I’ve covered many pickleball strategy topics in the nearly-two-years since I started my monthly newsletter, however it was recently brought to my attention (shockingly!) that I haven’t talked much about the dink shot — how to hit it, why you need it, etc.  So (at long last) here are my best tips, tricks & strategies for hitting the dink shot.

First off, there are probably a good number of you (who may be relatively new to the game) who have never heard of the dink shot.  No worries, we’ve all been there, Part 1 of this article series will be a great way for you to get up-to-speed on one of the most important elements of pickleball.

Then, there’s probably also another good chunk of you who have heard of the dink shot but are positivethat it’s a shot only for sissies, weaklings or children–and certainly not a shot that any man’s man or woman’s woman would ever hit… Hopefully Part 2 of this article series will help you see the light, but otherwise, contact me for a private lesson and I’ll quickly prove to you how essential– and powerful–the dink shot can be.

Lastly, there are those of you who already understand the significance of the dink shot and have tried, to whatever extent, to incorporate it into your game, but are always on the lookout for some pointers to hit your shots more easily and more reliably. That’s what Part 3 is all about.  Please post your comment below to let me know how this article helps.

The Definition of the Dink Shot

The dink shot is a slower, softer shot hit from near the no-volley line, that drops downward once it crosses the net and lands in the opponent’s no-volley zone. When you hit this shot, it makes your opponent have to let the ball bounce before hitting it, which usually forces them to hit upward on the ball.

The Dink Shot Compared to The Drop Shot

The dink shot is different from the drop shot primarily because it is hit from/at the no-volley zone, whereas the drop shot is hit from the back half of the court. While the dink & the drop shot are similar in that they both head downward after crossing the net to land in the no-volley zone, the actual mechanics of hitting them are somewhat different, and the drop shot is usually a more challenging/advanced shot to hit than the dink shot. Many people who have mastered the dink shot still struggle with the drop shot, which is why I wrote my article, 4 Secrets to Get Your Dropshot to Go Where You Want (And Not Where You Don’t).

Characteristics of a Good Dink Shot:

Passes Low Over the Net

A good dink won’t bounce higher then the net, making it impossible for your opponent to hit the ball downward without hitting it into the net. If the dink passes too high over the net, then the ball will bounce higher than the net, allowing your opponent to hit downward on the ball (something you never want to give them a chance to do).

Lands Shallow in the Kitchen

A good dink will land in the shallow half of the kitchen.  If your dink lands deeper in to the kitchen or at/past the no-volley line, then it’s more likely your opponent will be able to reach out and hit the ball before it bounces, which means they’ll have a better chance to hit downward on the ball.

Examples of Excellent & Good Dink Shots

These shots are low over the net and/or land in the shallow half of the kitchen.

Examples of Bad Dink Shots

These shots are too high, too deep or both.

Why You Need the Dink Shot

In my article, The Top 3 Reasons You MUST Play at The No-Volley Line I talk about how important it is to get up to the net and stay there. The dink shot is an essential element to being able to play at the no-volley line.

You need to be able to hit the dink shot because:

1. It is a powerful strategy that better players will use against you.  As a defensive strategy, if you can’t at least return a dink shot with another dink without hitting the ball into the net or giving your opponent a cream-puff, you’ll quickly lose the game.
2. It is an excellent offensive strategy, which you can use against weaker opponents to goad them into hitting the ball into the net or giving you a cream-puff.  Against players of equal-or-higher level, the dink shot gives you the opportunity to take control of the point, by defining the speed, angle and location of the ball.

Control the Speed of the Ball

Many players are so used to defending against a hard, fast ball that the slowness of a dink will mess up their timing, causing them to make an unforced error.  Learning to slow the ball down and turn your opponent’s fast/hard shot into a dink does require some practice & finesse, but it IS possible & it’s a game-changer once you can do it.  (It’s something that many of my students get MUCH better at after a private practice session.)

Control the Angle of the Ball

For those of you who fall into the category of thinking that only a sissy would hit a dink shot, check out the image below.  If your opponent dinks to you, forcing you to let the ball bounce, if you hit a hard shot back, it will either go into the net or go over the net at an upward angle, which is really just another way of saying a losing angle. Because the higher you hit the ball up, the harder & faster a good opponent will hit the ball at your feet, putting you on the defensive.  Still don’t buy it?  Read The Top 3 Reasons You MUST Play at The No-Volley Line then contact me for a private lesson.

