Upcoming Reviews and Don't Buy This Paddle

What’s up, guys? Thanks to everyone who took part in the poll for where you listened to the podcast and why. It actually gave me a lot of great insight that I really appreciate having. You guys rock. Here’s another one for you.

Paddle recap

Head Extreme Tour Max First Look

• Video review

• Written review

• No discount code is available at this time.

Today I released my first look on the Head Extreme Tour Max…unfortunately, it isn’t great. I had high hopes after the Head Radical Tour Co impressed me so much last year. It seems like they tried to update the old Tour Max with some of those new features, and all that came of it was a paddle that has solid spin but no other defining features. You can read the article or watch the video, but overall, this paddle is a hard pass.

Specs:

Price: $149.95
Thickness: 11mm
Weight range: 7.2-8.1oz (3 versions lite, regular, max)
Shape: Standard
Handle length: 5.0” octagon
Grip circumference: 4-1/8th” or 3-7/8th”
Face: Graphite
Core: Polymer + foam
Swing weight: 97

Upcoming reviews

Reviews have been slower than I would prefer lately. I’ve realized I’m juggling way too many things at once. While that won’t be changing anytime soon, I did recently start working with an editor, which will hopefully help speed up my production as well as the quality.

The rough order of upcoming videos:

• Volair Mach 1 16mm First Look (filmed, needs to be edited)

• Zane Navratil Signature Review (filmed, needs to be edited)

• SixZero Double Black Diamond Review (Playtesting)

• Vatic Pro v7 Review (Playtesting)

Patiently awaiting thermoforming updates…

You guys have heard me talk about it several times now, but since my last email, my CRBN1X 16mm has also delaminated. This puts my total up to 4 paddles in about 1.5 months. The only paddle to ever completely bust on me was the Diadem Warrior, so I find it ridiculous that one person who doesn’t abuse paddles has had 4 delaminate in a short period of time.

Regardless, every company has told me I’m overreacting and that this is a very small issue, I will choose to believe them until there’s more information to report when they are shipping more units.

All of the companies are upping the glue in their paddles for March. So as soon as Vatic, CRBN, Legacy, and SixZero have new paddles, I’ll be watching to see if the issue continues to happen or not.

My hope is that this issue is completely gone with this next batch. Fingers crossed.

Personal play updates

Last weekend I played in the PPA Indoor National Championships in my hometown (Minnesota), and it went well overall.

I used a CRBN1X 14mm for doubles and singles since my 16mm was delaminated. Fun fact: Did you know that according to the USAP regulations, using a delaminated paddle is against the rules?

It’s silly because there’s no easy way for them to enforce that, and several people were using delaminated paddles during that tournament.

Anyways…onto my results.

This was my second time playing 4.5, and it went much more smoothly. I ended up placing 4th and losing to one of my friends that I train with. Isn’t it funny that we pay nearly $200 to play the same people we can play for free? Haha. My singles play felt very good overall, and I definitely feel like I’m a 4.5 singles player now.

For doubles, I played 4.0 with my brother because we didn’t sign up for 4.5 in time, and the bracket was full. We were playing great all day and ended up losing our first match in the semi-finals. We won game 1, were up in the second game 9-4, and proceeded to lose 9-11 and lose the third game. Bummer. In the bronze match, we went to 3 games, were up 10-9, and lost 11-13. Ouch.

Moving forward, I will definitely be playing 4.5 doubles. Regardless of not getting a medal at this tournament, I have no doubt I can play in that division. DUPR seems to think so too. My singles rating was 4.16, and doubles was 4.31 prior to the tournament. Afterward, both are 4.46.

After getting so close in both events, I’m much more motivated to actively train again. Moving forward, I’m hoping to implement more drill sessions during my work day while I’m testing paddles. Usually, playing games is the best way for me to get the full picture of a paddle, but hopefully, I can get the same information I need out of drilling as I do it more.

Latest Podcast

In this episode, we discuss my PPA experience more in-depth, as well as the results and a few quick news updates.