The Three Pickleball Grips and When to Use Them: Continental, Eastern, and Western
Your grip in pickleball might not seem like something worth overthinking, but it’s actually one of the most fundamental aspects of your game. The way you hold your paddle dictates the spin you can generate, the power you can produce, and the control you have over every shot. Whether you’re driving balls from the baseline or finessing volleys at the kitchen line, understanding the three main grip types can transform your play.
Professional pickleball player and coach Mari Humberg has broken down these grip styles in a way that makes sense for players at every level. The three grips—continental, eastern, and western—each serve different purposes on the court, and knowing when to use each one can give you a significant competitive advantage. More importantly, understanding which grip works best for your overall game can help you develop consistency rather than constantly fumbling with adjustments mid-rally.
Understanding Pickleball Grips: A Primer for Beginners
Before diving into the technical details of each grip, it helps to understand what we’re actually talking about when we discuss paddle grips. Think of your paddle handle as having multiple sides or bevels, similar to how a stop sign has eight sides. Where you place the base of your palm and how you position your fingers around these bevels determines your grip type.
The names of these grips—continental, eastern, and western—come from tennis, where these same grip styles have been used for decades. They refer to different positions your hand takes on the paddle handle, each creating a different paddle face angle at contact. This angle is crucial because it determines whether the ball will have topspin, backspin, or no spin at all.
For someone new to racket sports, the easiest way to think about grips is this: they control how open or closed your paddle face is when you make contact with the ball. An open face tilts slightly upward, a closed face tilts slightly downward, and a neutral face is perpendicular to the ground. Each grip naturally creates one of these positions, which is why certain grips work better for certain shots.
The key insight that separates recreational players from competitive ones is understanding that you don’t necessarily need to master all three grips. In fact, most players benefit more from finding one comfortable grip and sticking with it rather than trying to switch constantly during play. That consistency allows your muscle memory to develop, which ultimately leads to better shot execution under pressure.
The Continental Grip: Your Kitchen Line Foundation
The continental grip is often described as the “handshake grip” because holding your paddle this way feels like you’re reaching out to shake someone’s hand. Extend your hand as if greeting someone, then close your fingers around the paddle handle. That natural, neutral position is the continental grip. Some coaches also call it “the little hammer” because it resembles how you’d hold a hammer to drive a nail.
This grip has deep roots in tennis, where it’s the standard for serves and volleys. It offers a neutral paddle face position, which makes it excellent for quick reactions and reflex shots. When you’re standing at the kitchen line and balls are flying at you rapidly, the continental grip lets you make adjustments without thinking too much about paddle angle.
However, the continental grip has one significant limitation: generating topspin becomes genuinely difficult. To create topspin with this grip, you have to contort your wrist downward in an awkward motion that isn’t sustainable for repeated shots. This unnatural wrist position can lead to inconsistency and even injury if you’re trying to force topspin on every groundstroke.
So when should you actually use the continental grip? It truly shines at the kitchen line for volleys. The neutral paddle face makes it easy to block shots back over the net with control. You can also use it effectively from the transition zone when you’re moving forward but haven’t quite reached the non-volley line yet. From the baseline, however, Humberg recommends avoiding the continental grip except for one specific shot: the slice drop.
Interestingly, Humberg herself doesn’t use a pure continental grip even for slices. She positions her hand somewhere between continental and eastern, which gives her the benefits of both grips for those finesse shots that require backspin. This hybrid approach allows for better control while still maintaining the ability to slice effectively.
The Eastern Grip: The All-Purpose Workhorse
The eastern grip is where most serious pickleball players should live. Humberg uses it for the majority of her shots, and there’s a good reason why: it offers the best balance of power, spin, and control for offensive play.
To find the eastern grip, start by holding your paddle in the continental position. Now rotate your hand slightly over the top of the paddle handle so that your paddle face closes about twenty percent. It’s a subtle shift, but the impact on your shots is substantial. This slight closing of the paddle face makes generating topspin natural and effortless rather than forced.
The magic of the eastern grip lies in how it allows you to create that windshield-wiper motion with your forearm. Instead of contorting your wrist to brush up on the ball, the paddle naturally comes across the ball at an angle that produces topspin. This means you can hit with more pace while still keeping the ball in play because the topspin brings it back down into the court.
The eastern grip becomes your default for a wide range of shots in competitive pickleball. Use it for topspin drives from the baseline when you’re trying to keep your opponents pinned back. It’s also ideal for topspin drops, which have become increasingly important in the modern game. When you’re attacking with forehand speed-ups off the bounce, the eastern grip gives you both the power and the spin to make those attacks effective.