Control the Placement of the Ball

When you hit a dink shot, you have more time & opportunity to place the ball where you want it.  With a series of good dinks, you can move your opponents back and forth on the court until you have created an opening where you can place the ball where they won’t get it.

Pickleball Strategy from the Pickleball Guru

Get Your Paddle Up, Out & In Front of Your Chest Before & After Every Shot

This is true for every shot, of course, but especially when you are at the net, you need to be ready for a high fast shot, or a low soft shot, so keeping your paddle up in the ready position between each shot is crucial.

The other tips to hit a good dink are…very similar to the tips I gave in 4 Secrets to Get Your Dropshot to Go Where You Want (and Not Where You Don’t)

Hit the Ball Just Before the Second Bounce

After the ball bounces, you actually have much more time than you expect to hit it before it bounces again. Many players try to take the ball after the bounce & before the ball reaches the top of the next arch. But in order to get the most control of your shot, you need to wait and hit the ball AFTER it has passed the top of the arch, while it’s on it’s way back down, and right before it is going to make a a second bounce. Now I realize this is a question of seconds or milliseconds, but it really will make a big difference the longer you can wait to hit the ball.

This gives you more time to see where your opponents are positioning themselves, so that you can position the ball where they are not. The ball has also slowed down considerably by the time it gets there, so you have less speed to counteract.

Lift With Your Knees

Don’t just use your arm.  Bend your knees, push down into your feet and LIFT the ball using your whole body.

Don’t Swing & Hit: Play Out In Front of You

One mistake many players make is to do a large back swing before hitting the ball.  Likewise, you don’t need a huge follow-through and in fact, doing so will keep you from being prepared for the next shot.  Just “scoop the ball” over the net.  Really, if you’re hitting a dink shot, your paddle never needs to be more than about 45° left or right of front & center.

2 Drills to Improve the Dink Shot

Hula hoops (which you can pick up at nearly any $1 store or Walmart) are one of my favorite tools for drilling, however chalk or masking tape can also be used in many cases.

To Improve Your Placement

Place the hula hoop (or tape) on the ground, toward the center of the kitchen/no-volley zone, positioned right up against the net.  From the opposite side, practice hitting your dinks so that the ball drops into the hula hoop. If you are practicing alone, you can drop the ball in front of you, and hit it off the bounce.  If you’re practicing with a partner, have them watch their step around the hula hoop and simply return the ball to you.  (Or put a hula hoop on each side so you can both practice at once.) Shoot to get 10 in a row.  Then move your body 2 feet to the right and keep practicing aiming for hula hoop.  Once you can hit 10 in a row there, move back to 2 feet to the left of your original position (so a right-handed person will be hitting a backhand), and repeat the drill.  After mastering these 3 positions, you can move the hula hoop about 3-4 feet left and right, and repeat all 3 positions.  Eventually, you can practice cross-court dinking by having the hula hoop against the net all the way on one side of the court, while you dink from the opposite side of the court. 

To Improve Control Over the Height

Using simple quick-grip clamps (or possibly zip-ties) position the hula-hoop in a vertical position parallel to and against the net, so that approximately 1/3 to half of the hula hoop is suspended above the net.   Then practice hitting your dink above the net & through the hula hoop. 

Once you have mastered both of these drills you can combine them by aiming the ball through the hoop on the net so it lands in the hoop on the ground.

What’s Your Experience?

So, that’s what *I* know & have to say about the dink.  What’s your experience been?  Was this article helpful?  Please post your comments and questions below.

http://pickleballhelp.com/teachings/about-pickleball/pickleball-rules/

Looking for Pickleball Rules?  You’ve come to the right place.

Rules for Pickleball Serving

Service must be underhand to the diagonal box.

The first person to serve each turn is the one on the right-hand side (deuce side) of court.

Each person on a team gets 1 chance to serve, for a total of 2 chances per team.  The first server serves until they don’t win the point, then the serve passes to the second player until they don’t win the point, then serve passes to the other team.  Unlike tennis, where a server could potentially double-fault, here each server only gets 1 chance.

