California town now requiring quiet paddles at public pickleball courts
Last Edited
Apr 10 2025
Category
News
Pickleball players who play at Lang Park in Laguna Beach, California, will be required to use "quiet" paddles going forward after the city council there passed a law that fines people for using the louder traditional paddles.
The Police Department’s Park Rangers will enforce the new law, city officials said.
The city council took action after several years of complaints from residents of a nearby senior community, according to The Orange County Register.
In 2023, the city installed sound barriers around the courts, which were tennis courts originally and were converted to pickleball as the sport gained popularity. That apparently didn't solve the problem, as complaints continued, resulting in the city also limiting hours at the park -- no play is allowed on Mondays or in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Read next: How do you stop pickleball noise? Each solution analyzed
To make the transition to quiet paddles easier, the city is selling them to residents at cost ($120) and had already sold more than 200 of them as of this week.
The city has another set of six outdoor courts at Alta Laguna Park and two indoor courts at the city’s Community and Recreation Center. The quiet paddles are not required at either of those locations.
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