Who We Are
PickleGuide is a pickleball resource built by recreational players who got genuinely obsessed with the game and started writing about it. Not coaches with clipboards or sponsored athletes with gear deals. Players who show up at open play three or four times a week, lose matches they should have won, figure out why, and write about what they learned.
We started because the advice we kept finding online was either too basic to be useful or too technical to be practical. Instructional content written for beginners who already knew everything, or advanced theory that assumed you had twelve hours a week to drill. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, competitive enough to care about improving, real enough to have jobs and lives outside the court.
PickleGuide is for that middle. The player who wants to get better without turning pickleball into homework.
What We Believe
We believe the game improves most when advice is specific, honest, and grounded in what actually happens on recreational courts rather than what looks good in a drill video. We are not trying to turn anyone into a professional player. We are trying to help everyday players win more matches, enjoy the game more, and understand what is actually happening when something goes wrong.
We believe gear matters less than most players think and consistency matters more. We believe the mental side of doubles is as important as the technical side and almost nobody talks about it seriously. We believe the best pickleball advice sounds like something a knowledgeable friend would tell you, not a product manual.
Every article on this site is written from court experience first. We are not here to repeat what other sites have already said. We are here to write what we actually know from playing.
How We Work
Each writer on PickleGuide covers the areas of the game they know best from their own playing experience. Strategy, gear, mental game, doubles dynamics, technique. Every article goes through an editorial review before it is published to make sure it meets our standard for specificity and honesty. We do not publish advice we have not seen work on actual courts against actual players.
We do not accept paid placements or sponsored content. If we recommend something it is because we think it is genuinely worth your time, not because someone paid us to say so. Our only goal is to be the most honest and useful pickleball resource available for recreational players who take the game seriously.
Meet the Writers
The people behind PickleGuide are players first and writers second. Here is a bit about each of them and what they cover.
Olivia Pierce
Doubles Strategy and Mental Game
Olivia is a regular in competitive open play groups and has developed a reputation for noticing things on court that other players walk right past. She pays close attention to partner communication, momentum shifts, and how pressure changes shot selection across a match. Her articles focus on the mental and relational side of doubles, the things that separate players who understand what is happening from players who are just reacting to it. If you have ever wondered why a dink rally felt different at 9-9 than it did at 5-3, Olivia has probably already written about it.
Mason Bennett
Technique and Drills
Mason came to pickleball from a recreational tennis background and has spent the years since breaking down why certain shots work and others do not. He writes practical how-to guides focused on mechanics, contact points, footwork, and deliberate practice. His philosophy is simple: most players improve faster by doing fewer things better, and the paddle has nothing to do with it. If you want to know exactly what your body and paddle should be doing on a third shot drop or a reset under pressure, Mason is the one to read.
Ryan Turner
Strategy and Game Evolution
Ryan plays three or four times a week at his local community courts and has been hooked on pickleball since 2020. He writes about strategy, positioning, and the bigger patterns that explain why certain players consistently win. His articles tend to ask why something works rather than just describing what it looks like, which makes them particularly useful for players who want to understand the game rather than just play it. When he is not on court he is usually rewatching rallies in his head wondering why that speed up worked.
Samantha Caldwell
Open Play Strategy and Competitive Rec Play
Samantha is a student of open play culture. After logging hundreds of recreational matches, she became fascinated by why some players consistently win without relying on flashy power. She writes about the real-world strategy that actually plays out at public courts: kitchen battles, partner dynamics, shot decisions under pressure, and the habits that separate 3.5 players from 4.0 players. Her goal is to help competitive recreational players win more games without turning pickleball into a science experiment.
Ethan Collins
Gear and Equipment
Ethan has tested more paddles than he is comfortable admitting and writes about gear the way most players wish someone would: honestly, without the marketing, and with realistic expectations about what equipment actually does and does not change. He covers paddles, grips, shoes, and anything else recreational players spend money on wondering if it will help. His core belief is that the right gear supports your game rather than replacing practice. If you want a straight answer about whether a paddle upgrade is worth it, Ethan will give you one.
We are glad you found us. See you on the court.