Pickleball and padel: Experts explain paddle and racket types, balls, shoes and what beginners should look out for

These days, the most common core material is polymer honeycomb, said Dominik Kuhn, the founder of Pickleball Corner Singapore. “It is durable, relatively quiet and forgiving.” There are also aluminum honeycomb cores that provide control but less power than polymer cores, he added. If noise is a concern, there are paddles with foam cores or foam-enhanced constructions that use injected or layered foam, said Kuhn.

The other obvious change is the paddle’s shape. It has evolved from the oval and tear-drop shapes, according to Lim, to many others. The most common shapes nowadays are the standard (16 inch by 8 inch), the quad (like a rounded square), the hybrid (bridges the gap between the standard and quad), and the elongated (typically 16 inch to 17 inch in height).

Handle lengths, too, have altered slightly over the years. “A longer handle, when held close to the base, allows you to whip the paddle for more spin,” said Lim. And since double-handed play (holding the paddle with both hands) has become popular, handle lengths have also increased from about 5.25 inch to as much as 5.7 inch, he said.