How to STOP Popping Up Your Dinks

Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Coaching Newsletter!

Do you ever get frustrated by popping your dinks up and losing the rally?

If you answered “yes,” we have the perfect solution for you.

If you answered “no,” we know you’re lying. It even happens to the pros sometimes 😁

Today, we’re going to talk about why dinks pop up, how to keep them low, and go over a drill to help you practice.

Let’s get started.

One of the questions that I get asked the most as a pickleball coach is:

"How do I stop popping up my dinks?" 

This is one of the most prevalent concerns among players at all levels of the game, beginner to advanced. Getting attacked because you popped a dink up too high is one of the most frustrating parts of pickleabll!

Being able to keep your dinks low and unattack-able is a hallmark of great players.

💡 A dink is unattack-able when your opponents are making contact halfway below the net or lower. When you try to attack a low dink, you risk hitting out, hitting in the net, or giving your opponent an easy counterattack. 

Plus, keeping your dinks low will protect you from those dreadful bangers, and allow you to dictate the point. 

There are some things that we can do to give us the best chance of keeping our dinks low. Let's break it down:

1. Use a compact swing

It’s important to keep in mind that whether or not your dink pops up has nearly everything to do with your swing. So the first thing we need to establish is what the ideal swing is. Whether or not you’re able to use the best swing based on your preparation is another story. I’ll address that below. Here are my top tips for keeping a compact swing:

• Keep your paddle out in front at all times. Your paddle should not cross behind your legs on your dinks.

• Keep your wrist locked. Flicking your wrist is one of the most common causes of popups on your dinks. The wrist is a small muscle, and it accelerates quickly. It is very hard to control your swing once you start to involve the wrist.

• Swing from your shoulder. Since your wrist should be locked, you should create the upward swing to lift the ball from your shoulder.

2. Get behind the ball

Let’s say your swing is usually correct, but you still pop your dinks up more than you’d like. That means that the issue probably lies in your movement. Reaching for the ball or hitting on the move will cause your dinks to pop up because it breaks down your swing. Most players tend to overuse the wrist when they are out of position. You should always do your best to stay on your toes, move to the ball early, and get directly behind every dinks so that you can use the best swing possible. To get behind the ball effectively, you need good footwork. (A topic for another day, but you can find more on that here)

3. Keep a loose grip

This one is much easier said than done, I know, but one of the major keys to mastering the soft game overall is keeping a loose grip. Your grip pressure should be a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. When you’re trying to hit a soft shot with minimal swing, the ball will rebound off your paddle faster the tighter you’re holding it. A loose grip will help you absorb the pace of the ball and get it back into the opposing kitchen. A quick tip to make sure that you are keeping a loose grip is to relax your hand between shots by moving your fingers on and off the handle. 

See you on the courts!

- Matt Slowinski (Pickleball Clinic Co-Founder, Pro Player & Coach)

A common misconception is that when you dink aggressively, you should start using a backswing to create more spin and pace. That is not the case! Even when you’re looking to use your dinks to go on offense, your swing should be compact. Pay attention to the players on the far side. 👇

Notice how they start dinking very aggressively with topspin, but their paddles still do not cross behind their legs. They keep their paddles out in front the whole time!

The World’s Easiest Way to Train on Your Own

Studies have shown that hitting pickleballs against a wall for 45 minutes a week will improve your game by 58%. OK, we made that up, but that percentage could be right. It’s also clear it will improve your game, regardless of the exact percentage. The Dink Master was built to help you train alone, improve reflex time and accuracy, and simply help you get more reps in. Use code “clinic15” for a discount! Feel free to check out the Dink Master here.

Insights from Pickleball Pro, Coach, and Creator Tanner Tomassi

Being able to successfully keep your dinks low, will allow you to outlast your opponents at the kitchen since you will be reducing the amount of attack-able balls your giving. The 3 keys to this are:

1. Push THROUGH the ball, as opposed to actually hitting the ball.

2. Finish with your paddle extended to the wanted location of your dink. Many times, people will pop up on contact, extend to the location.

3. Do not try to add spin. Often times players try and add slice or topspin. This is not worth it, with dinks, keep it simple, less is more.

See you all for my next bulletin!

_{For more from Tanner, follow @tanner.pickleball on Instagram & YouTube!}

When it comes to perfecting a shot in pickleball, repetition is the key to success. 🔑 That means that if you want to stop popping your dinks up once and for all, you need to not only practice good form, but practice good form on the move. We established that form tends to break down once you start moving across the court, so here’s a drill to help you work on moving side to side, hitting dinks from all areas of the kitchen.

(The first one is the best for your dinks, but the other two warmup drills are excellent to add to your routine as well!)

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Well, that’s a wrap… so let’s recap what we learned this week:

• Keeping a compact swing is key when it comes to keeping your dinks low 🔑

• It’s difficult to keep your swing compact when you’re in motion. Using your footwork to get behind the ball allows you to use the best swing possible

• Relax! Keep your grip loose - on a scale of 1-10, your grip pressure should be a 3

Thanks for reading! We hope you can put these tips to good use the next time you’re out on the courts.

Reply to this email with anything you want to see in our future newsletters 😄 

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic