What is Dinking in Pickleball [Learn, Tips, Strategy]

Whether you’re playing pick up games with friends or entering tournaments, you should get hip with the pickleball lingo before you hit the courts. One of the terms pickleball players of all skill levels should know is dinking. 

Dinking refers to a type of shot you can take in pickleball, but it’s also important to pickleball culture as a whole. It promotes some of the best aspects of pickleball: fostering patience, precision, and strategy.

Pickleball is a great way to exercise with minimal risk of hurting yourself. (Though if you do, don’t worry. We’ve got the inside scoop on how to deal with pickleball knee pain and more.) It’s similar to tennis at a glance—both require a racquet, a court, a net, and a ball. From there, however, the similarities end. Where tennis requires more strength and pure athleticism, pickleball leans more on strategy.

At 11 PICKLES, we believe pickleball is more than a sport; it’s a way to stay healthy, a way to challenge yourself, and a way to connect with a community of people who understand you. We’re working on building that community every day, and we’re excited to have you be a part of it.

So, all of this was our long way of describing dinking as a vague concept, but what does dinking mean in pickleball exactly? In this article, we’ll be talking about everything you need to know about pickleball, rules for dinking, best practices, and more. 

We’ll cover:

• What is dinking in pickleball?
• Why is dinking important?
• How to execute a perfect dink
• Common dinking mistakes in pickleball
• Advanced tips for dinking in pickleball

What is Dinking in Pickleball?

Before you can learn how to dink, you need to know what is pickleball dinking. Like we said, a dink is a type of shot you can take on the pickleball court. More specifically, it’s a soft shot in which a player hits the ball just over the net, making it difficult for the opponents to return it. Players usually dink the ball closer to the net near the kitchen line.

The kitchen line refers to the edge of the seven-foot zone on either side of the net. This zone is known as the non-volley zone, or the kitchen, and it exists to prevent players from standing at the net and spiking the ball down aggressively.

"And before mastering specific shots like the dink, make sure you have a solid grasp of the game’s foundation by reviewing pickleball rules for dummies."

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Dinking is about knowing how to keep the ball low, so you can attempt to aim it at your opponent’s kitchen. Since players can’t volley while standing anywhere in that zone, putting the ball there gives you a good chance of scoring.

Why Dinking is Important in Pickleball?

If you want to know how to be good at pickleball, what is dinking but the next step you can take toward your goal? When most beginners pick up a paddle, they start playing by smacking the ball back and forth to each other. As you get comfortable over time, however, you learn things like:

• How much power it takes to shoot it deep while keeping it in the court.
• How high to hit the ball to clear the net without setting your opponent up for the perfect return.
• Which balls are dropping in time and which are sailing out of bounds.
• Where to place the ball to cause the most trouble. 
• And much more!

In short, you get more confident, and once that happens, you can continue improving at an exponential rate. Dinking is one of those fundamental skills that will take your game to the next level.

Advanced players and professionals dink to establish control over the court. By learning how to dink, you can:

1. Enhance precision & control.
2. Encourage strategic playing.
3. Set the pace of the game.

Precision & Control

Dinking the ball requires a higher level of control over the swing, which forces players to slow down and think about where they’re placing the ball instead of swinging blindly. This gives:

• Beginners a chance to build foundational skills
• Advanced players an opportunity to learn more calculated offensive shots

Whatever your skill level, learning how to dink will improve your aim and strategy over time.

Strategic Playing

Speaking of strategy, dinking favors intelligence over brute force. This encourages more strategic plays on the court, which is more fun for everyone.

By learning what is dinking in pickleball and how to dink, you’re not setting yourself up for one fun game; you’re ensuring you have a great pickleball experience forever. You’ll also learn how to be patient, which is especially important when you find yourself locked in those long rallies. 

Pace of the Game

Dinking ultimately can set the tone for the point and for the rest of the game. This skill can come in handy at any point while you’re playing but especially if:

• The game seems to be getting away from you
• You’re playing an aggressive opponent.

Dinking allows you to throw your opponent out of their rhythm, forcing them into tough spots to return the ball. This can help slow down the pace of the game, so you can get your feet back underneath you again.

