{"id":1323,"date":"2026-11-07T08:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2026-11-07T08:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:15:18","slug":"lob-return-drill-two-patterns-crosscourt-drop-then-straight-on-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1323","title":{"rendered":"Lob Return Drill: Two Patterns \u2014 Crosscourt Drop, Then Straight-On Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Lob Drill #pickleball\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_XKp8a23A60?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>Shea Underwood\u2019s doubles lob drill starts at the kitchen with partners crosscourt: one lobber, one returner, plus an imaginary partner beside the returner.<\/p>\n<p>Goal is two lob returns in a row \u2014 first a down-the-line lob over the fake partner\u2019s backhand that the returner runs crosscourt and drops, then an easy feed to reset to the line, then a crosscourt lob the returner turns and drops straight-on. Defense learns \u201ccrosscourt player takes the lob\u201d; the lobber practices the best targets over the backhands. Final tip: get your weight behind the drop before contact.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Drill pattern: lob DTL \u2192 run CC drop \u2192 reset \u2192 lob CC \u2192 straight-on drop<\/li>\n<li>Habit: crosscourt player takes the lob in doubles<\/li>\n<li>Weight behind the drop is the #1 make-it-in cue<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Run 10 successful two-lob sequences before switching roles<\/li>\n<li>On every drop return, check that your weight is loaded behind the ball before you swing<\/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>Shea Underwood\u2019s doubles lob drill starts at the kitchen with partners crosscourt: one lobber, one returner, plus an imaginary partner beside the returner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729,"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":[600,4,2,420],"tags":[1179,305,777,421,888,246],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drills","category-drops","category-footwork","category-lobs","tag-doubles","tag-drill","tag-drop","tag-lob","tag-lob-return","tag-shea-underwood"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01-doubles-at-the-net-over-shoulder-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323","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=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}