Extreme Options: Pickleball & Padel Paddles from HEAD
By: Joey Hanf
Our friends at HEAD Tennis have long been the leaders in their craft of designing and producing racquets for all types of tennis players. A historic company with racquet lines dating back decades, HEAD has always been about making the small details matter. With the emergence of new racquet sports like pickleball and padel, they have taken their breakthrough technology and applied similar concepts in pickleball paddles and padel racquets. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite options.
HEAD GRAVITY TOUR SH PICKLEBALL PADDLE
The Gravity model is a winner for many reasons, including the hybrid hitting surface, Spinon technology that helps create a higher point of friction on the face, and the foamed core design that provides great comfort and touch. The Tour SH model is a winner because it provides all of those benefits, plus the benefit of a larger sweet spot and even more power. Our professionals found this paddle extremely effective in the non-volley zone both offensively putting balls away, and as a counter defensive tool, with the large face providing solid forgiveness on off center hits.
HEAD EXTREME TOUR PICKLEBALL PADDLE
If you’re newer to pickleball and are looking for an option to step up your game, this is our top choice. Featuring a diamond shape, this mid-weight paddle will help your consistency and stability on court. Still very maneuverable and easy to play with, we found that dinks and drives were equally comfortable with this paddle.
HEAD ZEPHYR PRO PADEL RACQUET
Perfect for intermediate players who are hoping to get more comfortable playing offense, this lightweight racquet breaks the norm in the sense that it is light, but also extremely soft. If you have shoulder issues, we highly recommend the Zephyr line, and the Pro is our top choice. Upgraded with Graphene 360+ technology for enhanced flex and feel, we found that our volleys were staying low and that groundstrokes from the back of the court came off with ease.
HEAD SPEED PRO PADEL RACQUET
This one is made for the slightly higher level padel player, but is an excellent choice for those looking to play fast. It is an extremely maneuverable racquet that helps you defend with ease, and the newest version of this racquet has been upgraded with HEAD’s Auxetic technology to add a little more punch to those overheads and volleys. HEAD also added a new soft butt cap for enhanced feel on impact.
Keep an eye out for this article and more in our Summer 2023 issue of Experience Magazine, coming to our clubs and resorts soon!