7 Pickleball Dinking Drills That Build Every Dink You Need

If your dinking practice amounts to hitting back and forth until someone misses, you are leaving a lot of improvement on the table. Plenty of players get really good at one dink and then wonder why opponents pick them apart at the kitchen line. The fix is variety. You need a slice, a roll, a reach, a short hop, and a bump, and you need to switch between them without thinking. This session, built by Richard Pickleball on YouTube alongside his hitting partner Zack, covers seven patterns that stress every dink you will meet in a real match. It works with a partner or a ball machine.

Why Most Dinking Practice Falls Short

Straight dinking drills feel productive. You get a long rally, your heart rate stays low, and you feel in rhythm. The problem is that real matches rarely look like that. Opponents change spin, depth, and direction constantly, and a player who owns only one dink becomes predictable very quickly.

Richard says this is exactly what he exploits when he plays other people. He is comfortable slicing, short hopping, and reaching, while many opponents can do only one of those well. Once you find the one dink someone cannot handle, the rest of the match gets much easier.

If you have a great slice, you should also own a great roll, a clean bump, and a reliable short hop. Missing any one of them caps how far you can climb. The best players treat the dink as a toolbox rather than a single shot, which is part of why elite players think differently during every dink exchange. They are not just hitting the ball over. They are choosing a tool for the job.

A Plain-English Explanation for Newer Players

If you are newer to the game, here is the short version. In pickleball, the kitchen is the seven-foot non-volley zone on both sides of the net, and you cannot hit the ball out of the air while standing in it. You can read the details in the official rules summary from USA Pickleball.

A dink is a soft shot that lands in your opponent’s kitchen. The goal is to make the ball hard to attack. If you pop it up high or hit it too deep, the other team smacks it back at you. So both sides trade soft shots, waiting for someone to make a mistake.

Not every dink is the same. Here are the types this session uses:

• Slice: You brush under the ball to put backspin on it. It stays low and is a steady, reliable choice.
• Roll: You wrap the paddle around the ball and add topspin. It helps you take control and push opponents back.
• Reach: You stretch forward to meet a deeper ball before it gets past you.
• Short hop: You hit the ball right after it bounces, which is useful when it lands deep and you cannot take it out of the air.
• Bump: A soft, blocked return that simply gets a difficult ball back into the kitchen.

Think of it like learning to cook. Anyone can boil an egg, but a good cook has several methods and picks the right one. That is the whole idea here. Each drill pairs two different dink types, so you practice using one while your partner forces you to adapt to another.

What Makes This Dinking Session Different

Every drill here pairs two different dink types. One player works a specific shot while the other keeps changing what comes back. That mirrors a real match, where the spin, depth, and direction of each ball are constantly shifting. It is the same pressure you feel when escaping dinking pressure against a patient opponent.

Each pattern runs about five minutes. Seven minutes per drill is fine if you have the energy, but expect to be tired because you are bending on every single ball. Here is the full lineup:

1. Slice to slice (your baseline dink)
2. Roll to slice
3. Roll to short hop
4. Slice to roll (the switched version)
5. Short hop to roll
6. Roll to roll
7. Forehand middle patterns (short hop and roll to the middle)

Do the full set on your backhand side, then repeat from the other side of the court. Add up the minutes and you have a 35 to 70 minute block that covers nearly every dink situation you will see.

Drill 1: Slice to Slice

Slice to slice is the foundation. Both players slice dink and grind the exchange short in the kitchen. It sounds simple, but it is where you build the habits that everything else depends on. If your slice is shaky, work on the backhand slice dink before adding the other patterns.

Richard focuses on three habits. First, keep every ball short. If your partner hits one a little deep, take it out of the air with a slice rather than letting it bounce and drag you backward.

Second, when the ball goes wide, cross step to get there. In a game you often get stuck and have to move fast, so practice the footwork on purpose. Lunging with your arm alone is how balls pop up.

Third, recover after every hit. Do not reach and stay there. That is not what you would do in a point, and the drill should simulate real match movement. Recovery is the habit most players skip, and it is the one that matters most when the rally speeds up.

Drills 2 and 3: Roll to Slice and Roll to Short Hop

In roll to slice, one player rolls while the other answers with a slice, using a reach when the roll comes deep. Richard prefers pushing the ball over slicing it out of the air. He drops the paddle and pushes through short balls, and he simply reaches for deep ones.

This matters because opponents will do all kinds of things to your roll. They might short hop it, back up, or take it early, and you need a response for each. That is exactly why the defensive dink styles are worth owning.

For roll to short hop, the roller sends the ball a little deeper while the other player short hops everything. The key is watching how wide your ball travels. If your short hop drifts wide, it will get attacked. Try to get your paddle around the ball and keep it short in the kitchen, the same idea behind dink placement at the net.

Have your partner move the ball around, including some right at your feet. You want to handle every location, not just the comfortable ones. Balls at your feet are where most players pop the ball up, so this is where the drill earns its keep.

What Is a Short Hop Dink?

A short hop dink is a dink you hit right after the ball bounces, usually when it lands deeper in the court and you cannot hit it out of the air. You move forward or slide back, meet the ball just after the bounce, and guide it softly into the kitchen.

It is a defensive and controlling shot at the same time. If you master it, deep dinks stop being a threat and become just another ball you can handle. If short hops are a weak spot, our guide on stopping the pop-up pairs well with this session. There is also a useful breakdown on short hop pickleball that covers the paddle angle fix for wide balls.

Drills 4 and 5: Switching the Roles

Once you finish the first set, flip the roles so both players train both sides of each pattern. Now Richard rolls while Zack slices, then Richard short hops while Zack rolls. This matters because the shot you are not used to hitting is usually the one that breaks down under pressure.

When you roll, think about the paddle tip. Get the tip down and cup the ball, because that tip-down position gives you the most control on a roll dink. If you are netting your backhand rolls, this breakdown of slice versus the two-handed roll can clean that up fast.

Do not panic when a deep ball shows up. A ball that goes long is still part of the drill, so just take it, work with it, and reset the rally. The same idea applies to movement. Our breakdown of how to fix your feet shows how to move into deeper balls without losing balance. If your dinks keep floating up, your court positioning may be the real culprit.

Drill 6: Why Roll to Roll Is the Hardest Pattern

Roll to roll is the toughest pattern because both players are rolling, which demands real footwork and quick decisions. If you are struggling, skip it for now and come back as you improve. There is no prize for forcing it.

The rule is simple. If your partner sends a ball too deep, do not roll it. Reach and bump it instead. Rolling a ball that is too far back ruins the drill, and in a match it just gives your opponent a chance to attack.

Be ready to reach first, then roll once you can tell the ball is not too deep. Balls on the line still get rolled, as long as they are not way behind the kitchen. Both players should keep getting the tip down and wrapping around the ball, which is also the fix for why your dinks pop up.

If you want the strategy behind all of this, read our guide to modern kitchen strategy. If your backhand roll keeps landing in the net, these backhand roll fixes will help you get under the ball and add the sp