The drop shot in pickleball has changed — and if you’re still just floating it over the net, you’re missing a huge opportunity to take control of the point. Learn how to transform your passive drop into an aggressive, topspin-powered drop shot that puts your opponents on defense and sets you up for easy winners. You’ll see the key differences between beginner-friendly drops and advanced offensive drops, plus tips on spin, placement, and timing to keep your opponents scrambling.
The pickleball drop shot
A pickleball drop shot is a shot that is typically hit from midcourt to baseline, and usually lands so that your opponents have to hit up on it. The purpose of the drop shot is to get your team to the kitchen.
When you're a beginner or intermediate pickleball player, using your drop shot to get your team to the kitchen really works. But if you ever want to get to an advanced level, then hitting a drop shot can actually give your team an offensive advantage.
Understanding the difference between hitting an aggressive drop shot versus a passive drop shot can take you to the next level.
To learn more, please watch the video above.
Passive drop shots
Passive drops work for beginner and intermediate players. With a passive drop, you are landing the ball into the kitchen. But it can also allow your opponent to hit a really aggressive fourth shot because the ball will likely not have much power to it.
With a passive drop shot, you are just lifting the ball and that ball is going to land in the kitchen, but your opponent might be able to impart a lot of topspin because the ball will float. If you're playing someone that's really athletic, they might even be able to jump the kitchen line for an Erne. So, it's important to be able to hit an aggressive shot, not just so it will create popups or poach opportunities, but so that you can advance and your opponent can't do as much with that dead dink or that dead ball.
Aggressive drop shots
An aggressive drop shot will not have quite as high of a trajectory as the passive shot, and it will have a little bit more spin and a little bit more pace. When you hit that beginner drop, you're contacting the very bottom of the ball. But with a more aggressive drop, you are contacting closer to the side of the ball — you really need that extra pace to get the ball over the net.
With a ball that has more spin and more pace, you will likely receive a much easier response, which will put you and your partner in a much better offensive position on the court.
To spin your aggressive drop shots
Here are some details of how to apply topspin to your drops:
- For the purpose of learning, you should practice at the kitchen line or baseline.
- To practice the general technique of drop shots, you should begin by “brushing” the ball, which is what will add spin to the ball.
- This brushing will be less of a slap and more of a brush.
- A great way to understand this is if you walk up to the pickleball net and you put your paddle on the net — and then you simply "brush" instead of "slap."
- When you begin your brush, your paddle should be positioned at the 5 o’clock mark (on a 12-hour clock).
- Your ending brush position should be at the 1 or 2 o’clock position.
- A mistake beginners often make is not starting with their paddle tip down far enough.
- You want to hit the ball when it gets to the apex — you do not want to hit the very bottom of the ball, but rather on the side and bottom half of the ball.
To see the aggressive drop shot in action, please watch the video above.
Aggressive drop shot drill: The Slinky Drill
The Slinky Drill will help you practice your aggressive drop shot:
- Start off at the kitchen line across from a partner.
- Your partner will stay in the same position during the entire drill.
- Your partner will be feeding you three dink shots where you stand.
- Practice your topspin on the dinks, focusing on getting enough spin on the ball.
- After taking the three shots, take a step back.
- You will repeat this until you get to the baseline.
- Once you get to the baseline, work on applying some more forward motion and pace to the balls.
- The further back you are in the court, the more momentum you’re going to need for all the shots.
- Begin working your way back up to the kitchen line after every three shots.
A great way to challenge yourself is to see if you can get back and forth multiple times without hitting a shot in the net or making an unforced error.
To watch this drill in action, please watch the video above.