The Pickleball Ball Wars: How Official Balls Are Made, Tested and Why They Crack

Coach Yoshi

Owner of Pickleball Lab

Published October 24, 2026

About 24 min read

14604 characters

The Pickleball Ball Wars: How Official Balls Are Made, Tested and Why They Crack

Pickleballs all look alike. But the "official ball" differs from one tournament and pro tour to the next. The PPA Tour and MLP use Life Time's LT Pro 48, while the USA Pickleball National Championships use the Franklin X-40. The PPA Tour's official ball changed in 2024 and then again in 2025.

I'm Coach Yoshi. I've played tennis for 15 years and discovered pickleball in 2026. In this article, I'll look at how balls are made, the specs they have to meet and why they crack on cold days, and then lay out the current landscape of official balls on the pro tours. If you'd like to learn how to choose a ball first, start with the beginner's guide, The Complete Guide to Pickleball Balls.

Outdoor vs. Indoor Balls: Differences in Hole Count and Hardness

As a rule, outdoor balls have around 40 holes (smaller ones), and indoor balls have around 26 holes (larger ones). USA Pickleball's specs set the number of holes at 26 to 40 (I'll come back to 48-hole balls later, when we get to official balls).

The USA Pickleball rulebook also says that the ball with smaller holes is customarily used for outdoor play and the ball with larger holes for indoor play (Figure 3-2). Balls with smaller, more numerous holes are said to hold their flight path better in the wind. Indoors, with no wind, even a ball with larger, fewer holes will go where you aim it. Note that under the rules, all approved balls can be used either indoors or outdoors (3.C.1).

The other difference is hardness. Outdoor balls are made of harder plastic, so they hold up well on asphalt and concrete courts and bounce well. Indoor balls are softer, with a feel that's easy to control on a gym floor. Much of the difference you notice when you hit them side by side, with outdoor balls playing fast and indoor balls playing slower and softer off the paddle, comes from this hardness.

Balls With and Without Seams: How They're Made

Even among outdoor balls, there are 2 main ways they're made.

One-piece (rotational molding): The material goes into a mold, which is heated while it rotates, forming a single seamless ball. The holes are machined afterward. Onix describes the Dura Fast 40 as a ball with its holes machined into a single seamless piece. Pickleball Central, a major U.S. retailer, says the Franklin X-40 and Selkirk Pro S1 are also one-piece balls
Two-piece (injection molding): 2 hemispheres are made and joined together (welded), so a seam runs all the way around along the join. Pickleball Central lists the LT Pro 48, the official ball of the PPA Tour and MLP, as a two-piece ball

Diagram comparing 2 ways pickleballs are made. On the left, a one-piece ball (rotational molding), formed as a single piece by rotating the mold, with no seam. On the right, a two-piece ball (injection molding), made by joining 2 hemispheres, with a seam left at the join. Below, a note that a slight ridge at the seam is allowed under the rules

Having a seam isn't a problem under the rules. The USA Pickleball rulebook allows a slight ridge at the seam, as long as it doesn't significantly affect the ball's flight (3.C.5). The test of how well a ball resists compression also requires seamed balls to be pressed and measured in 2 directions, "perpendicular to the seam" and "parallel to the seam." The specs themselves are written with seamed balls in mind, too.

💡 Coach Yoshi's Tip Pickleball Central explains that one-piece balls, having no seam, tend to fly straighter, while two-piece balls tend to feel softer. Even so, what the PPA Tour and MLP use now is the LT Pro 48, a two-piece ball with chamfered hole edges. I don't think you can say a seamless ball is always better. When outdoor balls with the same 40 or so holes feel different to hit, it's natural to think that's because, on top of how they're made, their hardness and hole layout differ slightly.

Specs for Approved Balls, and Why Balls Crack More Easily on Cold Days

To be a USA Pickleball approved ball, that is, a ball on the Approved Ball List, a ball has to meet the specs. The detailed numbers aren't in the rulebook but in the equipment specifications (the Equipment Standards Manual, Revision 3, January 2025).

Item	Spec
Diameter	7.29–7.54 cm (2.87–2.97 in). Out-of-roundness within ±0.51 mm
Weight	22.1–26.5 g (0.78–0.935 oz)
Bounce	Dropped from a height of 198.1 cm onto a granite plate, it bounces 76.2–86.4 cm. Measured at around 21°C
Compression	Pressed by the specified method, it takes an average force of less than 43 lbf (about 19.5 kgf)
Holes	26 to 40 round holes
Markings	A manufacturer name or logo on the ball. For balls intended for competition, "USA Pickleball Approved" on the packaging

Hardness (40 to 50 on the Durometer D scale) is also listed in the manual, but it's now recorded only for reference and isn't a pass/fail requirement.

The bounce test specifies "around 21°C" because a ball's properties change with temperature. Selkirk explains that plastic contracts and becomes more brittle in the cold, so balls crack more easily on cold days, and the harder you hit, the more likely they are to crack. A cold ball also gets harder, so it plays faster. Pickleball Central says hard outdoor balls crack more easily below about 40°F (about 4°C), but the temperature at which balls start cracking more easily varies from source to source.

As for how they crack, Life Time explains that cracks in traditional balls mainly start at the edges of the holes, and the LT Pro 48 has chamfered hole edges.

Image showing a new pickleball side by side with a well-used ball that has a roughened surface and a crack running from the edge of a hole

Softer indoor balls are less likely to crack, but they're said to reach the end of their life by gradually going soft and losing their bounce. Either way, balls are consumables. I've covered the signs it's time to replace a ball in the "Ball Lifespan and When to Replace" section of The Complete Guide to Pickleball Balls.

Why Does Each Tour Have a Different Official Ball?

