Pickleball Blog | Training Tips, Paddle Reviews & Strategies
The Return of Serve: Pickleball's Most Underrated Shot (And How to Actually Own It)
Everyone obsesses over the third shot drop. Here's why the return of serve deserves just as much attention — and how the right paddle helps you dial it in.
Learn more
Doubles Positioning 101: Stop Losing the Middle and Start Owning the Court
Most doubles points aren't lost to bad shots — they're lost to bad positioning. Here's how to stack, switch, and cover the middle like a team that actually wants to win.
Learn more
The Overlooked Fit Factor: How Grip Size Quietly Wrecks (or Saves) Your Game
Grip size is the most ignored spec on a paddle. Here's how to find yours — and the simple fix if your current grip feels wrong.
Learn more
The Third Shot Drop Is Still the Hardest Shot in Pickleball — Here's How to Actually Own It
The third shot drop separates rec players from real competitors. Here's how to build a reliable one — and the paddle feel that makes it possible.
Learn more
The 5 Essential Pickleball Shots Every Beginner Should Learn First
Most beginner pickleball players arrive on the court with one instinct: swing harder. The sport quietly punishes that impulse. Precision beats power, patience beats aggression, and the player who controls the soft game almost always controls the rally.These five shots form the foundation of effective pickleball. Master them, and you will be a genuinely competitive beginner within a few months of regular play.1. The ServeEvery point starts with a serve, which makes consistency here non-negotiable. The pickleball serve is underhand, striking the ball with an upward arc below your waist and directing it diagonally to your opponent's service box. Your goal is to land the ball deep, ideally near the baseline and toward your opponent's backhand corner.Beginners often try to ace their serve. The serve is not a weapon in pickleball the way it is in tennis. A consistent serve to the backhand side of a deep position is worth far more than an aggressive serve that faults one time in three. Before every serve, pick a specific target, take a breath, and then serve.2. The Return of ServeThe return of serve has one primary job: go deep and buy time. A deep return landing near your opponent's baseline gives you the time needed to advance toward the kitchen line, which is where the real game happens. Hit the return with moderate pace and aim for the middle of the court or your opponent's weaker side. After you hit the return, move forward immediately.3. The GroundstrokeGroundstrokes are shots hit after the ball has bounced, typically from around the baseline or midcourt. The key to a consistent groundstroke is contact point: hit the ball slightly in front of your body with a firm, controlled swing. Avoid stepping back to wind up for power. Shorter, more compact swings are consistently more accurate and give your opponent less reaction time.4. The DinkThe dink is the shot that separates players who understand pickleball from those who do not yet. It is a soft, controlled shot hit from near the kitchen line, arcing just over the net and landing in the opponent's kitchen. Because the ball must arc down into the kitchen, your opponent cannot attack it hard without sending it into the net or out of bounds.Dinking is a patience game. Two players at the kitchen line will exchange dinks back and forth, each waiting for the other to pop the ball up above net level and create an attackable shot. Beginners find dinking frustrating at first, but every experienced pickleball player will tell you the same thing: learning to dink is when you actually start improving.5. The VolleyA volley is any shot hit out of the air before the ball bounces. At the kitchen line, volleys are your primary offensive weapon. A good volley is compact and decisive: a short punching motion with the paddle in front of your body, taking the ball early and directing it with pace toward an open area of the court.The cardinal rule of the volley: your feet must be outside the kitchen when you make contact. This is one of the most common faults at the beginner level, so stay aware of your position every time you are near the net. Get these five shots right, and you will win more rallies than you lose within your first month of regular play.
Learn more