This can also be useful if you’re playing a more aggressive player because it forces them back on defense instead of letting them stay on a perpetual offensive. 

How to Execute a Perfect Dink

You understand dinking in theory, but now you’re probably wondering what you need to do to actually make it happen. The perfect dink requires a gentle touch that makes your opponent work harder to return the ball. There are a few different areas to pay attention to when it comes to dinking in paddleball:

1. Grip and Paddle Angle 
2. Positioning
3. Follow-Through

Grip & Paddle Angle

Aim to have a soft yet sturdy grip when dinking the ball. There are a variety of different types of pickleball grips that you can use, but the best for dinking is the continental pickleball grip, or the hammer grip. It’s easy to find your continental grip once you’re holding your racket. If you’re:

1. Right-handed: Turn your wrist slightly counterclockwise 
2. Left-handed: Turn your wrist slightly clockwise 

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Positioning

The only right way to dink is from in front of your body. Once you let the ball get behind you, you lose the fair share of your aim and instead are relying on sheer luck to get the ball over the net and yourself back into a good position. 

Make sure you’re dinking in front of your body by:

• Maintaining your position on the court
• Positioning your paddle correctly
• Standing in an athletic stance
• Swinging from the right angle

Follow-Through 

When dinking, you should aim to hit from your shoulder and follow through your swing to ensure it gets where you want it to go. Be sure you’re engaging your legs and staying low through the entire swing. Then, quickly get ready for the ball to come back your way!

Beyond technique, it also helps to have the right equipment. Be sure to choose paddles with a thicker core and textured surfaces for better touch and precision. Us personally? We’ve got a handful of options we can recommend to you:

• JOOLA Perseus Pro Player Mod TA-15: 16mm core for enhanced control and responsiveness.
• Vatic Pro Prism V7-SH: Carbon fiber paddle with foam edge walls for better feel and precision.
• Dinkly Pickleball Paddles: Graphite face with a polymer honeycomb core for excellent ball control.
• The Finesse: 16mm raw carbon fiber surface with foam-filled edges for optimal control at the net.

Common Dinking Mistakes in Pickleball

Although dinking is a fairly straightforward move, it can be easy to do it incorrectly. Avoid these common mistakes to improve the consistency and control of your dinks:

• Doing too much
• Holding the paddle incorrectly
• Hitting too hard
• Poor positioning
• Losing focus

Doing Too Much on the Court

When it comes to pickleball, less is always more. The courts themselves are quite small, so you have a limited amount of space to work with in the first place. Even so, it’s easy to get carried away as you get further and further into a volley.

Holding the Paddle Incorrectly

There are a few unique ways to hold your pickleball paddle:

• Continental
• Eastern (or Semi-Eastern)
• Western (or Semi-Western)

The continental grip is the most commonly used, and it’s the best for dinking, too. This type of shot simplifies switching between forehand and backhand shots, and it keeps the spin off the ball, which is important for a good dink.

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Hitting the Ball Too Hard

Dinking is all about soft hits that throw your opponent’s momentum off. If you hit the ball too hard, you’ll either send it popping up into the air or sailing out the back of the court. The latter will immediately lose you the point, but setting your opponent up for an easy return is never a great outcome either.

Be sure to practice controlled shots with some of the drills we mentioned above to avoid letting your strength get the better of you. 

Poor Positioning on the Court

As you’re playing, you may find yourself forced out of position on the court. One of the biggest mistakes players make when dinking is not being set up in the right spot when they go to hit. Whenever you can, be sure to reset close to the kitchen line, so you can stay in control.

Losing Focus During Long Rallies

Those long rallies can turn monotonous and tiring quickly, but it’s key to stay focused! When you play impatiently, you’re far more likely to make dumb mistakes like:

• Hitting the ball out of bounds
• Hitting the net
• Popping the ball up
• Setting your opponent up for success

To avoid these pickleball fates, learn to be patient on the court. Play smarter, not harder! Learn more about common dinking mistakes and how to solve them with this quick video:

Pickleball Dinking Drills

Now that you understand the mechanics, you can start practicing pickleball at home with some of these dinking drills:

Beginner Drills:

• Tossing Drill: When you’re first learning to dink, it may actually be helpful to start without a paddle. When you hit the ball in pickleball, you’re using more than your arm and hand. By simply tossing the ball over the net, you can learn how to move your body correctly before adding the paddle and ball to the mix.
• Maintain Position Drill: Grab your cones, some chalk, or really anything you can use to create an approximately 18-inch line behind the kitchen line. Your job is to stay on that line as you return the ball over the net instead of giving up the space to let the ball bounce.

