{"id":776,"date":"2026-10-05T01:33:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T01:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=776"},"modified":"2026-10-05T03:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:36:59","slug":"9-effortless-tactics-to-have-faster-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"9 Effortless Tactics To Have Faster Hands"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"9 Effortless Tactics To Have Faster Hands\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PFEAJtGj6w4?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><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Pickleball Playbook&#8217;s Austin Hardy, a 5.0+ PPR-certified coach, shares nine tactics for faster hands at the kitchen line, plus two drills: crazy eights volleys (one player hits line, the other cross, then switch) and side-to-side moving volleys.<\/p>\n<p>The nine tactics: choke up on the handle; hold your ready position slightly toward the backhand; keep your elbows relaxed by your sides; <a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=200\">avoid a big backswing<\/a> (keep the paddle in front of your shoulder); keep the follow-through short and out in front; use a mini split step every time your opponent hits; counter balls at your body with one hand; use two hands on backhand balls away from your body; and swing if you have time, reset if you don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Choking up lowers swing weight for quicker reactions<\/li>\n<li>Favor the backhand slightly in your ready position, since most counters land there<\/li>\n<li>A big backswing or follow-through makes you late for the next ball<\/li>\n<li>Mini split step every time your opponent makes contact<\/li>\n<li>If you have time, swing; if you don&#8217;t, reset<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Do 5 minutes of crazy eights volleys each way with a partner<\/li>\n<li>Try choking up during your next hands battles<\/li>\n<li>Practice one-handed counters on balls at your body<\/li>\n<li>Check that your paddle never goes behind your shoulder<\/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>Coach Austin Hardy shares nine tactics for faster hands at the kitchen line, from choking up and a backhand-favoring ready position to mini split steps and knowing when to swing or reset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[373,21,3],"tags":[549,706,789,788,120],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attacks","category-hands","category-kitchen","tag-austin-hardy","tag-fast-hands","tag-firefights","tag-hand-battles","tag-pickleball-playbook"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/02-kitchen-line-through-the-net-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","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=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":903,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}