The “Tricky” Pickleball Rules

• Return of Serve MUST Bounce
• You may NOT hit the ball in the air (volley it) if you are in the no-volley zone (see diagram).
• You MAY hit the ball if you are in the no-volley zone AS LONG AS THE BALL BOUNCES BEFORE you hit it.

Pickleball Scoring

Don’t worry if you don’t catch on to the scoring right away, or if you have a hard time remembering what the score is during the game.   The rules of Pickleball and the excitement of the game make it hard for anybody (of ANY age) to remember!

• One Game to 11 Points, Win by 2 — You only score points when your team serves.
• Server calls the score before each serve
• The score consists of 3 numbers:
  • The Serving Team’s Score is called first,
  • The Receiving Team’s Score is called second, and
  • The 3rd number is either a 1 or 2 – – – The 3rd number indicates if it is the serving team’s 1st or 2nd chance to serve.
• Score at start of game is “0-0-Start” because the first team to serve a game only gets 1 chance to serve.  When they lose the point, serve passes to other team.

So those are the basic Pickleball rules.  Any questions?  Just contact me!

Last month I had someone write in asking for advice on how to better calibrate their drop shot.

Unless you’re a nationally ranked player, (and even then!) I’m sure you can relate to having days (or… ahem… entire pickleball careers) when you can’t seem to get the darn ball over the net from the back of the court without giving your opponent a cream-puff of a put-away shot to slam back at your feet.

From the dink to the drop shot, the secret to moving yourself from a defensive position into an offensive position in pickleball is to get the ball to drop relatively close to the net, inside the no-volley/kitchen line so that your opponent is forced to let it bounce before hitting it.

Because the pickleball doesn’t bounce high, that usually forces them to hit UP on the ball rather than hit down, which is always a disadvantageous position in pickleball.  (For a more in depth discussion of why this is true, check out my article The Top 3 Reasons You MUST Play at The No-Volley Line + 2 Lies You Tell Yourself When You’re There.)

So let’s say you understand and buy in to the concept that in order to win a pickleball game against better players, you gotta get up to the net, and the best way to get up to the net from the back of the court is to take advantage of the no-volley rule by hitting a drop shot, and rushing to the line while you’re opponent is letting the ball bounce.

As I’m sure you’ll be the first to admit, understanding the concept intellectually is a far cry from being able to physically implement it.

So here are my best tips for how to hit a drop shot that actually drops out of your opponent’s wheelhouse & doesn’t go into the net.

#1: Hit the Ball Just Before the Second Bounce

After the ball bounces, you actually have much more time than you expect to hit it before it bounces again.  Many players try to take the ball after the bounce & before the ball reaches the top of the next arch.  But in order to get the most control of your shot, you need to wait and hit the ball AFTER it has passed the top of the arch, while it’s on it’s way back down, and right before it is going to make a a second bounce.  Now I realize this is a question of seconds or milliseconds, but it really will make a big difference the longer you can wait to hit the ball.

This gives you more time to see where your opponents are positioning themselves, so that you can position the ball where they are not.  The ball has also slowed down considerably by the time it gets there, so you have less speed to counteract.

#2: Lift with Your Knees

When I played & spectated at the Grand Canyon State Games in Surprise, AZ this past month, I paid special attention to the fact that nearly all the best players lift with their knees.  Average height, short or tall, the best players all bend their knees & lift their paddle. 

I’m not sure I can even explain the mechanics of why this is true, but when you bend your knees and use your whole body to lift your paddle and scoop the ball, you’ll have more control than you ever thought possible.

When you bend & lift with your knees, you are forced to get your timing right.  This means you’re not just reaching out to get your paddle in front or unconsciously reacting to the shot, but you are positioning yourself closer to the ball and in a better position to hit it.

The improvement in your accuracy when you make the shot is absolutely worth every minute of practice to get the timing down.

#3: Don’t Swing & Hit: Instead Scoop the Ball

Just put your paddle in place and scoop the ball up & where you want it to go (as you’re lifting with your knees).  The motion of your paddle should be more in an upward direction than a front-to-back swing.

