Hi friends!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

We had a full house here – a mix of family and friends, kids running around, and way too much food.

I did my usual Martha Stewart brined turkey with the cheesecloth, butter, and wine treatment. Still undefeated.

In this week’s email, we’re digging into a big new market report on what paddles people are actually using by skill level and putting two of my favorite paddles head-to-head.

So let’s dive in!

Really quick, I just launched my new Swing Weight Calculator. It makes it super easy to measure the swing weight of any paddle right at home. No fancy tools needed, and it’s completely free.

I haven’t announced this anywhere else yet, so if you want to check it out, click the button below!

In this week’s email:

I’ll be using your vote to award a brand with the “People’s Choice Paddle Of The Year Award.”

THIS WEEK’S GEAR DEEP DIVE

Eddie and I spent a lot of time this week comparing the Bread & Butter Loco and the Six Zero Coral.

Even though they’re both excellent, they live on opposite ends of the feel and power spectrum.

If you’re trying to decide between them, here’s how I’d break it down when deciding between the two.

Loco = elite power option
The Loco is stiff, loud, and explosive the moment you swing. You can feel the fiberglass. The ball jumps off the face fast, and you don’t have to swing hard to get real pop. Even with all that power, it still has a big sweet spot and stays pretty forgiving.

One thing to keep in mind is the 6-month warranty; it’s shorter than most other full-foam paddles on the market, but if you like a paddle that helps you finish points, this one fits that style.

Coral = power with more control option
The Coral feels almost the opposite. It’s softer, more plush, and more predictable. The ball sits on the face a bit longer, which makes resets and dinks feel automatic. You still get power if you swing for it, but you have to be intentional about it.

And Eddie gives it his ‘buttery’ stamp of approval. The Coral also has a 12-month warranty, which gives you more long-term security if durability matters to you. Plus, it comes with Six Zero’s new diamond-tough texture, which is claims to be up to five times more durable than traditional peel-ply “raw carbon fiber” texture, and initial testing of this claim is promising.

Loco = Elite Sweet Spot
Huge sweet spot for a power paddle. Especially the hybrid and widebody shapes, once you tune the weight. Mishits still come off clean, and the paddle stays very stable.

Coral = Good Sweet Spot
The Coral doesn’t always feel as good on off-center hits, but the performance doesn’t drop. That’s the interesting part. The ball doesn’t die on off-center shots, but the paddle lets you know. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good sweet spot, but we’re just getting spoiled with elite sweet spots on some of the latest full-foam floating cores, like the Loco and Boomstik.

This is where the Coral really separates itself.

Loco = Loud, Poppy, High Grit*
Starts super gritty and spins the ball great early on. But we’ve already seen some players say the surface smooths out faster than expected. It is loud, hollow, and very poppy.

Coral = Soft, Muted, Long-Lasting Grit
Uses the new Diamond Grit. It’s smoother to the touch, but the spin numbers stay high. And so far, it is holding up better in longer testing. The Coral also sounds denser and more muted when you hit, which can be good depending on preference.

Here are the affiliate links for the LOCO and the CORAL. Use code JOHNKEW for 10% off at checkout.

THIS WEEK'S GEAR NEWS

I spent some time this week going through a big study called the Pickleball Market Playbook.

The report was over 500 pages, and it looked at a random sample of more than 1,000 DUPR players and asked them questions about their paddle choices.

The survey covered a lot of ground, like:

Here’s what I noticed:

The results paint a pretty clear picture. Even though we see tons of new brands every month, most players still stick to a small group of familiar names.

When you look at the chart, a few patterns stand out right away. JOOLA and Selkirk are the top dogs amongst all levels, but you start to see more variety in the rest of their top ten.

Here are some interesting stats:

But when it comes to “paddle mains”:

Meaning over 60% of all paddle mains come from the same 6 companies.