Pickleball has no single official ball that everyone uses. The ball differs by tournament and organization. As of October 2026, here's how it breaks down.

Tournament / organization	Official ball (as of October 2026)
PPA Tour	Life Time LT Pro 48 (since August 2025)
MLP	Life Time LT Pro 48 (since the 2026 season)
PPA Tour Asia	Life Time LT Pro 48 (announced in August 2026; previously the JOOLA HC-40)
USA Pickleball National Championships	Franklin X-40 (the ball used at the 2026 tournament)
US Open	Franklin (official ball since 2016)
APP Tour	Franklin X-40 (since March 2024, under a multi-year agreement)

Timeline diagram showing how the official balls of the PPA Tour and MLP have changed. PPA Tour: Dura Fast 40 (through 2023), Vulcan VPRO Flight (from January 2024), LT Pro 48 (from August 2025). MLP: Vulcan VPRO Flight (from July 2024), LT Pro 48 (from May 2026). As of October 2026. Below, a note that PPA Tour Asia also announced in August 2026 that it would make the LT Pro 48 its official ball

The PPA Tour's official ball was the Onix Dura Fast 40 through 2023. In January 2024 it switched to Vulcan's VPRO Flight, and MLP also used the same ball starting in July 2024. The Dink reported that many pros complained that this Vulcan ball fell out of round quickly and bounced inconsistently. Then, in August 2025, the PPA Tour switched to the LT Pro 48 developed by Life Time, and MLP moved to the same ball from the 2026 season.

Life Time is a company that operates about 200 fitness clubs in the U.S. and Canada. Besides serving as a venue for PPA Tour and MLP events, it's also an official partner of the PPA Tour.

📝 Official Balls and Approved Balls Are Two Different Things An "official ball" is a ball chosen by a tournament or organization, through a sponsorship deal or similar arrangement. An "approved ball" is a ball recognized as meeting USA Pickleball's specs and listed on its Approved Ball List. The Franklin X-40 is both. The LT Pro 48 used by the PPA Tour and MLP, on the other hand, has 48 holes, which puts it outside USA Pickleball's specs (26 to 40 holes), and it isn't on the Approved Ball List (checked October 24, 2026). The PPA Tour and MLP use balls of their own choosing, regardless of whether they're on USA Pickleball's Approved Ball List.

So why isn't there one ball for everyone? One reason is that official balls are decided by sponsorship deals. For example, the agreement between the APP and Franklin includes exposure through venue signage and displays, social media and broadcasts. Another is that balls differ in speed, bounce and crack resistance, so the right ball changes depending on where you play and what you're looking for. I think the reason players speak up for and against every time the ball changes is that these differences are so big.

Choosing a Ball in Japan

If you're entering a tournament, first check the designated ball in the tournament guidelines. If none is specified, choosing a ball on USA Pickleball's Approved Ball List is the safe bet. Approved balls carry "USA Pickleball Approved" on the packaging. As a rule, use an outdoor ball with around 40 holes on outdoor courts and an indoor ball with around 26 holes in a gym. The outdoor and indoor balls we carry are all in our ball collection.

If you're playing outdoors in the cold months, bring plenty of spare balls. Selkirk suggests keeping spares in your pocket to warm them with your body heat and swapping balls every game. If a ball cracks mid-rally, the rally still continues to the end. If all players agree that "a broken or cracked ball affected the outcome of the rally," the rally is replayed (Rulebook 10.G). I've covered what to watch for on outdoor courts in Playing Pickleball in the Wind.

Near Homes, Consider a Quieter Ball

Impact noise can spark trouble with the neighbors (Pickleball Noise and How to Deal With It). In September 2023, USA Pickleball created its "Quiet Category," and in November of the same year it certified a paddle from OWL Sport as the first product in it. The category covers balls as well as paddles. As of October 2026, 4 balls are on the Quiet Category list, and one of them, Selkirk's Q1 Quiet Ball, was also added to USA Pickleball's Approved Ball List in January 2026. Some of these, like foam balls, play and bounce very differently, so a realistic approach is to use the tournament's designated ball for tournaments and practice for them, and try a quieter ball when you're playing near homes.

Summary

Outdoor balls have smaller, more numerous holes (around 40) and are harder; indoor balls have larger, fewer holes (around 26) and are softer. USA Pickleball's specs set the number of holes at 26 to 40
There are 2 ways to make them: one-piece balls with no seam, and two-piece balls made by joining hemispheres. Seams are allowed under the rules, and neither type is established as better
Hardness isn't currently a pass/fail requirement; approval comes down to diameter, weight, bounce, compression and the number of holes. Balls crack more easily on cold days, so bring extra spares
As of October 2026, the official ball is the LT Pro 48 for the PPA Tour and MLP, and the Franklin X-40 for the National Championships and the APP Tour (the US Open also uses Franklin). The LT Pro 48 is not on USA Pickleball's Approved Ball List

I think official balls differ from tournament to tournament because pickleball is a sport whose rules and equipment are still evolving. For more on what's inside a paddle, see Foam Core Paddles Explained and my rundown of the paddle rebound standard, What Is PBCoR?

If you have questions like "Should I buy an outdoor ball or an indoor ball?" or "How many spares should I bring in the cold months?", feel free to ask me (Coach Yoshi) on LINE. You can add us as a friend through Pickleball Lab's official LINE account. You can also add us with the green "LINE Official" button at the bottom right of the screen.

References

Author

Coach Yoshi / Owner of Pickleball Lab

Former international ski competitor and active tennis coach. Discovered pickleball in LA in 2026 and has play-tested more than 100 paddles from Japan and around the world. Pickleball Lab is Japan's exclusive authorized distributor of Engage Pickleball (as of May 2026).

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