Brandon is co-founder of Pickleheads. Once a competitive tennis player, Brandon can be found on pickleball courts these days in Scottsdale, AZ. Brandon is a 4.0 player who plays 3-5 times per week, and has tested over 95 pickleball paddles as part of his job at Pickleheads. Brandon built the Pickleheads paddle fitting quiz from his paddle reviews.
Brandon Mackie
My pickleball journey
I’ll never forget my first game of pickleball. I was at a restaurant in Austin that had a court you could rent. Two of my shall we say unathletic friends challenged me and a buddy. I played tennis my whole life so as you can imagine I was pretty darn confident. And boy I got my butt kicked!
I learned that day pickleball is a different kind of game. And you can never count anyone out. I start playing more and more. Over time, I learned to hit less tennis-ey shots and started to dink and place drop shots. I started to get it.
But as they say… pickleball is easy to learn, hard to master. I’m still out there as much as I can every week working my game.
My love for pickleball continued in March 2022, when I co-founded Pickleheads with two friends. Our site helps players like you find courts, set up games and connect with nearby players. Because that’s what we all want - to play more pickleball!
A big part of my role here at Pickleheads is managing our content. I write news stories, how-to guides, paddle reviews and gear buyer’s guides. And that’s maybe the most fun part of my job – I get to play with a different paddle every week! I have stacks of them at my house and it’s amazing how different they all are.
Do you have a favorite paddle? Let me know on social, I’d love to hear from you!
See you out on the courts.
-Brandon
Brandon in the media
I've had the pleasure of speaking to journalists and media outlets all over the country about the growth of pickleball. I have access to data on where new courts are being built and how searches for courts are trending over time.
This data almost always tells the same story – that pickleball is growing like crazy!
I have been quoted in 159 media articles to date (and counting!). Here are a few of the top ones:
- Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., and an increasingly popular way to network
- Pickleball picking up steam in Flower Town: New courts forthcoming
- DC’s pickleball problem? Not nearly enough courts
- Court Sport's Rapid Growth Puts Santa Fe in a Pickle
- Let's Play Pickleball!
- New facility adding to pickleball popularity in Indiana
- Pickleball’s popularity picks up in Charleston
- Pickleball on the rise in Stillwater
- Coming to America: Pickleball courts in empty mall and office spaces
- Pickleball trend growing in Charlottesville
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