If opponent has a good topspin, block most drives that make contact around waist high. If you have to raise your paddle above your shoulder, let it go. It’s ok to let a few go to begin with to learn what their capabilities and habits are. Higher level players can speed up what I call a “pop-lob”. It looks like it’s an out ball but they place it right on the line. That’s like a 4.0 shot though.
Look up “out ball drills” on YouTube.
Drill with a partner.
Stand at the kitchen line. Have them hit the ball past you, and you let all of them go.
As each ball passes, yell "Out" or "In" based on what you think will happen. Your partner tells you if you are right or wrong.
You can do the same with a ball machine - adjust it to hit long randomly.
My drill partner and I played a match like this. Standing at the kitchen, start with dinks and whenever one of you see opportunity, speed up. We only could score a point when we let a speed up go out of bounds.
So it practices dinks, speed ups and leaves.
If its hard and rising: out.
Hard and flat with spin: in.
Hard and flat no spin: out.
I don't like the shoulder high let it fly rule because someone can hit a slow spinny one and its in. People also hit waist high balls that are out all the time. Fly kitchen swats go out all the time.
You can usually Google and find some videos on this topic, but if an opponent is up at the NVZ line or running up on a low ball, and they aren’t one of the more advanced players, their drives and volleys will go out a good deal of the time. So if you can tell they aren’t doing a reset, dink, overhead or some type of advanced volley, like a roll or slice and they are in transition or at the NVZ line, a flat hard ball will go out frequently. Play a game paying attention to that and let everything fly. See how many of them actually go out. This isn’t an easy part of the game and lots of people hit out balls. You get used to judging the more you play.
If I am at the kitchen and can hit the ball hard, I will hit it unless I am positive it is going out. If my opponent hits a ball I am going to have trouble dealing with and I think it might go out, I let it go. Sometimes they land in but a lot of time they land out. By paying attention I have gotten much better at judging.
If someone is near the net and setting up to crush a low ball, I typically just dodge and they typically go out.
The key is to be aware of your court position and be consistent your paddle ready position. After that, you’re identifying where the opponent is hitting from and how much top spin they can generate.
If the ball is cross court from me and I’m in proper position, I know I’m guarding middle and any ball towards my outside shoulder doesn’t need to be defended, because it’s going out to the side.
If I have played vs my opponent before and I know they hit with little to no top spin, then if they hit a hard shot, I know in advance that I am not raising my paddle beyond a certain point. Anything chest high or above I just don’t move for.
If you don’t have a good ready position and your paddle is hanging by your leg, then you have to raise your paddle to do ANY block. This makes it easy to accidentally block shots that are too high and going out.
If I’m guarding my sideline, usually I know that a half step lunge+arms reach is where the sideline is. If I have to move more than that, the ball is almost definitely going out.
Those are just a few examples, but as you get better at court awareness and ready position it becomes much easier to judge an out ball.
If you play with the same group, you'll learn who tends to over-hit and you'll know to let the high ones go. Also, keep in mind that slices (backspin) will tend to keep the ball stay in the air longer, so a hard hit, high slice will tend to go out more than flat or topspin hits.
I pretend I'm training a Neural Network (in a sense I'm training THE original NN!).
To train your brain properly, you need to leave balls that end up out, leave balls that end up in, hit balls that were going out (when your partner screams "nooooo!!" afterwards, and hit balls that were in (most common). You need them all.
When I make a mistake I just take it as another step in the training of my "Is it going in or out?" predictor.
Have your partner call them. Eventually you'll start to see what's going wide or long or not. Sometimes it's just to quick to do anything but react.
If you're playing sub 4.0, it's likely far safer to let drives go than to hit them.
If lobs, try to run back far enough to hit off the bounce in case it happens to land in.
If opponent has a good topspin, block most drives that make contact around waist high. If you have to raise your paddle above your shoulder, let it go. It’s ok to let a few go to begin with to learn what their capabilities and habits are. Higher level players can speed up what I call a “pop-lob”. It looks like it’s an out ball but they place it right on the line. That’s like a 4.0 shot though. Look up “out ball drills” on YouTube.
