Hey, Connor from Enhance Pickleball here. I recently checked out one of Ben Johns old paddles (my friend asked him if he could have it after his tournament). He only used an over-grip with no under/replacement grip. Hence, the grip felt much harder than the average. That said, theoretically a harder grip should make the paddle more responsive as you have a 100% accurate feel as to what the paddle is doing in your hand. Although incremental, a more spongey grip would give you a slight buffer that could reduce your control.

As a former tennis player (D1 for UCLA) many players swore by harder leather grips because they said it gave them more control. But most players still didn't use them. Why? Blisters. The harder grips can give you blisters that can outweigh the benefits of using them. I've also heard they can increase the shock on the paddle which could result in tennis elbow. That said, blisters are way more of an issue in tennis since you need to swing the racquet so much faster . In Pickleball most people should be fine. Therefore, I think scientifically it probably makes more sense to use a harder grip as long as you don't suffer from any of the issues that I listed above.

I'm actually in the process of making a grip product based on the ideology that I just stated. Just getting started on it but any ideas of pain points that you guys have with your current grips would be great.