Pickleball Kitchen Strategy

How to Dink With Purpose and Dominate Without Hitting Hard

A dink is not just a soft ball that lands in the kitchen. A purposeful dink moves an opponent, changes their contact point, creates space, and helps you recognize the right ball to attack.

Updated September 2026
Pickleball player practicing purposeful dinking

I enjoy hitting hard as much as anybody. The problem is when power becomes the default answer to every ball. Better players eventually get comfortable with your pace, and you start giving them the same rhythm over and over.

The soft game gives you another way to control the point.

Move the opponentUse angle, direction, and depth instead of hitting the same comfortable target repeatedly.
Keep contact lowA low dink makes the next attack more difficult and can force the opponent to lift.
Create the next ballThe purpose of the dink is often to make the following shot easier for you or your partner.
Stay patient without becoming passiveWait for an attackable ball rather than speeding up simply because you are tired of dinking.

1. Dink to Move the Opponent

If you keep dinking to the same comfortable location, the opponent can stand still and prepare. Change direction and depth enough that they have to adjust their feet and paddle position.

A sharp cross-court dink can pull a player wide. A shorter middle dink can create confusion between partners. A deeper dink toward the feet can make them contact the ball from a less comfortable position.

Purpose does not mean changing targets every single shot. Sometimes repeating a difficult target is exactly the right play. The point is to know why you are sending the ball there.
Pickleball dinking drill focused on placement and control

2. Use the Soft Game to Buy Time

Soft shots are valuable because they can slow the exchange and give you time to get balanced. That matters most when you are moving through the transition zone.

The older version of this article implied that you should almost never drive more than twice from the baseline. I would not turn that into a rule. Some points call for another drive. Others call for a drop. The decision should depend on the ball, your position, the opponents, and what the previous shot created.

The useful question is: will this shot help me improve my position?

3. Make the Opponent Contact the Ball Uncomfortably

A good dink can make the opponent reach, move wide, contact late, or hit from below net height. Those are the situations that create errors and pop-ups.

You do not need to “get under their skin.” You need to make the next contact less comfortable and less attackable.

Cross-court dink practice in pickleball

4. Recognize the Ball Worth Attacking

The old article used chest height as a general signal to “crush” the ball. Height matters, but it is not the only thing that decides whether a speed-up is smart.

More attackableBall is high enough, you are balanced, paddle is prepared, and you have a useful target.
Less attackableBall is low, you are reaching, your body is moving the wrong direction, or the opponent is already waiting to counter.

A ball near net height can sometimes be attacked. A chest-high ball can still be a bad choice if you are late or off balance. Read the entire situation.

5. Use Dinking to Improve Shot Selection

Dinking slows the point enough that you can start seeing patterns. Which opponent is uncomfortable moving forward? Who counters well from the backhand? Which player gets impatient after four or five soft balls?

That information helps you decide where to dink and when to speed up.

6. Practice With a Target, Not Just a Rally Count

Long dink rallies are useful, but they can become mindless if both players simply keep the ball in the middle.

Wide targetPlace a cone near the outside kitchen corner and try to move the opponent off the court.
Middle targetPractice creating hesitation between two doubles players.
Attack thresholdDink until the ball meets your chosen attack criteria, then speed up and play the point out.
Recovery targetAfter every wide dink, recover your position before the next ball arrives.

The Goal Is Not to Dink Forever

Purposeful dinking is not passive pickleball. The soft game is how you create a better attack, buy time, and stop giving the opponent comfortable speed.

Power still matters. The difference is that you use it when the point has created the right opportunity.

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