Face material
What the hitting surface is made of: carbon fibre, fiberglass, a composite or a hybrid.
The face is the skin over the core. Carbon fibre is stiff and holds its texture, which is why most higher-end paddles use it; fiberglass flexes more, which gives a livelier, poppier response at a lower price; composite and hybrid faces combine layers of both.
Face material is a weak predictor of spin on its own. In our data, paddles labelled composite average slightly more measured RPM than carbon, and fiberglass the least, but the spread within each material is far larger than the gap between them.
What the numbers look like
Measured values across the 641 paddles in our database that have this number.
- Lowest
- 991 rpm
- 10th pct
- 1684 rpm
- Median
- 2021 rpm
- Average
- 1988 rpm
- 90th pct
- 2225 rpm
- Highest
- 2776 rpm
Average measured spin (RPM) by face material
| Carbon | 399 paddles | 1958 rpm |
| Composite | 217 paddles | 2064 rpm |
| Fiberglass | 17 paddles | 1756 rpm |
| Hybrid | 8 paddles | 1890 rpm |
Rankings that use this spec
Related terms
Let the numbers pick for you
The quiz weighs every spec on this page against your play style and ranks all 812 paddles.