{"id":1348,"date":"2026-11-09T11:23:51","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1348"},"modified":"2026-11-09T11:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:23:51","slug":"drive-your-third-shot-low-from-the-baseline-so-you-can-split-step-and-take-the-fifth-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1348","title":{"rendered":"Drive Your Third Shot Low From the Baseline So You Can Split-Step and Take the Fifth In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Why your 3rd shot is holding you back\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ni4YGv4sjcU?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>Briones Pickleball Breakdown says your third shot is holding you back when you drive without a plan. If you\u2019re going to drive the third \u2014 especially from the baseline \u2014 drive it nice and low so you can set up, hit your fifth, and come in.<\/p>\n<p>When the ball is contacted out of the air, you may not get all the way in. Split-step so you\u2019re on balance, then take the next shot to finish the approach.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A baseline third-shot drive should stay low so it sets up the fifth<\/li>\n<li>Use that fifth to come in; don\u2019t treat the drive as a winner by itself<\/li>\n<li>If you take the ball out of the air, split-step to stay on balance before finishing the approach<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>From the baseline, hit 15 third-shot drives aimed low, then split-step and take a fifth as you move in<\/li>\n<li>On any third you contact out of the air, freeze a split-step before rushing the rest of the way in<\/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>Briones Pickleball Breakdown says your third shot is holding you back when you drive without a plan. If you\u2019re going to drive the third \u2014 especially from the baseline \u2014 drive it nice and low so you can set up, hit your fifth, and come in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732,"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":[5,2,6,20],"tags":[123,617,726,170,14,37],"class_list":["post-1348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drives","category-footwork","category-third-shot","category-transition","tag-briones","tag-drive","tag-fifth-shot","tag-split-step","tag-third-shot","tag-transition"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/05-rec-doubles-outdoor-court-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348","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=1348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}