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My name is Chris Olson and I am the owner of Pickleball Studio, and a 4.75 rated DUPR player.
This company started out as a hobby. When I got into Pickleball in 2021, I noticed there were very few channels reviewing paddles, and most reviews came from sponsored players, or the marketing jargon from companies. I had background in YouTube from prior channels and thought it would be fun to create Pickleball paddle reviews from an independent player who would be brutally honest about whether it was good or bad.
Many years later, that is still the goal today. Whether it is a small brand, or the largest brands in Pickleball, I am not afraid to call out flaws when I see them. I’m here to serve you, the consumer and help you make an educated decision about what would fit you.
One of the things I pride myself on is spending extended periods of time with paddles, but this comes at the expense of not being able to cover every single paddle that comes out. Paddles release far faster than any one person could possibly cover in-depth in this industry.
I never just hit a paddle one time and say "Here’s a full review". My full review process is minimum 10 hours of actual on court play testing time, and often more than that. If you see something labeled as a "First-impression" that means we spent anywhere from 3 games up to 5 hours of play testing time.
I think this distinction is important, because it helps you, the consumer understand the play time that we have put on the paddle. Various paddles can play quite different when new vs used, and I think it’s good for you to be able to know how much time we put on that paddle to decide how much weight to put into that specific opinion.
Companies are never able to pay for, or influence a review on this platform. We do not take sponsorship money or do paid reviews from paddle companies.
I am able to operate Pickleball Studio independently because of affiliate links or discount codes. When you use the code or link, it gives a small commission that allows us to keep making this same type of content.
To some people, they find no difference between affiliate codes and sponsorship, but I do believe there is a real distinction, because we have an affiliate code with almost every single brand in the industry, and are not guaranteed any money unless you use our links to purchase. Vs a sponsorship which would be direct payment to say nice things about the gear.
On top of that, every single one of our commissions that we earn is capped at 15%. This industry has some paddle companies offering as high as 25–40%+ and has clearly started to have influence on the industry and how things are reviewed. I have decided to cap my commissions at 15% because when I review something favorably or negatively, I want you to be able to trust that it wasn’t because a company offered a significantly higher or lower commission.
Business inquiries, paddle submissions, or just want to say hey — reach out anytime.