Say Goodbye to Sandbagging?

Pickleballers, rejoice! Sandbagging may finally be on its way out?

We’ve all seen it. You sign up for a 4.0 division, grind through the draw, and then suddenly you’re facing someone who looks suspiciously like a 5.0 masquerading for medals. It kills the vibe. It undermines trust. And let’s be honest: it’s one of the biggest complaints players have about tournaments right now.

Today, DUPR announced over 300 clubs around the country are signing up to become DUPR Verified clubs. Starting in 2026, the biggest tours and leagues: think Minor League Pickleball, Top Tier Pickleball League, World of Pickleball, and more, will be Verified.

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So What Exactly Is “DUPR Verified”?

Think of it like TSA pre-check. DUPR Verified means players are pre-screened before they're allowed to play. For clubs, they're held to a higher standard in terms of score reporting.

Here’s the big picture:

Players need an active DUPR+ subscription and a verified phone number
Each verified phone number can be linked to only one account
Events and players are reviewed by DUPR’s Fairplay Committee, a group tasked with keeping players and organizers honest
Match scores must be reported no later than 48 hours of the event and must be submitted accurately and in the order in which they take place
Finally: results from Verified events carry more weight in your DUPR rating than standard matches.

How Are People Sandbagging Now?

The most common trick in the sandbagger’s playbook? Duplicate accounts. Sometimes it’s innocent enough that someone forgets they already set one up. But let’s be real: plenty of players have knowingly spun up a fresh profile just to slip under a bracket threshold. I’ve even seen it happen firsthand at local moneyball events.

DUPR’s Verified model is built to avoid this. Instead of relying on narrow sanctioned play, DUPR pulls from everywhere: your local DUPR night, club ladders, weekend moneyballs, and national tournaments.

All those results feed into a reliability score that actually reflects how much (and how recently) you’ve been playing. And if you go quiet for too long, that reliability degrades. Translation: your rating adjusts with your real activity, not just the events DUPR happens to own.

Who This Affects

This isn’t just about the big tours, although they’re leading the charge. Verified is rolling out across clubs, leagues, and local tournaments, too.

Major Tours & Leagues: The Dink Minor Leaugue Pickleball, TTPL, World of Pickleball, National Pickleball are all moving to Verified in 2026.
Clubs: Places like The Picklr are already applying, with hundreds of others right behind them.
Players: Basically anyone who wants their competition to carry more credibility. You’ll still be able to play in regular DUPR events, not every Saturday showdown needs this level of scrutiny, but the Verified tier will quickly become the gold standard.

Our Take on DUPR Verified

As far as I'm concerned, this is the strongest attempt we’ve seen to clean up the competitive landscape. Players get fairness. Organizers get accountability. And DUPR gets better, more reliable data.

I'm expecting that some players and clubs will lag on getting on board with the program, but my guess is that once more players are already using DUPR+, they'll start asking their local clubs and organizers to create verified events.

Still, the direction feels right. If pickleball is serious about growing into a true professional sport, it needs guardrails. It needs consistency. And it desperately needs to solve the sandbagging issue that’s frustrated players for years.

So yeah, a big step forward. And if it means that I can be more confident entering an event with money on the line, that I can expect a fairer experience? Count me in.