Drew Pierce

Drew Pierce is a USA Pickleball Ambassador, PPR certified coach, and tennis crossover who covers beginner tips, paddle releases, and the sport's growing culture. Read more on his About page or tune into Pickle Rock Radio.

Picklr Bankruptcy: How to Protect Your Pickleball Membership Money

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pickleball bankruptcy

To protect your money at a pickleball club, pay monthly instead of a year upfront. Use a credit card, not debit, cash or Zelle. Get the cancellation terms in writing, and skip big presales for clubs that aren’t open. The Picklr’s October 2026 Chapter 11 filing is a reminder that prepaid dues are a promise, not a guarantee.

“Founding member” sounds like you’re getting in on the ground floor. Legally, it usually just means you paid before anyone else did.

I’m not anti-club. But this month’s news is a good excuse to talk about the boring stuff: contracts, cards, cancellations and coaches.

UPDATE Oct. 21: The court approved interim financing of up to $4.365 million to keep the company running, with a final hearing set for Nov. 10.

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Is My Pickleball Paddle Dead? How to Check for Core Crush and Delamination (2026)

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Is My Pickleball Paddle Dead

To tell if your pickleball paddle is dead, tap the face in a grid and listen for dull spots, press the center for crunching or give, and drop a ball on different spots to compare the bounce. Then look for cracks or a face lifting off the core. No home test is conclusive. And “dead” doesn’t always mean weaker. A broken-down core often makes a paddle hotter.

In 2023, I had a dreadful night on the court and did what any reasonable adult would do. I blamed my paddle.

Then I wrote a whole post about paddle lifespan and admitted the uncomfortable part: short of an X-ray machine, “there is no true way to test a paddle.”

I still don’t own an X-ray machine. At home, that line mostly holds up. What’s changed is that the people who build paddles, run them through lab machines, and police them at tournaments now say a lot more about how paddles fail. So I went through what they’ve published. Everything below comes from manufacturers, testing labs, and the rulebook, not from me knocking on paddles in my garage. I’ll tell you which source is which, because they don’t always agree.

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Pickleball and Lower Back Pain: A Tennis Convert’s Guide to Protecting Your Back

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back pain pickleball

Yes, pickleball can cause lower back pain. In a 2025 survey of 1,758 U.S. players, about 1 in 5 reported a back complaint in the past year. Repeated low bending, twisting, long sessions and falls are the usual culprits. Bend your knees, not your waist, warm up and add court time gradually. Leg numbness, weakness or bladder changes mean see a doctor.

I left tennis for pickleball because of my lower back. It’s right there on my About page: my body, “specifically my lower back (SI JOINT!),” was starting to protest.

Pickleball looked like the fix. Smaller court. Underhand serve. Way less running. Easy mode.

It wasn’t. By early 2023 I was admitting it in my injury roundup: pickleball is easier on my body overall, but “it’s not any better for my lower back–in fact, it might be worse!”

So this isn’t a “pickleball is gentle, come on in” post. It’s what the research actually shows, which habits medical sources back, and where I’m just telling you what I do.

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How to Get a DUPR Rating in 2026: A Beginner’s Guide (and Do You Need DUPR+?)

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Player checking their DUPR pickleball rating on a smartphone app at the court

Make a free DUPR account, then get one valid match onto it. That can be a club, league or tournament result, or a self-reported game your opponents confirm. You’ll land somewhere on DUPR’s 2.000–8.000 scale. A DUPR Coach or an AI video assessment can also give you a starting number. DUPR+ ($19.99 a year) is optional, and most beginners don’t need it yet.

Sooner or later, someone at open play is going to turn to you between games and ask, “What’s your DUPR?”

If you came from tennis like I did, you know this move. It’s “What’s your UTR?” with a paddle in your hand.

Good news first. You don’t need a DUPR to show up and play. But the moment you want a league, a skill-capped round robin, or your first tournament, that number is how you get in the door. And DUPR has changed a lot in the last 18 months. New algorithm. A paid reset. A paid tier. A deal with USA Pickleball.

So here’s how it works right now, as of October 2026. Just what I’d want to know if I were starting over.

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Is My Pickleball Paddle Legal? How to Check the USAP List (2026)

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pickleball jail

Short answer: For rec play, your paddle is almost certainly fine. Nobody at open play checks a list, and USA Pickleball says decertified paddles can still be used recreationally. For a USA Pickleball-sanctioned tournament, your exact brand and model has to show “Pass” on the USA Pickleball Approved Paddle List. Search it by brand before you register.

There is no paddle police.

I know that’s not what the guy on the next court told you. He saw a headline about the new spin cap, looked at your paddle and made a face. Now you’re wondering if the $180 you just spent bought you a contraband item.

It didn’t.

