How to Perfect the Dink Shot in Pickleball
Better known as one of the most precise shots you’ll ever make in pickleball, the dink is a soft shot and an important part of the game. It’s an important move to have in your arsenal of shots, and crucial to most players’ games and strategies.
This skill is an important one to master, and in this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know to perfect the shot (it’s just up to you to go practice it).
Of course, at first the dink shot can seem difficult to execute. But once you start practicing and not just reading the theory, you’ll learn that it gets easier as you go. Of course, it is important to have foundational knowledge and to understand the mechanics behind the shot, so that’s where we’ll begin today.
What is the dink shot?
Basically, the dink shot exists for a really good reason, and that is to extend the life of the game as long as possible with the hopes that your opponent will make a mistake before you do (of course). This is one sport where you actually want to procrastinate!
Basically, dinking forces your opponent to return difficult/awkward shots, making them more likely to make a mistake. The longer you continue to dink them out, the more likely they are to mess up.
Obviously, there is no way to shoot a game-winning dink shot… Well, you can, but it’s rare. In this instance, you would win by a dink if your opponent falters in their response to it. Basically, if they respond poorly to the dink (because it is a difficult shot to respond to) then you can take advantage of this response and use their return to slam a win! But obviously here, it was not the dink shot itself that won the point, it was the poor response by the opponent. This is a very clear setup and strategy once you master the shot.
Other aspects of dinking
Of course, one important thing to consider is that your opponent will be unable to drive a shot back at you if you dink successfully. Consider that the pickleball net is around 3 feet high and any ball that bounces higher than about 4 feet can be slammed back at you. Hint: in this scenario you lose.
But if you are able to dink the ball over to your opponent, this means that it will loft lightly over the net, reducing the height of the bounce and reducing your chances of your opponent smashing the ball back at you. It’s definitely a defensive play, but when used strategically, it’s one that can really help your game.
It’s an important skill to learn because if you dink the wrong way, your opponent can return fantastically.
All about dinking
When you really get into it, the dink shot is a simple stroke that by nature is soft and precise. The best part about it is that you can use whatever stroke you want to create a dink shot. It can be from the side or even underhand, if you have the right skill. Just remember that if you mess up the dink shot, it can come back to bite you in the form of a point for your opponent.
The stroke itself is easy, but finessing the dink is what becomes a challenge. You always need to keep in mind that the point of a dink shot is to mess up your opponent and cause them to make a mistake or prevent a hard spike back at you. Keep your hits soft if your goal is a dink shot.
Volley vs groundstroke for a dink
We must first talk about something very specific before we discuss dinking shots in more detail.
The first thing you should do before dinking a ball is to determine whether it is a groundstroke or a volley. The volley is a stroke where a ball is hit out of the air, and the groundstroke is where the ball is struck after it has bounced on the ground. Whether it's a groundstroke or a volley, the result of the shot will obviously be different.
A ball bounces faster off the face of your paddle when you volley it, and therefore travels farther. A groundstroke, however, follows the ball after it has bounced and won’t travel as far. You need to consider both these options when returning either stroke with a dink.
What is dinking strategy?
Now that you all know exactly what a dink is and how to do it, you need to consider what you want to accomplish with your dink shots. Always remember that the point of a dink is to make your opponents falter by extending the life of the game. You aren’t aiming to win the shot on the initial dink, but on their return of the dink.
Dinking strategy is exactly this: manipulating your opponent by extending the game. Pickleball games are usually very fast to play and you need to respond quickly to whatever type of shot your opponent sends your way. What you do in these moments can cause you to win or lose the point so plan your dinks carefully and confidently on volleys or groundstrokes.
Setting up the dink
Pickleball players will benefit from learning this strategy as it is fun and effective. Setting up your opponent is the process of leaving a large opening in their court. The steps below demonstrate how it is done.
Your partner or you successfully execute a cross-court dink.
In order to get it, the opponent runs sideways and then lobs it up because the shot is low to the ground.
The ball is smashed by you, your partner, (whoever did not do the cross-court dink) into the open space left by the opponent running to grab it.
And it’s as simple as that. Of course, the move takes practice to master, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be smashing your opponents dink returns in no time!
