{"id":1248,"date":"2026-10-30T01:52:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T01:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2026-10-30T01:52:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T01:52:44","slug":"dinks-into-the-net-open-face-paddle-below-the-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1248","title":{"rendered":"Dinks Into the Net? Open Face, Paddle Below the Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"You need this tip on dinks!\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WSnP3JJR6Vk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Elite Pickleball Coaching diagnoses a common reason dinks die in the net: paddle face too closed toward the net and a straight-line swing that drives the ball into the tape.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, start with the paddle lower than the ball and an open face so the swing path lifts the ball up and over. The target is a soft landing in the kitchen that stays unattackable \u2014 clearance first, then depth into the kitchen.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Closed face + flat swing path = netted dinks<\/li>\n<li>Paddle below the ball with an open face<\/li>\n<li>Lift up and over so it dies unattackable in the kitchen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Kitchen: 20 cross-court dinks with a finger under the paddle throat as an \u201copen face\u201d cue<\/li>\n<li>Count net misses before\/after \u2014 stop when 8\/10 clear the tape soft<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elite Pickleball Coaching diagnoses a common reason dinks die in the net: paddle face too closed toward the net and a straight-line swing that drives the ball into the tape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,3,19,381],"tags":[730,1308,78,345,41],"class_list":["post-1248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dinks","category-kitchen","category-soft-game","category-technique","tag-dinks","tag-elite-coaching","tag-net-misses","tag-open-face","tag-paddle-face"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/07-lunging-volley-dark-background-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}