Power Vs Control - Under-use of Power

Yesterday, I introduced a video from Joe Baker called Doubles Pickleball Strategy 102 - Smart Pickleball Vol. 2, Power in my post Power Vs Control - Over-use of Power. If you have not read that post, I would recommend doing so before going further. As can be deduced from the titles, yesterday's post discussed the misuse of hard shots when soft shots would be a better option. Today's post covers the opposite type of shot - the times when a shot must be hit hard.

The time for powerful shots is when the "fast shots" phase is entered (see The Basic Overall Strategy of Doubles - Phase 4 and series). The fast shots phase begins with a mistake, a shot that is high enough for a player swing downward and pound the ball. When this phase starts, a hard shot should be so hard that it ends the rally by defeating reaction time. Under-powering these shots allows the ball to come back, often harder than it was sent. A player should never provide an opponent with a ball in the air unless it is a lob or a high-power shot.

Always remember the rule of thumb about power, though. The general rule of thumb is that when you must hit up on a ball, hit softly; when you can hit down on a ball as with a smash, hit it hard.

High-power shots should have 1 of 3 targets. The first target is a hole between players.

The second target is the opponents' feet.

The third target is the opponents' body. This shot must be hard enough to defeat their reaction time.

The video is shown below.

Just to add to the point, Deb Harrison has a "Tidbit" on the topic. Her mantra is "if its high, let it fly".