3 Pickleball Mistakes Everyone Makes

Author

Shea Underwood
June 14, 2024

WEEK 20

Welcome back to the Road to Pro!

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week:

  • The most common mistakes I see players make at each level

  • Drills designed to fix these mistakes

  • Upcoming referral program

  • A bunch of discount codes to help you save money on pickleball gear

As always, I’ve answered a question that one of you submitted, and this week, Charles gets a brand new paddle for his question! If you want the chance to win a paddle, click on the button below to submit your pickleball questions. Anyone whose question is featured in my newsletter will automatically win a new paddle!

Now let’s get to it!

Announcement

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Q&A Spotlight

This week’s question comes from Charles. Time to win a new paddle!

What is one of the biggest mistakes you see pickleball players make (beginner, intermediate, advanced, respectively)?

Charles

Answer:

Beginner (3.5 and below)

I see just about every beginner make this mistake when they start to play. They use way too much wrist in their shots. When they hit the ball, their wrist flops around after making contact, which causes the paddle to send the ball high into the air or way out of bounds. Lacking stability in your wrist while you are making contact with the ball takes away all control over your shots.

For all the beginners out there, start focusing more on keeping your wrist stable and positioned properly to ensure the ball goes where you want it to go. Remember that the ball goes wherever the paddle is facing. To visualize what I’m saying, you should practice the motion of your swings without a ball, watching your wrist through the movement. Imagine hitting a ball straight ahead, keeping the face of your paddle aimed in that direction. Observe how your wrist is positioned during this motion and hold that position throughout the motion of your shot.

Intermediate (3.5-4.5)

One of the most common mistakes I see intermediate players make is getting mesmerized by their shots. I get it; it’s easy to do when you make an awesome shot! At the 3.5-4.5 level, you've been improving a lot and are starting to make great shots, maybe even hitting ATPs and Ernes. It’s easy to get distracted by how great your shot was, and while you're basking in your awesomeness, the ball comes back, you’re not ready, and you lose the point.

When you make an incredible shot, remind yourself that it’s not the end of the rally. Maybe it is, maybe you did hit a winner, but ALWAYS be prepared for the ball to come back. Don’t assume you hit a winning shot; just get ready for the next one and celebrate later.

Advanced (4.5-5.5)

I often see advanced players guess where the ball is going and move prematurely. If they guess wrong, they likely won’t be able to get the shot their opponent sends them because they weren’t prepared for it. I make this mistake too. It is important to learn your opponents’ habits, where they typically hit their shots, and what type of shots they like to make, just remember that you can’t predict every move, so you need to be ready for anything.

There is a difference between anticipating and guessing. Don’t guess and move before the shot is even made. You can anticipate where your opponent could be going, but be ready to move in another direction if needed. You need to be balanced and ready to move in any direction BEFORE your opponent makes contact with the ball so you can easily return the shot. Your brain can predict, but your body needs to react.

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Even though each mistake above is broken up between levels, keep in mind that all three apply to you no matter what level you play at. There’s always something to be improved, so just focus on one or two things until you feel more confident in those areas, and then look for the next skill to master. I’ve got drills for each of these mistakes coming up in the next section

If you have a question you’d like for me to answer, please click the button below to fill out the question submission form.

If your question is chosen for next week’s newsletter, you’ll win a free paddle!

Referral Program

I’m looking to start a referral program where you could earn free stuff in return for sharing the Road to Pro newsletter with your friends and family! So, I’m opening up the floor for you to tell me what kinds of prizes you’d be interested in earning. Click on the button below to enter your suggestions into a google form.

Drill Highlight

Here are drills for each level of play that directly address the most common mistakes discussed above.

Beginner

This drill is thanks to Zane Navratil. His recommendation for keeping your wrist locked, specifically when you’re dinking, is to put the pointer finger of your non-paddle hand right above the base of your paddle (where the handle meets the paddle face).

Keep your finger at the base of the paddle

Hold your finger there and don’t move it away from the paddle, then start dinking with your drilling partner. By keeping your finger there while making your shots, you’ll notice that you can’t move your wrist that’s holding the paddle. Your wrist and your whole arm will be forced to remain stable throughout the movement of your shot.

Here’s Zane’s video so you can watch his demonstration.

Intermediate

Nothing will force you to get ready faster after a shot than practicing fast hands at the net. Grab your drilling partner and position yourselves across the net from each other at the kitchen line. Start volleying the ball quickly over the net. Immediately after every hit, be intentional about getting ready for the next shot. Always assume the ball is coming back, so make sure you bring your paddle back to the ready position and stay balanced.

Keep in mind that you should have compact swings when you make contact with the ball. The bigger your swing, the less time you have to “reload” and get ready for the next shot.

To make this drill more fun and challenging, try this: focus on only hitting forehand volleys first. Aim to hit every shot with your forehand and target your partner’s forehand as well. Next, switch to hitting backhand to backhand. Then combine these motions by creating a figure 8 path with the ball. If you’re both right-handed, you can send the ball from your forehand to your partner’s forehand, then they will hit to your backhand, and from there, you’ll hit to their backhand. Keep volleying in this same pattern without stopping. This will force you to get ready after every shot, and as a bonus, it’ll also improve your aim.

If you want a visual, this video by PrimeTime Pickleball does a great job at explaining how to do this drill (specifically timestamp 0:36-2:39).

Advanced

If you’re an advanced player, it takes more work to continue getting better, so here’s my advice:

Grab your phone or camera and set it up directly behind you for this drill. Stand at the kitchen line in the very center of the court and have your drilling partner stand at the baseline on the other side. Feed them a lofty ball and ask them to drive it back to you. Do this several times, and whenever you can, watch your video to observe your movement really closely. Keep your eye out for how often you move your paddle or body before your partner even makes contact with the ball. You’ll start to notice how often you’re moving before you even know where the ball is going and you’ll realize how much this is slowing you down.

Videos You’ll Enjoy

  • If you’ve ever wanted to improve your two-handed backhanded shots, check out this video where I tested different techniques for how to hit them.

  • Since we looked at some of the most common mistakes in pickleball this week, here’s a video I made with my friend Caleb on our channel Cracked Pickleball where we share some other common mistakes and how to fix them.

  • If you want another chance to win a new paddle, go enter my current giveaway on Instagram!

Discounts for You

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