Pickleball is played using a wiffle ball. This ball is made of durable plastic that is resistant to the hard ground strokes hit through the paddles. The ball is severely tested during its manufacture to ensure that it bounces to a certain height consistently.
The wiffle ball has characteristic perforations on it. The diameter of these perforations depend on the condition in which a match is being played – indoor or outdoor. In order to maximize the use of this ball, a hard surface gives it the desired justice. The durable plastic bounces high enough for the player to hit an effective shot. Besides, the perforations add to the aerodynamics, making it possible to drift and spin upon bouncing.
Since hard surfaces are the ideal choice for Pickleball, playing it on grass will certainly be no fun. A lot depends on the toughness of the soil underneath the grass. In regular conditions a wiffle ball will simply produce no bounce at all on grass. The lack of a resistant turf will not help it bounce high enough for routine play.
However, modifications on grass might be of some help. The surface beneath the grass can be synthetically made compact enough for the ball to bounce. These type of grass surfaces can be appreciated in many grass courts of tennis. In fact, a tennis court itself can be used to play pickleball by drawing the necessary boundaries within the court. Americans often make a compact grass turf in their backyard and fabricate a pickleball court on it. They call it lawn pickleball.
The customization of a grass surface might not be feasible for all. In order to play pickleball on grass, some strict compactness of the surface is mandatory. Hence, a hard surface of concrete or asphalt should always be preferred over grass in pickleball.