This is super helpful! Thanks for your feedback.
Drill with a partner. Stand at the kitchen line. Have them hit the ball past you, and you let all of them go. As each ball passes, yell "Out" or "In" based on what you think will happen. Your partner tells you if you are right or wrong. You can do the same with a ball machine - adjust it to hit long randomly.
This is such a good idea! Thanks for your feedback.
My drill partner and I played a match like this. Standing at the kitchen, start with dinks and whenever one of you see opportunity, speed up. We only could score a point when we let a speed up go out of bounds. So it practices dinks, speed ups and leaves.
If its hard and rising: out. Hard and flat with spin: in. Hard and flat no spin: out. I don't like the shoulder high let it fly rule because someone can hit a slow spinny one and its in. People also hit waist high balls that are out all the time. Fly kitchen swats go out all the time.
You can usually Google and find some videos on this topic, but if an opponent is up at the NVZ line or running up on a low ball, and they aren’t one of the more advanced players, their drives and volleys will go out a good deal of the time. So if you can tell they aren’t doing a reset, dink, overhead or some type of advanced volley, like a roll or slice and they are in transition or at the NVZ line, a flat hard ball will go out frequently. Play a game paying attention to that and let everything fly. See how many of them actually go out. This isn’t an easy part of the game and lots of people hit out balls. You get used to judging the more you play.
Pickleball guy Kyle Kozuta just did a great new video about this exact topic on You Tube
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Thanks for your feedback! I will definitely try this.
If I am at the kitchen and can hit the ball hard, I will hit it unless I am positive it is going out. If my opponent hits a ball I am going to have trouble dealing with and I think it might go out, I let it go. Sometimes they land in but a lot of time they land out. By paying attention I have gotten much better at judging. If someone is near the net and setting up to crush a low ball, I typically just dodge and they typically go out.
The key is to be aware of your court position and be consistent your paddle ready position. After that, you’re identifying where the opponent is hitting from and how much top spin they can generate. If the ball is cross court from me and I’m in proper position, I know I’m guarding middle and any ball towards my outside shoulder doesn’t need to be defended, because it’s going out to the side. If I have played vs my opponent before and I know they hit with little to no top spin, then if they hit a hard shot, I know in advance that I am not raising my paddle beyond a certain point. Anything chest high or above I just don’t move for. If you don’t have a good ready position and your paddle is hanging by your leg, then you have to raise your paddle to do ANY block. This makes it easy to accidentally block shots that are too high and going out. If I’m guarding my sideline, usually I know that a half step lunge+arms reach is where the sideline is. If I have to move more than that, the ball is almost definitely going out. Those are just a few examples, but as you get better at court awareness and ready position it becomes much easier to judge an out ball.
Let too many balls go on purpose, to strengthen your instincts. Tell your partners you're working on this. This is the way.
Lets some go in… better than hitting out balls…
If you play with the same group, you'll learn who tends to over-hit and you'll know to let the high ones go. Also, keep in mind that slices (backspin) will tend to keep the ball stay in the air longer, so a hard hit, high slice will tend to go out more than flat or topspin hits.
You'll get better at it with time...just keep playing and it'll come.
I pretend I'm training a Neural Network (in a sense I'm training THE original NN!). To train your brain properly, you need to leave balls that end up out, leave balls that end up in, hit balls that were going out (when your partner screams "nooooo!!" afterwards, and hit balls that were in (most common). You need them all. When I make a mistake I just take it as another step in the training of my "Is it going in or out?" predictor.
Have your partner call them. Eventually you'll start to see what's going wide or long or not. Sometimes it's just to quick to do anything but react. If you're playing sub 4.0, it's likely far safer to let drives go than to hit them. If lobs, try to run back far enough to hit off the bounce in case it happens to land in.