddles, including the Selkirk Boomstik, the Paris Todd C45 Signature, and a few others.

Along with one of the most misunderstood (and feared) topics in pickleball gear:

Broken paddles.

Not the obvious stuff, like when the handle snaps at the neck.

We’re talking about the three main issues that sneak up on you and mess with your paddle’s performance.

And to top it off, Eddie wraps things up nicely with his Around the Post segment.

Let’s dive in. 👇

On this week’s KewCast (dropping Thursday), we’ve got some great segments lined up.

We’ll be giving our first impressions of the:

We’re also tackling a big question:
Does adding weight to a paddle make it more powerful?

Short answer: sometimes.
Longer answer: It depends on the paddle. Some get more powerful, some lose pop, and others don’t change much at all.

The PBCOR formula, which measures how fast a ball comes off a paddle, accounts for swing weight. When the swing weight goes up, PBCOR drops ever so slightly to account for the fact the the paddle becomes harder to swing.

That means adding weight is a tradeoff. More mass can give you more power, but it also slows down your swing.

We’ll be breaking it down in this week’s episode.

Delamination vs. Disbonding vs. Core Crushing — What’s the Difference?

This whole topic has gotten a little out of hand.

First it was “delamination,” then everyone was talking about “core crushing,” and now the buzzword is “disbonding.”

It’s easy to get confused, especially when people are using these terms interchangeably.

So I’m hoping to clear it up in this segment.

Delamination is the term that started all this, but in reality, it almost never happens to a paddle.

Delamination is when the carbon fiber layers in the face start to separate from each other, not from the core, but from within the face itself.

Most paddle faces are made from three thin sheets of carbon fiber, glued together to form what’s called the layup. That layup then gets bonded to the core.

And if any of those face layers come unglued from one another, that’s delamination. But again, it’s not something you’ll run into very often.

You can see this in the image. The black layers in the microscopic photo are the carbon fiber sheets. If delamination were happening, they would be splitting apart along the yellow lines shown in the diagram.

Disbonding is actually a thing, and it’s becoming more common with all-foam paddles.

Disbonding happens when the entire surface layup separates from the core underneath. The layers stay bonded to each other, but seperate from the honeycomb core.

You can see what this looks like in the graphic. The surface layup separates from the core along the yellow line in the diagram.

If your paddle has disbonded, you’ll notice it right away. It starts making a loud, clapping sound when you hit the ball. Not the usual pop, but something that sounds off and hollow.

You can often easily slip a knife between the surface layers and the core on a disbonded paddle, as shown below on a paddle we cut open.

Core crushing is the most common issue and the biggest concern, because core-crushed paddles can turn into rocket launchers that send balls into orbit.

Core crushing happens when the honeycomb cells inside the polymer core become crushed. This can happen at the factory during manufacturing or over time with use.

The crushed cells act like a bunch of little springs, which makes the paddle illegally powerful.

If you’ve ever been body bagged by someone using a JOOLA MOD, it was almost certainly core crushed.

You can see what this looks like in the image. The honeycomb cells are collapsed and broken down. That’s what gives core-crushed paddles their springy power.

You don’t even need to cut the paddle open to check. Just press your thumbs into the center of the paddle. If it makes a crunching or crackling sound, it’s core crushed.

Here’s a video where you can hear the sound of this crunching/crackling, and see what disbonding looks like:

Here’s a quick recap of the three issues:

Be the Lightning

Hey everyone, it’s Eddie!

My son recently snapped this incredible photo of a lightning bolt. And it lit a spark in both of us, literally and figuratively.

You’ve probably heard the old saying, "lightning never strikes the same place twice."

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s actually a great metaphor for pickleball.

How often do we fall into the same patterns on the court?

Same serve every time.
Same third shot — drop or drive.
Same dink location.
Same go-to power shot.

It’s easy to get comfortable. But when we get predictable, we get beat.

Good players execute consistently.

Great players bring the thunder and surprise you.

The best players strike fast, strike smart, and most importantly, are unpredictable. They rarely do the same thing twice unless they mean to.

So next time you’re on the court, break the pattern.

Change your pace. Switch your placement. Throw in a lob when they’re not expecting it.

Develop the kind of game that makes people say, “I never saw that coming.”

Be the lightning. Bring something they didn’t see coming.

That’s it for this week.

If you thought the paddle drops were slowing down after July, there’s still a lot of interesting and exciting gear coming.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one.

—John