A pickleball grip insert sits under your overgrip, not over it — reshaping the handle where your hand actually makes contact, instead of adding a uniform layer around the whole thing. Your paddle's base tape stays on, nothing gets stripped, and every iQGrip kit includes the inserts and the overgrip to finish them.
More about grip inserts
Which kit should I choose?
- Starter Pack — one paddle, one standard installation. The right place to begin if you want to find out whether a reshaped handle suits you.
- Core Pack — two paddles, or one paddle with a more involved configuration and spare material to experiment with.
- PRO Pack — three paddles' worth and the most configuration freedom. Built for players who want to keep refining placement.
- Club Pack — eight paddles. For teams, clubs and coaching programs fitting a whole roster at once.
How it goes on
- Leave your paddle's base tape on — nothing gets stripped.
- Place the inserts on top of it, where you want support, and secure them with the included adhesive strips.
- Wrap an overgrip over the top — iQGrip overgrips are included in every kit, or use your own favourite.
Because the shaping and the surface are separate layers, you keep whatever grip feel you already like. Inserts can be repositioned later without rebuilding the handle.
Insert, overgrip, or replacement grip?
These three products do genuinely different jobs:
- Replacement grip — the base layer wrapping the handle. Swapping it changes feel and tack, but barely changes shape.
- Overgrip — a thin layer wrapped over the top. Adds tack and a little thickness, evenly, all the way around.
- Grip insert — goes on top of your base tape and under your overgrip, and changes the geometry of the handle. It is the only one of the three that lets you add support in one place and not another.
Insert dimensions
| Small insert | Large insert | |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 1.125″ (30 mm) | 1.75″ (45 mm) |
| Height | 2″ (50 mm) | 2.125″ (55 mm) |
Kits combine large and small inserts so you can build up broad areas and narrow ones separately. Every kit also includes iQGrip synthetic overgrips at 0.5 mm and adhesive strips for securing the inserts.
Why shape matters more than size
A paddle handle is an extrusion — the same shape all the way down. A palm is closer to the shape of an egg. Close your hand around the handle and there is a cavity where the two are not touching.
Stacking overgrips makes the whole handle bigger but leaves that cavity exactly where it was. Inserts fill it. If you have already tried extra overgrips and the paddle still does not feel settled, shape rather than thickness is what you are missing.