{"id":233,"date":"2026-09-24T01:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T01:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=233"},"modified":"2026-10-05T03:36:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:36:47","slug":"stop-following-the-ball-with-your-paddle-tip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=233","title":{"rendered":"Stop Following the Ball With Your Paddle Tip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Stop Following the Ball With Your Paddle Tip\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NAmb_avfTtY?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>Matt\u2019s Pickleball pushes back on the popular \u2018follow the ball with your paddle tip\u2019 tip. Tracking with the tip means when the ball is sped up you must move the paddle back to a defensive spot \u2014 and you\u2019re often late. Better players also read your paddle and go elsewhere. Prefer preparation over anticipation: expect a speed-up from anywhere, keep the <a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=275\">paddle in front ready to counter<\/a>, and you\u2019ll still put away high balls.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Tip-tracking makes you late on speed-ups<\/li>\n<li>Your paddle position telegraphs coverage<\/li>\n<li>Preparation (ready for anywhere) beats guessing<\/li>\n<li>Paddle stays in front, not chasing the ball<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Kitchen dinks: paddle stays centered; no tip-chase for 10 min<\/li>\n<li>Partner speed-ups from both sides; only counters from front-ready<\/li>\n<li>Film: is tip chasing the ball before contact?<\/li>\n<li>Cue: \u2018front ready, not tip chase\u2019<\/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>Summary Matt\u2019s Pickleball pushes back on the popular \u2018follow the ball with your paddle tip\u2019&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730,"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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[391,392,21,3],"tags":[394,396,393,395],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defense","category-dinking","category-hands","category-kitchen","tag-anticipation-vs-preparation","tag-matt-s-pickleball","tag-paddle-tip-tracking","tag-ready-paddle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233","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=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions\/840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}