With a deep back-swing your paddle moves the course of several feet in just a few seconds.  That range of motion of the paddle makes it very difficult to hit the ball consistently shot after shot.

When you reduce the swinging motion, you reduce the variability of your shot, and therefore make it more consistent.

If any of you have my friend Coach Mo’s video, he talks about aiming the face of your paddle before you hit the shot, and that is the same theory — minimize the amount of motion before the ball gets to you, so that you can maximize your consistency.

So instead of swinging your paddle, imagine it was a bowling ball. Now, a bowling ball is so heavy, and has such momentum, that we really must stay in control of it while we swing the ball back, and as we push it forward.  That is exactly the speed, motion, and control that I want you to give your paddle while you hit your drop shot.  Try it, see the difference, and then give me your feedback.

#4: Aim for an Arch, Not a Dying Quail

Aim for a drop-shot that has a considerable arch on it, that peaks somewhere over the kitchen line on your side of the net and drops across the net.

Now, this certainly isn’t the ONLY way to hit a drop shot, but you’ll find it gives you the greatest control & the greatest consistency.  Some of you know my wife, Wendy Garrido, who is an excellent, 5.0 player who has taken a couple Gold Medals at Nationals for her age group and placed 4th in the Women’s Doubles Open division in 2012.

Now Wendy also does most of my writing & editing so I promise you that she included this because she thought it would help you…Wendy’s most common way to hit a drop shot is what a friend of ours termed “the dying quail.”  The ball travels at a pretty horizontal trajectory until it passes the net, and then seemingly drops straight down (like a bird shot out of the air).  It’s a very difficult shot to return, but the problem is, it’s also a very difficult one to hit consistently, and if she doesn’t hit it exactly right, it usually lands in the net.

Instead, give yourself some wiggle room.  Hit the ball so it has plenty of room over the net by aiming your arch, like I said, over the kitchen or kitchen line on your side of the court.

(For the record, Wendy says she does agree that my way of hitting the drop shot is more effective for her, it’s simply that old habits are hard to break & she hasn’t spent much time on it since we had our daughter in 2012.)

So those are my  The 4 Secrets to Getting Your Dropshot to Go Where You Want (And Not Where You Don’t).  I hope this article has already given you some new things to think about and I would love to hear how it goes as you try to put them into play.

So does that all make sense to you?  Any questions?  Comments?  Hypothetical situations?

Hit “Like” and then Post your comments at the bottom of this page.

Want to Share This Article On Your Own Website, Newsletter or With Your Club?

Prem Carnot offers clinics, lessons & video analysis for pickleball players of all levels & especially for players of other racket sports who are new to the game. For FREE monthly pickleball tips & to find out what strategy the 2012 National Champion used to make his highly-skilled opponent look like a newbie (that you can use the next time you’re out on the court), go to www.ThePickleballGuru.com/usa

If you want to improve your game (and not just keep beating the same people you always beat) you HAVE to get up to the kitchen and play from right behind the no-volley line.

You life-long tennis players — Yes, I’m talking to you!

You’re not playing tennis anymore, and although the racket-skills you developed in tennis will serve you well, the physics of a pickleball game are simply different.

You. Must. Get. To. The. (No-Volley) Line.

Not ON the line, of course, but RIGHT BEHIND it.  I mean, plant your feet 1-2″ from the line and don’t move back.  Move side to side as needed.  Step one foot into the kitchen to take a ball on the bounce, but play from RIGHT BEHIND the line.

Reason #1: You Can Hit the Ball DOWN

First of all, a pickleball will never bounce as high as a tennis ball, and will rarely bounce as high as the net, so anytime you take it off the bounce, you’ll have to add some loft to your return shot and effectively hit the ball on an upward trajectory.

In pickleball, if the ball is going at an upward angle after it crosses the net, this is always bad news.  This is true at the the net, of course.  But the farther back you move from the line, the more likely you are to have to hit the ball at an upward angle.  (Until eventually, you’re forced to either lob or hit a drop shot and in case you missed that article, here’s why lobbing isn’t a great strategy.)

Because any shot you hit when you are not up at the line is either a defensive shot or is likely to go into the net.

