The Dinking Pattern You've Never Considered

Author

Shea Underwood
July 06, 2024

WEEK 23

Welcome back to the Road to Pro!

This week’s issue is part two of my answer to last week’s question that was submitted by Travis. If you didn’t get a chance to read the newsletter last week, you can read it here!

For a chance to win a new 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!

Dink Master Discount

If you haven’t already seen this pickleball product, you need to check out the Dink Master by Enhance Pickleball! It’s a movable wall that is marked with the exact net height as well as various targets to train your accuracy.

This allows you to practice pickleball whenever you want from your own home, and you don’t have to worry about the weather or finding anyone to play.

You can use my code SHEAUNDERWOOD for free shipping when you order your Dink Master.

Q&A Spotlight

Say I have 10 minutes to soak up as much information that I can about pickleball. In those 10 minutes what would you run me through?

Travis

Answer: There are 10 things I consider to be the most important pieces of information to share if only given 10 minutes. Last week I gave you five, and this week I’m going over the remaining five.

For all those visual learners out there, here’s a video I made that goes over all ten tips. Check it out below!

Lift vs Push Dinks

There are two types of dinks you should be hitting in a game, a lift dink and a push dink. A lift dink is more of a softer, slower dink that lands in the front half of the kitchen. You should hit this safer type of dink if you’re off balance and not prepared to hit an attacking shot. You’ll also use this if your opponent is hitting aggressive, lower dinks to you.

Lift: softer, slower, shallow in the kitchen

Push dink are more offensive and should be used when you’re not being attacked by your opponent. This is a dink that is faster, travels lower over the net, and is aimed at your opponent’s feet. These are used to put them on defense by pushing them wide or off the kitchen line.

Push: lower, faster, deeper in the kitchen

The key thing to know about the different kinds of dinks is that you typically want to hit a push dink off a lift, or vice versa. Avoid hitting a push off a push or a lift off a lift.

(If you want to learn more about the different types of dinks - how you should use them and what to avoid - I wrote about it in a past issue of this newsletter, which you can read here.)

Dinking Patterns

When dinking, you should have a primary and secondary location to where you aim your shots. The primary location is the area where your opponent struggles the most, and the secondary is a location that opens up when you’re targeting their weakness.

For example: if your opponent has a weak backhand, start hitting your shots there. Keep doing this until they a ball too high that you can then attack with a speed-up. Wherever you aim your speed-up is your secondary location. By targeting your opponent’s weakness (primary), they will inevitably leave another part of the court open for you to attack (secondary).

For the image below, the primary location is the player’s backhand on the left side of the court. By pushing this player out wide, his partner would move over slightly to cover the middle. This could lead to a secondary location opening up at the player’s forehand on the right side of the court.

Ready Position - Don’t Guess

When you play a lot of pickleball, and when you know your opponents really well, you’ll often be able to anticipate where they might be hitting a shot. However, as we discussed before, remember the difference between guessing and anticipating. When you are ready at the net, you can shade your paddle slightly in the direction you think your opponent may hit the ball based on the position of their paddle. Anticipating and shading towards where you think the ball might go helps you react faster and position your paddle more effectively.

HOWEVER do not fully commit to your assumption. Even if you know the game and your opponents well, all players can be unpredictable. Never fully move your paddle in one direction or the other before your opponent makes contact with the ball. You need to be ready to move in any direction, and if you guess wrong and move prematurely, you’re going to get caught.

Anticipate the most likely scenario, but be ready for the unexpected.

It’s Okay to Back Up

There is a huge misconception many players have that they cannot step back in the court once they’ve gained ground. There are several instances where you need to take a step back to put yourself in the best position possible for the shot you need to take. Here are three situations:

  1. When you anticipate a speed-up:

If you see that your opponent is about to hit a speed-up at you, feel free to take a step back from the kitchen line. When you do this, you give yourself more time to react to their shot and hit a reset. Your goal should not be to get in a hands battle, because your opponent has a better chance of hitting a ball to your feet when you’re farther away from the kitchen. Instead, try to reset the ball and get back to the line. However, if your opponent does hit a speed-up that is higher than expected, take advantage of this and hit a counter-attack.

Take a step back for a better reset

  1. When resetting in mid-court:

When you’re hitting drops from mid-court in the attempt to transition to the kitchen, there are three ways you can hit the ball: out of the air, off a short hop, or after the ball has peaked.

The first is the hardest to do. When you take the ball out of the air, you are hitting against the full speed of the ball, making it a more difficult shot. The second, hitting the ball off a short hop, is better since it has lost some speed after hitting the court. However, you’re still sacrificing some of the control and spin you could have if you chose the third option.

The third option is the best, and this is when you would need to take a step back in the court. When you take a step back to hit a drop shot, you allow the ball to hit the court, peak, and start to drop before you hit it. This will give you more control over your drop, and you’ll be able to add more spin to your shot.

  1. When you’re in a dink rally

When players receive a dink that’s lower and faster to their feet, they’ll often take the shot off a short hop rather than stepping back. When you short hop a dink, you don’t have the ability to hit a push dink. But when you take a step back, you give yourself time and room to position yourself behind the ball and hit an offensive, attacking dink with spin back to your opponent.

Speed-Ups Don’t Have to Be Hard

When hitting a speed-up, remember that it doesn’t have to be a powerful shot. Focus on placement and timing rather than sheer force to catch your opponent off guard. If you hit a slower speed-up, your opponent does have more time to react to it, but if you target areas on their body that are awkward to return from, you could set yourself up for a winning shot. Try hitting your speed-ups to their shoulder on their paddle side. Or, if you see your opponent holding their paddle slightly to one side, aim your speed-up for the opposite side. It’ll be more difficult for them to get their paddle to these locations, which could result in a pop-up for you to put away.

Targeting your opponent’s shoulder makes for an awkward return

______________________________________

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!

SwingVision Offer

There’s a really innovative app that’s new to pickleball called SwingVision. It’s made reviewing my matches so much easier because it uses AI to automatically take out all the dead space from my videos. It also gives access to LIVE LINE CALLS 🤯.

If you want to learn more about this app, you can watch my full video review here!

I’ve also got a great discount for you! Click on the image below to access the best discount on SwingVision.

Videos You’ll Enjoy

  • The video below goes over ten different drills you can do at home using the Dink Master. If you decide to get one or if you already own one, you can use the drills in the video to improve your accuracy and speed!

  • There are so many players that get stuck at the 4.0 level and don’t know how to climb to 5.0. Check out Cracked Pickleball’s newest video to learn how to become more advanced!

Discounts for You

Share the Road to Pro Newsletter

Share this newsletter with others! The button below will take you to my website where you can copy the URL to send to anyone you think may enjoy this content.

OR copy and paste this link: https://shea.beehiiv.com/