THE PADDLE REGISTER · 2025 · CURRENT
Proton Series Three – Project Flamingo
An aggressive elongated power paddle sold exclusively through Pickleball Central that PPA pros adopted quickly. The Kitchen singled out its spin on third-shot drives; pickleball.com praised control relative to other power paddles and criticised the stock grip. It was the first widely used dual-certified paddle of the UPA-A era.
- List price
- $280
- Launched
- January · exact date unverified, 2025date known to the month
- Build
- Honeycomb + foam (Gen 3)
- Thickness
- 15mm
- Shapes
- Elongated
- Pro
- Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Kaitlyn Christian, Quang Duong
- Made in
- China
Certification note. The Kitchen (Feb 6 2025) describes it as the first paddle approved by both USA Pickleball and UPA-A.
Status checked Sep 21, 2026. Lists change; confirm on the USAP and UPA-A lists before a tournament.
TIMELINE
- Jan 2025 LAUNCH Launch: January · exact date unverified. thekitchenpickle.com ↗
HOW IT IS BUILT
Thermoformed Series Three build with a 15mm 'Velocity Core' of small-cell polypropylene honeycomb plus a foam layer around the upper portion, under a roughness-enhanced carbon fiber face.
- 1polypropylene honeycomb 'Velocity Core' (small cells)
- 2foam layer around the upper portion
- Face
- roughness-enhanced aerospace-grade carbon fiber
- Edge
- edge guard, 1/4in overlap
Construction per pickleball.com ↗
VARIANTS · PUBLISHED AND MEASURED NUMBERS
| Variant | Shape | Length × width | Handle | Core | Weight | Swingweight | Twistweight | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Flamingo 15mm | elongated | 16.5 × 7.5 in | 5.375 in | 15 mm | 8.0 oz | 119 | 6.6 | thekitchenpickle.com ↗ |
Swingweight and twistweight are each lab's own measurement of its own sample. Unit-to-unit variance is normal.
MEASURED BY THE LABS
The register does not re-measure paddles or copy a lab's numbers wholesale. Power, pop and spin belong to the people with the radar guns; go read them.
FIELD REPORTS · AFTER YOU BUY IT
Reviewers measure a paddle new. Nobody measures it at hour sixty.
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Keep a bag on Rally: log the hours you put on this paddle, when the grit fades, and when it goes dead. It stays on your device until you press "send a wear report", and the report carries no name.
Open the bag on Rally ↗ Compare with…SOURCES · HIGH CONFIDENCE
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NEARBY IN THE REGISTER
the whole register · everything from Proton · the 2026 calendar · CC0
