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- 🤾 A secret way pros attack
🤾 A secret way pros attack
Plus, our best budget paddle of 2025, when to counter & when to speed up, and much more...
Brandon at Pickleheads
October 30, 2025
Hey reader,
Welcome back to the Pickleheads Newsletter!
In this issue:
🤑 Our best budget paddle of 2025
🤾 A secret way pros attack
💥 Best solo pickleball drills
🤌 When to counter & when to speed up
🤑 Our best budget paddle of 2025
The hugely popular Vatic Pro is back with a revamped paddle line — and a new strong contender for best budget paddle on the market. Foam-core paddles are the latest and greatest technology, and Vatic’s new V-SOL Pro jumps on that trend and delivers for just around $100 when you use our coupon code.
Lead gear reviewer Taylor Gervais logged 12+ hours with the V-SOL and says the foam feel kicks in right away — loads of control and spin, with power to spare. You can read his full review here.
We test a ton of paddles. Most are fine, a few are forgettable. Every now and then, though, a paddle comes along that we just know is going straight into our best pickleball paddles list.
The Vatic Pro V-SOL Pro is that paddle. It’s not flawless, but for high beginners to strong intermediates, it’s incredibly reliable. Easily our best budget paddle of 2025 so far.
🇺🇸 Built in Utah. Forged from aerospace tech.
I love when a new American pickleball brand shows up and actually builds their paddles here. Forge & Bond (F+B for short) is doing exactly that — right in a small Utah town.
The founders are former aerospace engineers who know carbon fiber inside out. When I spoke with CEO Jason Christensen, he said they wanted to bring the precision of high-end cars and spacecraft into pickleball.
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That sounds cool, but it’s more than talk. You feel it the first time you play with their paddles.
Their new Runout Series paddles use a one-piece forged carbon frame and handle (no glued parts), which gives them a stiffer, cleaner response and an incredibly solid feel.
They launch at $199 (or $180 with code PICKLEHEADS), a fair ask for something designed, built, and tested on U.S. soil.
If you like your paddles with a story plus the quality to back it up, this is one to keep an eye on.
Pickleheads discount auto-applied at checkout
🤾 A secret way pros attack
Excited as always to welcome back Tanner Tomassi for this week’s Level Up.
Hey Pickleheads readers,
What’s the biggest mistakes I see players make when attacking or countering at the kitchen? They swing with their paddle tip sideways.
Here’s why pros don’t do that.
Instead, we attack with the paddle tip down—especially on balls below net height. When your paddle tip is angled downward:
You’ll never miss wide.
You'll still be able to lift the ball over the net even on low balls, giving you more margin for error.
You could still hit long—but that’s okay when you're up at the kitchen line. You're so close, it's hard for your opponent to get out of the way anyway.
It's all about smart aggression. This tip will help you control the direction of your speed-ups and counters—and keep your attacks more dangerous and more consistent.
This one takes practice, but trust me…. this shot will level up your game!
Watch the full breakdown here 👇
💥 Best solo pickleball drills
🤌 When to counter & when to speed up
🧨 How to stop getting chicken-winged
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