The report showed that the brands paddle enthusiasts love to talk about are actually a very small part of what players in this sample use. Companies like Ronbus, Bread & Butter, and Vatic only make up a small slice of the overall paddle market, according to this study. But I have a feeling the sample is not necessarily representative, and they’re missing the ‘paddle enthusiast’ crowd entirely. And the enthusiast crowd have a lot of influence.

Across all age groups, the same big brands keep showing up. JOOLA and Selkirk lead almost everywhere, and Six Zero, CRBN, PaddleTek, and Engage make up most of the rest. The order just shifts depending on how old the players are.

Ages Under 25
Younger players go straight for power and hype. JOOLA is easily their number one, with Selkirk right behind it.

Ages 25 to 34
This group is the most balanced. They still like JOOLA and Selkirk, but Six Zero and CRBN show up a lot more here.

Ages 35 to 54
These players look the most like the overall pickleball world. They stick with the big names but do not switch paddles as often.

Ages 55 and Up
Older players skew toward the legacy brands. Selkirk becomes the clear favorite, and Engage gets its biggest boost in this group.

The gender results were also interesting. Men and women both use the big brands, but each group has its own favorites.

When you look at the chart, the patterns show up fast. Men use a lot of JOOLA and Selkirk. Women still use those too, but they also pick PaddleTek and Engage more often.

Men mostly use JOOLA (31.2%) and Selkirk (30.7%)
Women use Selkirk the most at 37.1%

This chart shows which brands “win” inside each group of players. Instead of looking at total sales, it shows who each brand attracts the most. A few things jump out right away:

PaddleTek leads the serious players. They lead among advanced players, women, and the folks who play three or more times a week. (39.8%)

Franklin leans young and new. They show up strongest with beginners, high-income players, and people under 25. Funny enough, about 33% of Franklin users reported household incomes above $200k. (14.1%)

Engage rules the senior crowd. Players 55 and up heavily favor Engage more than any other brand. (75.7%)

WHY PLAYERS BUY PADDLES

The study also looked at what actually influences players when they buy a paddle. It compared beginners, intermediates, and advanced players, and the patterns line up with a lot of what Eddie and I see on the courts.

Across all skill levels, price was the number-one thing people cared about.

Right behind price were recommendations from friends, online reviews, and durability. Beginners leaned more on word of mouth and reviews. Advanced players cared more about price and how long a paddle will hold up.

One interesting detail from the chart is how much looks matter.

When you add together style, color, and design, it ends up being one of the strongest reasons people pick a paddle, even though most players will not admit that.

The second chart lines up with what we talked about on the podcast. Serious players are willing to spend more than most people expect.

A few things stood out to me when I looked at the data:

This matches what Eddie and I see all the time. You can get great paddles under $200, but many advanced players simply trust paddles more when they are in that $200 to $275 range. A lot of it comes down to how the paddle is positioned, not just how it performs.

The study also showed that almost 70% of players spend more than $200 a year on paddles, and roughly a third spend more than $400.

So even if $230 sounds high at first, a lot of players are already spending that much without thinking about it.

KEW & A

Question: “I’d love to hear your opinion on the new Honolulu J6CR paddle. The numbers look amazing the and the tech sounds very interesting.”
— From @eganmills2404

My take:

I’ve only been able to hit with prototype models of the J6CR, so for the sake of not giving potentially misleading or inaccurate information, I’m not giving any impressions yet. I know the paddle is coming soon, but they’ve been making changes to it right up to the present, so I’ve been intentionally keeping my thoughts about it to myself.

Here’s what I can say:

CR stands for Core Reactor, which is the main tech they’re building the paddle around.

It’s a full-foam paddle, and there’s some similarities to the previous NF models (notching), as well as some new things going on in the neck.

I tested three different prototypes, and all of them measured right around 0.40 on the KewCOR stability test. Which is a bit higher than the J2NF, coming in at 0.39.

I look forward to testing the production models (potentially coming next week), and I’ll be sure to give you all the scoop after that.