How to install

The step-by-step install

1. Remove your existing overgrip… or don’t. The standard route: unwrap the outer grip tape from your handle. A little adhesive residue left behind? Fine — clean it off if you want, but it’s not necessary. The shortcut some players swear by: leave the factory overgrip right where it is, place the inserts on top of it, and wrap a new overgrip over everything. Zero teardown — just know the finished grip comes out noticeably thicker, which is a feel some players actually prefer. Personal preference, like everything else here.

2. Check what’s underneath. Every paddle is built a little differently under the overgrip. Most have some kind of structure that creates the handle’s shape — some use foam, some have a molded handle, some have plastic pieces — and many also have a base-layer tape wrapped over that (it looks and feels a lot like electrical tape). Here’s the one rule that matters: don’t remove anything that creates your handle’s original shape. The foam or molding is your paddle’s foundation — iQGrip inserts are designed to complement that shape, not replace it. If your paddle already has a base-layer tape, just leave it in place. If it doesn’t, we suggest adding one: wrap the handle nice and tight with regular household electrical tape. It creates a clean, smooth surface for the inserts to lay over and for the adhesive strips to stick to. (You can also place the inserts directly over the handle as-is — the base layer is suggested, not required.)

3. Position your inserts. This is the fun part. From the chart below, we suggest starting with one of three simple setups: Comfort (one large insert in the cavity of your palm) or Comfort+ (the large insert plus a small one alongside it) for an asymmetrical install — or Pro Grip (two small inserts placed symmetrically, one on each side of the handle) if you like to rotate the paddle in your hand. None of these are fancy setups — and that’s the point. Each one gives your hand an anchor — a subtle reference point that helps it return to the same place — while the rounded shape fills your palm cavity for more surface contact. That small change makes your grip — and your shots — more consistent. Hold your paddle naturally, feel where your hand and the handle don’t quite meet, and place accordingly.

4. Tape them in place. Orient each insert so the iQGrip logo faces you — that’s the intended ergonomic shape. Then use the adhesive strips included in your kit to secure each insert to the handle.

5. Wrap your overgrip. Start at the bottom and work up, overlapping each wrap by about a third of the tape’s width. Finish at the top with the included iQGrip finishing tape — and that’s it. And wrap with whatever you love: the included iQGrip overgrip or your favorite brand — the inserts don’t care what’s over them. They work the same, and they help your game the same, under any overgrip you choose.

6. Play — and experiment. Nothing about your setup is permanent. Unwrap, move an insert, re-wrap — it takes minutes. Most players fine-tune their configuration over their first few sessions, and honestly, it makes the game more fun. Your paddle becomes yours.

Find your starting configuration

Seven proven starting points. Begin with one, then make it yours. (Some of the fuller setups use more inserts than one kit includes — mix kits or add extras whenever you’re ready.)

Watch it done: the full walkthrough

The complete step-by-step installation, start to finish.

Another example: an advanced custom install

Robin — iQGrip’s inventor — builds a fully custom, more advanced configuration in about 90 seconds. Watch it for ideas of how far you can take your setup — your first install will be simpler.

The possibilities are genuinely infinite

There’s no rule for how many inserts to use or where they go — that’s the whole point. Use as many or as few as your hand wants. Some real setups from real players:

• Just two small inserts, one on the left and one on the right of the handle — a subtle bump on each side that gives your hand reference points, so you can feel your hand position and the paddle resists slipping.
• One large insert in the palm cavity (the classic Comfort setup), sometimes with a small insert added for the fingers.
• Two large inserts opposite each other for a fuller, symmetrical build-up.
• Small inserts trimmed in half and stacked near the butt of the handle — a built-up anchor at the bottom that makes the paddle much harder to sling out of your hand.
• Pro player Chuck Taylor runs eight small inserts placed all around his handle to tune exactly how it fills his grip.

A word about the minimal setups: a two-small-insert install looks like it couldn’t possibly do anything — it’s a tiny change. You may feel it right away — or simply notice that your hand starts finding the same place more naturally. Either way, it becomes your reference point on every shot. And here’s the funny thing we hear again and again: after a few weeks it feels so natural that players forget it’s doing anything — until they take it off, and immediately want it back. That’s not the product fading — that’s your hand having quietly learned its reference point. Give any setup a few real sessions; the consistency often shows up before a dramatic difference in feel.

One more thing worth knowing: the inserts practically last forever. Overgrips wear out and get replaced — the inserts underneath just keep working, paddle after paddle, re-wrap after re-wrap. Experiment freely; you can’t use them up.

Every player has a use for this — at every level

You don’t have to be a 5.0 chasing marginal gains. Think about how many times per game you reset your grip — hundreds. Even the simplest setup — a little width at the bottom or one small reference point — helps your hand return to the same spot without looking or thinking.

And that consistency compounds. Same hand position → same swing path → the same shot behaving the same way, rep after rep. That’s how muscle memory gets built. Which is why the improvement tends to sneak up on you: you won’t necessarily feel your accuracy changing day to day — you’ll just notice, a few weeks in, that your resets are automatic and your misses got rarer.

The paddle didn’t change. Your hand just stopped guessing.

More configuration examples

These are more custom configurations — setups we see real players using and preferring in their own game. Watch for ideas once you’ve got your starter setup dialed in.

A couple more player videos are below whenever you want even more ideas.