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Pickleball paddles have come a long way since the sport\u2019s inception in the mid-60s in Seattle, US. Back then, paddles were a \u201cmonolithic plywood construction from the handle butt to the paddle tip\u201d, said\u00a0Lim Ee Kiong, the president of\u00a0<\/span>Singapore Pickleball Association. Imagine the noise.<\/p>\n The modern composite paddle that you hold in your hand was borne from hobbyists\u2019 tinkering with \u201cwhatever scrap aluminum or nomex honeycomb panels\u201d that they could scour from \u201cspecialised aircraft salvage dealers in Seattle\u201d, said Lim.<\/span><\/p>\n These days, the most common core material is polymer honeycomb, said Dominik Kuhn, the founder of Pickleball Corner Singapore. \u201cIt is durable, relatively quiet and forgiving.\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n The other obvious change is the paddle\u2019s 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).<\/span><\/p>\n Handle lengths, too, have altered slightly over the years. \u201cA longer handle, when held close to the base, allows you to whip the paddle for more spin,\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n