But “is my paddle legal?” has two answers depending on where you play, and most people only hear one. Here are both.

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2027 Pickleball Rule Changes: Proposed Rules, Updates & What Could Change

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The 2027 USA Pickleball rules have not been finalized yet. Members submitted 112 proposals for the 2027 rule book, and as of October 4, 2026, not one of them shows a Board of Directors vote in USA Pickleball’s public database. Below are the proposals most likely to matter to everyday players.

2027 Pickleball Rule Changes

Every December, the same thing happens at my courts.

Somebody shows up to open play with a headline on their phone and a worried look. “They changed the serve.”

Nobody knows who “they” are. Nobody knows what changed. Half the group switches to a drop serve just to be safe.

This year I’m getting ahead of it.

The submission window for the 2027 rule-book closed on June 1, and public comments closed on June 15. What’s left is a database of 112 proposals and a Board Vote column that is completely empty. The Rules Committee has been chewing on them since June.

So this isn’t a “new rules” article yet. It’s a scouting report.

I went through all 112 so you don’t have to. Most of them are tournament and referee housekeeping: medical timeout length, blood on the court, players wearing microphones, who gets to overrule a line judge. If you play Tuesday night open play, you will never think about any of that.

A handful could change how you serve or how you call the score. Those are the ones I care about, and they’re the ones below.

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JOOLA POWER FX: Price, Specs & Why the New 2,100 RPM Spin Cap Matters Before You Buy

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Joola Power FX

For a long time, I thought paddle shopping was a personality test.

Are you a power guy? A spin gal? A control person who pretends they don’t want either?

The paddle industry is always trying to please everybody.

For a few years, the easiest way to sell a $300 paddle was to promise more. More pop. More exit speed. More of that hollow thwack that makes you feel athletic even when all you did was block a ball.

Then foam cores showed up, and the marketing got even louder.

Selkirk Labs put the Boomstik out at $333, and people talked about it like it was a lifestyle. Tesla put gold geometry on a paddle and sold the vibe. I wrote about the Tesla Aurum when it dropped. Owning a paddle that matches your Cybercab is a choice.

It is not a third-shot drop.

Eventually, the governing bodies did what governing bodies do when the equipment starts winning points on its own.

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Pickleball and Tennis Can Coexist: What the US Open Reminds Me Every Year

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pickleball vs tennis US Open

Every year when the US Open rolls around, I get a little nostalgic for tennis.

I can play pickleball several times a week and spend far too much time thinking about paddles, strategy and whatever part of my game happens to be failing me that month. Pickleball has become my sport.

Then I watch the US Open.

And I remember.

Tennis is a beautiful game.

Something about the movement of a great tennis player that pickleball simply cannot replicate. The court is bigger. Points can develop slowly and then explode. Covering that much ground for hours at a time takes a physical commitment.

Tennis still has a little elegance.

I don’t mean that as an insult to pickleball. I love pickleball.

But nobody has ever called Tuesday night pickleball open play elegant.

And that’s OK.

In fact, I think one of the biggest mistakes we can make as pickleball grows is believing tennis somehow needs to lose for pickleball to win.

It doesn’t.

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The Tesla Aurum Just Dropped and Mooloolaba Courts Open

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Tesla aurum pickleball paddle

Tesla and Selkirk are back with a new collaboration, pickleball facilities are expanding worldwide, and the equipment landscape is changing in ways that matter to your game. Let’s talk gear and growth.

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The Two-Handed Backhand in Pickleball: When to Use It, How to Learn It, and Which Paddles Fit

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Player hitting a two-handed backhand in pickleball at the kitchen line

The two-handed backhand has gone from a tennis-transplant quirk to a legitimate weapon at the 4.0+ level, and in 2026 it is close to mandatory if you want to survive a kitchen-line firefight. Adding your non-dominant hand gives you stability on fast hands battles, real topspin on the third shot drive, and a roll volley that actually dips.

I need to start with a confession.

For my first two years in this sport, I was a one-handed backhand guy and proud of it. I came from tennis, I had a slice I liked, and I genuinely believed the two-hander was something tennis converts did because they hadn’t bothered to learn a proper pickleball backhand yet. I said this out loud. To people. Repeatedly.

Then I spent about six months getting handcuffed at the kitchen line by a 4.5 who did nothing but speed up at my right hip. Every single time, my one-handed backhand volley would either float or die. He knew it, I knew it, and by the fourth game he had stopped even pretending to hit anywhere else.

That’s when I finally added the second hand. And I want to be honest about the timeline: it made my game noticeably worse for about three weeks, and then it made my game dramatically better forever. If you’re on the fence, that’s the trade you’re actually considering.

Here’s everything I’ve learned since, including the gear mistake that made my first attempt miserable.

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