Inside Pickleheads Plus and Pro: The Update Changing How Pickleball Gets Played
If you’ve played pickleball for more than five minutes, you already know the secret. The hardest part usually isn’t learning how to hit a third shot. It’s finding courts, people, and a scene that feels like yours.
That’s why Pickleheads has quietly (okay, not so quietly) become one of the most important tools in the sport. It’s where players go to find courts, discover games, meet locals, and get plugged in quickly. Whether you’re new to the sport or your paddle has logged more hours than your car, Pickleheads exists to make playing easier, more social, and more consistent.
Now they’ve pushed things further.
Pickleheads just launched Pickleheads Plus, a $1 per month subscription built for everyday players who want to find more games and connect faster. They also refreshed Pickleheads Pro, a toolkit designed for organizers, leaders, and the community builders who keep local play running.
These updates aren’t small. They’re a real upgrade to how we discover play, build friendships, and grow local pickleball from the ground up.
Why Pickleheads Plus and Pro Actually Matter
Pickleball is growing fast. Faster than courts are built, faster than rec schedules can be formed, and faster than new players can find a consistent group.
For a lot of us, the hardest part isn’t learning a new shot. It is:
Finding the right level of play
Joining games when you don’t know anyone yet
Figuring out where people actually play when you travel or move
That’s where Pickleheads Plus comes in. It reduces friction around the part of pickleball that people silently struggle with the most—getting onto the right courts with the right players.
This update isn’t really about tech. It’s about making it easier to play regularly with people who fit your game.
Introducing Pickleheads Plus ($1 per month)
Pickleheads Plus keeps players at the center. It helps you find games faster and meet players who match your skill level and pace, whether you’re staying local or on the road.
What Plus unlocks:
Smarter game discovery: More visibility, better filters, and more options to find games that actually fit your schedule and style.
Skill-based connections: Find players who match your pace so you avoid constant mismatches and awkward lobbies.
A cleaner, friendlier app: Finding games, joining sessions, messaging players, and tracking your play all live in one place.
Designed for travelers and newcomers: Road-tripping, relocating, or just starting out. Plus it helps you quickly plug into your local pickleball scene.
All of this is $1/month. Less than a roll of athletic tape—and far more useful.
Pickleheads Pro: For the Organizers Who Keep Us All Playing
Empower Pickleball has always said the sport grows because of everyday leaders.
Those leaders are organizers, session hosts, the people who step up and say, “I’ll run this.” They build ladders, run round robins, manage signups, answer texts, and make sure new players are not left on the bench.
Pickleheads Pro is for them.
Pro gives organizers tools to:
Run weekly sessions, round robins, tournaments and leagues using any of the 10 pre-made formats.
Automate the details, from signups and matchups to entering scores and declaring winners.
Save hours each week with automations like recurring weekly sessions and one-tap duplication.
Keep events moving because players can view match-ups, court assignments, and enter scores from their phones.
Support any group size with flexible formats that handle uneven numbers, court counts and last minute changes.
Manage payments and DUPR together with built in payments, auto refunds and one tap score syncing to DUPR.
If you’ve ever tried coordinating open play, building a weekly schedule, or running a round robin with spreadsheets and group texts, you know how quickly it feels like a second job.
Pro makes it sustainable. It strips out the chaos so organizers can focus on what matters—creating a welcoming, well-run environment where players feel included and want to come back.
Why This Matters for the Community
At Empower Pickleball, we’re obsessed with one thing: growing the sport by supporting the people who make it special.
That means:
Players who just want reliable games
Newcomers who are still learning the rules
Night owls who always want one more game
Volunteers and organizers who hold local scenes together
Pickleheads Plus and Pickleheads Pro aren’t just new buttons in an app. They’re tools that make it easier to say yes to pickleball, easier to find your people, and easier for organizers to run the kinds of sessions that feel safe, fair, and welcoming.
They help players find their group. They give organizers structure so they can spend less time on logistics and more time building real community.
For the People Who Make Pickleball Work
We love seeing tools that make pickleball more organized and more welcoming for everyone.
Pickleheads isn’t changing what makes pickleball special. It is protecting it, by giving players and organizers better ways to connect, schedule, and show up.
If you're a player who struggles to find consistent games, or an organizer tired of juggling logistics, this update solves real problems. The future of play just got easier to manage—and a lot more people will benefit from that.
