A Site Exploring the Physics of the Paddle Ball Collision
I love pickleball! I have time to play every day. I listen to the YouTube reviewers (Johnkew is my favorite) as they muse about power, pop, swing weight, balance point, hand speed, PBCOR, spin, break-in, delamination, the trampoline effect, delisted paddles, etc.
But, in addition to being a pickleball aficionado, I'm also an engineer and I have a need to understand the details. So, I read the technical literature, especially the research papers on the baseball-bat collision since the concepts are applicable to the paddle-ball collision. I'm familiar with the USAP and UPA-A test procedures. When interested, I'll purchase or build test equipment. I've gotten so far into the weeds that I've duplicated the USAP and UPA-A test equipment to evaluate a paddle's PBCOR - an air cannon, a speed gate and a pivoting paddle clamp.
This website documents the results of some of my experimentation. I hope I've presented those results in a manner that is understandable to a technically inclined pickleball player.
Contact me at info@technicalpickleball.net
The Paddle-Ball Impact
Here's a taste of what happens in my basement. See the picture below. A paddle is hung vertically on a pivot so the paddle can rotate when struck by the ball. The wires attach to a small accelerometer on the paddle face to measure the force of the impact. A pickleball is shot from an air cannon (not shown) toward the paddle. Before it gets to the paddle, the ball travels through a speed gate (multiple red laser beams) to measure the inbound velocity. After the collision the ball travels back through the speed gate to measure the rebound velocity.
Pictured below is a three frame sequence of a paddle/ball collision taken with an iPhone at 240 frames per second. Left: Ball approaching stationary paddle at about 50 mph. Center: Collision lasting about 2 milliseconds. Right: Ball rebounding back toward the speed gate at about 12 mph and paddle recoiling at 7 mph.
Understanding PBCOR
PBCOR testing jumped into the pickleball news when the Joola Gen 3 paddles were not approved for tournament play by USAP in November 2023 because they were too powerful. USAP, in part, used PBCOR testing to evaluate the power of the Joola paddles. The non-approval was a financial loss for Joola. A lawsuit was filed initiated (still in litigation as of March 2025) against USAP to recover a portion of the loss. Subsequently, both governing bodies for pickleball, USAP and UPA , have universally adopted PBCOR testing to limit paddle power.
Simply stated, a ball, at high speed (50 or 60 mph) is shot at a paddle and the rebound speed of the ball is measured. A few physical parameter of the paddle (weight, etc) along with the rebound speed are entered into an equation which results in the PBCOR number for that paddle.
Paddle Break-In
A Pulse V Example
I purchased a Pickleball Apes Pulse V paddle in November 2024. It got hot and hotter as I used it! The sound got deep. Opponents noticed my flicks were unusually fast. I heard multiple times, "Is that a legal paddle?"
I measured the collision efficiency and calculated that the PBCOR was far above the UPA-A 0.385 limit and the USAP limit of 0.43. Pickleball Apes replaced the paddle free of charge and explained the problem was isolated to early batches and had been corrected. The performance of my old Pulse V, my new Pulse V on arrival, my new Pulse V after 3 weeks of play and a new Neonic Flare is documented.