Intermediate Drills:

• Forehand Drill: Once you’re comfortable going through the motions of a dink, you can add in the ball and paddle. Have your partner volley the ball back and forth with you. Your only job is to hit forehands. No matter where the ball goes, position yourself to hit it with a forehand swing. Aim for a goal and don’t stop until you get there!

• Backhand Drill: After you’ve nailed your forehand swings, you can repeat the above drill for your backhand. Work on positioning your body, aiming your paddle, and swinging with control.

• Aiming Drill: If you have some rubber targets on hand, grab them! That said, you can essentially use anything that you set on the court. Place a target halfway between the kitchen line and the net. Then place one on either side of it—one near the sideline and one near the midpoint of the net. Your partner will stand on the side with the targets and volley the ball back and forth with you, but while they’ll be hitting the ball wherever they want, they’ll be telling you which cone to aim at as you return it.

Advanced Drills:

• All Dinks - Short-Court Game to 5: Divide your pickleball court in half and play a game to five. For this game, you and your partner will only be dinking back and forth to each other—no hard shots!
• Anything Goes - Short-Court Game to 5: This time around, you can hit the ball however you want—volley, lob, drive, dink, etc! You’re still working with half a court, so be sure to control your swings. 

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Advanced Strategies for Dinking in Pickleball

Want to take your dinking game to the next level? Here are a few advanced dinking strategies to check out:

• Cross-Court Dinking
• Deceptive Shots
• Setup Shots

Cross-Court Dinking

Cross-court dinking is all about using your angles. Your goal is to get your opponent out of position, so they are forced to react defensively instead of setting up an offense. As the name suggests, a cross-court dink involves you aiming the ball on the opposite side of your opponent’s court, forcing them to switch sides to stay behind it. 

Deceptive Shots

Once you’ve nailed the cross-court shot, you can start really having fun faking people out. You can alternate between faking straight shots and aiming cross-court, faking cross-court and shooting straight, and not faking at all to keep your opponents on your toes. 

Setup Shots

A great thing about dinking is it’s not simply beneficial for one shot. Once you’re playing at a more advanced level, you can begin setting plays of sorts up for yourself. Picture this:

1. You dink the ball over the net, forcing your opponent to readjust.
2. Your opponent stumbles forward, unable to get the right positioning.
3. They pop the ball up, saving it just before it hit the ground,
4. But this isn’t actually a good thing because the return popped up into the air.
5. As it drops back to your side of the court, you have all the time in the world to return for a smash…
6. And you do!

Dinks will often force your opponents’ hands, so be sure to use it to your advantage. Just make sure you’re the one setting up the play—not on the losing side of a shutout. If you’re curious about the pickleball term for that, read what is a pickle in pickleball.

Exploring the Role of Dinking in Pickleball

On a larger scale, dinking embodies a lot of the spirit of pickleball. How, you might ask? Dinking encourages precision, patience, and control, and it rewards intelligence over aggression. It does not reward players who are super strong or combative. 

At the end of the day, the nature of dinking makes it easier to forge strong connections with other pickleball enthusiasts and the pickleball community at large and keeps more aggressive players at bay. 

At 11PICKLES, we’re all about playing smart and having fun, so we love a good dink! We also believe that pickleball isn’t just something you play; it’s something you live. With that in mind, we’re creating merch you can wear on and off the court. 

Our first drop is around the corner, and you can get exclusive access just by joining our waitlist. In the meantime, take what you’ve learned to the courts and start practicing those dinks!

One last thing before you go: Some products linked throughout this article are affiliate links. This just means we get a portion of the sale when you purchase something from the links. Don’t worry; the cost doesn’t change for you! All this does is help us keep the pickleball content flowing for you! Okay, moment of transparency over. You can go now. Until next time! 

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