Reason #2: You Drastically Reduce Your Opponents’ Options (And Have Less Court to Cover)

Here’s another tidbit to chew on:

Because a pickleball court is only 20′ wide, a doubles team at the net can effectively cover 50% of the court without moving an inch side to side (assuming even just a 5′ wing span for each player).  As you may know, in tennis, you can barely cover 25% of the net, so it makes sense to stay back and move laterally to cover the court, plus you have time after the ball bounces to get to where it’s going to be.

In pickleball, though, you don’t NEED to move back to cover the court and in fact, the farther back you are, the more angles you open up, unnecessarily giving your opponent many more options to play against you.

Reason #3: It Puts You On the Offensive

Why run around trying to get balls your opponent his past you when you can stay at the net and practically force them to hit a great shot or hit the ball right to you?

It’s a rare shot in tennis when a player can smash the ball down on the other side, or even at their opponent’s feet.  But this is the bread & butter of a winning pickleball game. (Assuming, of course, your opponent doesn’t make an unforced error first.)

The farther you move back from the net, the less of a view you have of the other side of the court.

That means the less likely it is you can hit a smash at your opponent’s feet when they pop the ball up.  Instead, you’ll have to wait to hit a less offensive shot off the bounce.  (And if you’re like a lot of tennis players, you’ll try for what amounts to a line drive, and swear under your breath as the ball hits the top (or even the middle) of the net.

The farther you are from the no-volley line, the easier it is for your opponent to drop a ball very short.

If you’re not very mobile, then you probably just lost the point.  If you ARE quick on your feed, then you’ll probably race in to get the ball.  But chances are, you will lose control of your shot & hit it up into your opponent’s wheelhouse, where you’ll give them a great put-away shot and if they have even a 20% clue about how to play the game, they will smash the ball at your feet.

End of point.

All because you chose to hang back instead of play up at the line.

I’m not saying you can’t run around like a headless chicken, make amazing defensive shots and potentially, eventually win the point.  I’m just saying it’s not particularly “smart” pickleball and you’ll never take control of the point when you’re hitting from mid-court or behind.

For those (few) of you who have speed to use instead of smarts, more power to you.  Many a singles player has gone far (and won national medals) on speed alone.  But doubles is a different game.

I Bet You’re Telling One of These Two Lies To Yourself  About Playing at The Line

Now, many players, have at least some sense that they should get to the line, so they head that way.  But they make 1 of 2 mistakes.

Lie #1:  I am “at the line” if I am within 36″ of the line.

No way, jose! Plant your feet about 2″ from the line, and get in the habit of never stepping forward except to hit a ball off the bounce in the kitchen, and then quickly stepping back out.  (Drill on that so you don’t get called on foot-faults, or worse, NOT get called on them & marvel at the excellent shots you’re hitting, only to find out in a tournament that they weren’t actually so legal as you thought.  At the most, you might step back 8″ or so to take a ball before it bounces, but being 2′ from the line is NOT considered playing at the line.

Lie #2: Getting up to the line at all is the same as staying at the line.

I always tell my students, never, ever, ever back up from the line to take a ball.  Because once you back up, it’s hard to come back, and it’s more likely your opponent will just keep hitting them at your feet to push you back from the line, shot by shot.

Instead, take the ball in the air.  Many people think that if they are standing at the kitchen line and the ball is bouncing at or near their feet, they HAVE to back up to take it off the bounce.  In fact, this is just because they are taking the ball later than they should be.  If the ball is going to bounce at your feet, then the trajectory is such that you probably could have taken it in the air.

The diagram above is relatively conservative.  Often the ball will be even closer to your body if you are right up at the kitchen line, so again, this is something you’ll have to drill on, but get in the habit of taking the ball in the air instead of backing up from the kitchen line.

So does that all make sense to you?  Any questions?  Comments?  Hypothetical situations?

Hit “Like” and then Post your comments at the bottom of this page.

Want to Share This Article On Your Own Website, Newsletter or With Your Club?

