Five Fixes Keep Hard Pickleball Drives From Sailing Long

• A harder pickleball drive depends less on arm swing than on contact point, leg drive, grip pressure, topspin and shot choice, according to The Dink.
• The Dink credits the five tips to Ashley Griffith, a PPA Tour pro and coach.
• A 20-minute practice plan adds the fixes one at a time, in a set order.

Better Contact, Legs And Spin Keep Drives In Play

Most recreational players know the feeling. A drive looks sharp in warmups, then floats long or clips the tape once an opponent sends real pace back. The Dink published five tips on October 21 aimed at that problem. The outlet credits them to Ashley Griffith, a PPA Tour pro and coach, whose lessons appear in a video embedded in the article.

The central message is that power is not an arm problem. “The fix is rarely swinging harder with your arm.” According to The Dink, a powerful and consistent drive combines early contact out in front, leg and body rotation, a relaxed grip, topspin and smart shot selection.

The article describes a drive as a firm, aggressive groundstroke with pace, usually hit as a third shot or from midcourt. Its goal is to pressure the opponent, not to slow the ball down. Most players, the article says, treat power as something the arm produces. Each of the five tips targets one piece of the alternative.

Tip One: Create Space With The Ball

The first fix is contact point. Meet the ball out in front, with room between your body and the spot where paddle and ball connect. Jamming the ball or hitting it late costs pace and control. Griffith says many players take the ball late or let it get too close.

The Dink gives a simple cue: “meet the ball.” Take every ball early with the paddle out front, on both the forehand and the backhand. The article also lists a four-step checklist. Spot the ball as it leaves the opponent’s paddle. Step toward it so contact lands ahead of your front hip. Keep enough distance for your arm to extend. Finish the swing through the ball, not at it.

Tip Two: Use Your Legs And Rotate

The strongest drives, according to the article, come from the legs and body rotation instead of the arm. An arm-only drive can produce some pace but loses consistency.

On the forehand, load onto your right foot, turn, and let your body move through as that leg comes forward. On the backhand, load onto your left foot, take a small step forward with the right, and drive through with the left as your hands come through. The article compares the motion to a medicine ball throw in the gym: load, push through, and use the core and legs. The arm follows the body rather than leading it.

Tip Three: Relax Your Grip

Squeezing the paddle tightens the forearm and wrist. The Dink recommends a grip pressure of about six or seven out of ten. “A relaxed grip, around six or seven out of ten in pressure, gives you control and speed at the same time.”

The article cites a 2025 study of recreational pickleball players that found gripping very tightly at contact can spike muscle activation. The researchers say more work is needed to link that finding to injury. The practical advice is to hold the paddle firmly enough that it does not twist on contact, but not so firmly that the wrist hurts. A softer grip also helps you strike the ball cleanly rather than push it, and the same pressure applies to every shot.

Tip Four: Add Topspin

Topspin makes the ball dip and arc into the court, which gives a safety margin when you swing fast. A flat drive has no such margin. Griffith says most students already have power and good spacing but lack spin, so the ball sails. Once they add spin, she says, they can hit as hard as they want and the ball stays in.

The article also notes that USA Pickleball’s new spin rate test caps newly certified paddles at 2,100 RPM. The motion it teaches is a brush from low to high while still hitting through the ball. It suggests practicing against a wall in four steps:

1. Set the paddle face slightly below the ball at contact.
2. Brush up the back of the ball while swinging forward.
3. Finish high and out front, not wrapped around your body.
4. Add pace only once the spin feels natural.

Tip Five: Drive The Right Balls

Many misses are shot-selection errors, not technique errors. Some balls call for a reset or a drop instead of a drive. The article offers three rules of thumb. A ball at your feet gets a reset or a drop. When you are out of position, go soft and recover. When the ball sits in your strike zone and you have time to set up, attack.

“The key idea is to be aggressive from offense, not from defense.” The Dink adds that driving from a panic position usually produces a panic swing.

A 20-Minute Practice Plan

The article closes with a practice plan that runs about 20 minutes and builds in the same order as the tips: spacing, then legs, then grip, then topspin, then shot selection. It advises working on one at a time.

1. Five minutes: feed yourself balls and focus only on making contact out front.
2. Five minutes: load and drive through with your legs.
3. Five minutes: hit at six to seven grip pressure and check for tension.
4. Five minutes: brush low to high for topspin.

After the drills, play points and drive only the balls that pass the shot-selection test.

Why Does My Drive Keep Going Long?

The article also offers a checklist for players whose drives sail past the baseline. It names three main causes: a flat ball, a late hit, and power that comes only from the arm.

Check contact point first. If the ball is beside or behind your hip, you push or slap it and the paddle face opens. Then check spin. A flat ball has no dip, so small errors in paddle angle send it past the baseline. Then check shot choice. Players who drive from a defensive spot miss far more often.

For recreational players, the takeaway from The Dink is that a long drive rarely calls for a harder swing. It calls for earlier contact, a body that does the work, a looser hand and a brush up the back of the ball. Work through the fixes one at a time and the pace follows.