Don’t blame your confidence, the weather, fatigue, hydration, your vision, or even yourself. Your improvement in pickleball is being curtailed by your balls. Yes, your pickle balls. Now that the Life Time balls have been officially adopted by the PPA, it’s time you started training with the LT Pro 48 balls.

I’ve been using the ubiquitous Franklin X-40 balls and don’t mind them at all. But the LT balls do play different. I’d describe the LT ball as more active. They bounce higher and therefore, move faster. But they are supposed to be more consistent over the lifespan of the ball and also last longer. I do admit that some of my older Franklin X-40 balls don’t bounce much and sometimes, skid across the court instead of naturally bouncing.

But now, I’m seeing reports that the harder LT ball is actually damaging paddles. Will have to watch if this happens. But yeah, if you want to up your pickleball performance, maybe it’s time to change balls.