Prem Carnot offers clinics, lessons & video analysis for pickleball players of all levels & especially for players of other racket sports who are new to the game. For FREE monthly pickleball tips & to find out what strategy the 2012 National Champion used to make his highly-skilled opponent look like a newbie (that you can use the next time you’re out on the court), go to www.ThePickleballGuru.com/usa

If you’ve been following my articles for some time now, you (hopefully) understand the importance of hitting a drop shot for the “critical third shot.”  I’ve written about WHY this shot is so important in this article getting up to the net. I’ve even written about HOW to hit a good drop shot.

What I haven’t yet spent much time on is what the heck you’re supposed to do when it all goes wrong.  ‘Cuz (at the risk of sounding like a fortune cookie) I predict that in the very near future you or your partner WILL give your opponents a cream-puff of a shot that is gonna result in the ball being slammed down your throat if you’re not in a good defensive position.  (And sometimes even if you are.)

That’s why I’ve put together my Top 2 pickleball strategies for how to put up a strong defense when you’ve accidentally put the ball in your opponent’s wheelhouse. Take these strategies and practice them with another team. We all would like a drop-shot that drops on command just over the net, but sometimes the ball hangs more than it should. Here are the pickleball strategies I recommend in that situation.

Strategy #1:  Know Whether to Stay or Go

If You’re Up, Stay Up & Get Your Paddle Up.

If you are in perfect position at the kitchen (a.k.a. no-volley) line (and you’re not deluding yourself with one of the 2 Lies You Tell Yourself When You’re There) then make sure your paddle is up, and just STAY IN POSITION.

You’re already in a good position to see the ball & the court and you won’t have time to back-track anyway, so stay there, get your paddle up, and keep your eye on the ball.

If You’re Anywhere Other Than Up, Get Back & Get Your Paddle Up

If you’ve found yourself creeping back from the no-volley line, or if it’s early in the point and you haven’t managed to GET to the kitchen, and you know you or your partner has hit a lousy shot, then move your derriere BACKWARD quickly.  Get about a foot or two behind the service line & get your paddle out in front of you… preferably before your opponent has even hit the ball.

You’ll come across a few players who tell you that no matter how high their “drop shot” was or how low their lob, they are just gonna charge to the net with their paddle at the ready because they have lightening-fast instincts at the net. Hey, you know me, I say that if it works for them, more power to ‘em. 

But for the rest of us, whose reflexes may not be what they used to be, or for those who simply want to play SMARTER pickleball, backing up to the service line makes sense because it gives you more TIME.  Time is the secret ingredient that will let you pick up a ball many others will miss, it is what will let you place the ball exactly where your opponents are not, and it is what will help you recover from a rotten shot. So when you pop the ball up, buy yourself some time.

Strategy #2: Move Left or Right Before They Even Hit The Ball

Knowing what to expect is another way to buy yourself more time because you can get into position BEFORE your opponent even hits the ball.

When a right-handed person hits an overhead, it is nearly always going to go in front of them, or to THEIR left side because of the mechanics of the hips, shoulder and elbow.   Only very “wristy” players will hit an “inside out” shot, where the ball flies off their paddle to their right.  When you’re playing against one of the few of them (or should I say us?), you’ll have to take that into account, but for the vast majority of players you’ll find yourself across the net from, you can bet that when they slam the ball, it’s gonna go to the middle of your court, or to your RIGHT.

1. When a right-handed opponent is on the “even” side of the court, he or she will most likely hit the ball to the center or to the sideline on your right, so it’s best for you & your partner to shift your positioning to the right, so that the person on the odd court is near the centerline and the person on the even court is near the right-hand sideline.

When a right-handed opponent is on the “odd” side of the court, they have tend to rotate their body open to the right in order to get a better aim at the court, so they will most often hit toward the center of the court, but occasionally toward your left, so it’s best for you & your partner to shift your positioning to the left, so that the person on the odd court is near the left-hand sideline and the person on the even court is near the center line.

This will give you the best chance of being in the right position to be able to return the slam.

Of course, there are going to be times when there’s nothing you can do but mutter under your breath and wince as the ball gets pounded at your feet.  But for the rest of the times, I hope that this article has given you some new strategies to implement next time you or your partner hits a bad shot.  Remember, it’s not over ’til it’s over, so stay in the game, anticipate your opponent’s shot & try to stay in the point.  Then comment below with your thoughts, feelings & questions.