Essentially, most offensive shots in your arsenal should come from an eastern grip. It’s the grip that allows you to play aggressive, modern pickleball with heavy topspin that pushes opponents around the court. The paddle face position makes it easier to hit down on the ball while still clearing the net, which is crucial for generating pace without errors.
The main drawback of the eastern grip is that slicing becomes more challenging. Because the paddle face naturally closes, creating backspin requires more manipulation of the paddle angle. This is precisely why Humberg adjusts her grip toward continental when she wants to hit slice shots. That small adjustment opens the paddle face just enough to slide under the ball and create backspin.
The Western Grip: The Extreme Topspin Option
The western grip is the most extreme of the three options, with the hand rotated significantly over the top of the paddle handle. Players who use this grip can generate absurd amounts of topspin with minimal effort. The ball practically rolls off the paddle face with rotation, allowing for aggressive baseline play with a high margin for error.
Professional players like Quang Duong have found success with the western grip, demonstrating that it can work at the highest levels. The physics make sense: with the paddle face so closed, any forward swing naturally creates massive topspin. For players who love to hit hard from the baseline and don’t mind making significant adjustments for other shots, the western grip can feel like a superpower.
However, there are serious tradeoffs that come with this grip choice. Countering fast balls becomes incredibly difficult because the paddle face is so closed that you have limited options for getting under the ball. Many western grip players resort to “pancaking” shots—flattening their paddle to absorb pace—which works but limits your ability to be offensive on defense.
The backhand presents an even bigger problem with the western grip. Because your hand is so far over the top of the paddle for your forehand, executing a backhand requires either an extreme grip change or some very awkward paddle manipulation. This is why you’ll see western grip players sometimes struggling with backhand exchanges or avoiding them altogether when possible.
Humberg is direct about her stance on the western grip: she doesn’t recommend it for anything in pickleball. She’s noticed that more amateur players gravitate toward this grip than she’d like, probably because it makes generating topspin feel easy at first. But that initial ease comes at the cost of versatility and the ability to handle different game situations effectively.
That said, pickleball is still an evolving sport, and there’s room for different approaches. If the western grip works for your game and you’ve found ways to compensate for its limitations, there’s no absolute rule against using it. These are recommendations based on what works for most players, not commandments carved in stone.
Should You Switch Grips During Play?
This is where things get interesting and where Humberg’s advice becomes especially valuable. She admits that she changes grips more frequently than probably any other professional player on tour. But in the same breath, she tells you not to try copying her approach.
The reason for this apparent contradiction is simple: Humberg has twenty years of tennis background. Those two decades of racket sport experience have given her muscle memory and hand flexibility that allow her to switch grips fluidly without conscious thought. Her hands make adjustments automatically based on the incoming ball and the shot she wants to hit.
If you’re relatively new to pickleball or don’t have an extensive background in tennis or other racket sports, attempting to mimic this grip-switching strategy will likely hurt your game rather than help it. Instead of focusing on the ball and your positioning, you’ll be thinking about your grip. That mental energy spent on grip changes is energy not spent on shot selection, court positioning, and reading your opponents.
Humberg’s recommendation for most players is straightforward: find a grip that feels comfortable and commit to it. Let that grip become second nature through repetition. If she had to choose just one grip to play her entire game with, she’d pick something between continental and eastern. That hybrid position offers enough versatility to handle most situations without requiring constant adjustments.
This middle-ground grip allows you to volley effectively at the kitchen line while still having enough paddle face closure to generate topspin when needed. It’s not perfect for every single shot, but it’s good enough for almost everything, which is exactly what most players need. The goal is consistency, not perfection.
By sticking with one grip, you allow your muscle memory to develop properly. Your hand learns exactly where it should be, and your brain can focus on higher-level strategy rather than mechanical adjustments. This is how real improvement happens in pickleball—through consistent repetition that builds automatic, reliable technique.
Finding Your Grip: Practical Steps Forward
So how do you actually implement this information on the court? Start by experimenting with the eastern grip if you’re not already using it. Spend a practice session or two just getting comfortable with how it feels. Hit forehands from various positions on the court and pay attention to how naturally topspin comes off your paddle.
If the eastern grip feels too closed and you’re struggling with volleys, adjust slightly toward continental until you find a position that feels natural. Remember that these grip categories are guidelines, not rigid boxes. Many successful players use grips that fall somewhere between the traditional positions.
Once you find a grip that feels right, commit to it for at least several weeks of regular play. Don’t judge it based on one session or one bad day. Your hand needs time to develop the muscle memory that makes the grip feel natural. During this adjustment period, you might actually play worse before you play better, and that’s completely normal.
Pay attention to which shots feel natural and which feel forced with your chosen grip. If you’re constantly struggling with a particular shot type, it might be worth making a small adjustment. But resist the urge to completely overhaul your grip every time something goes wrong. Small, incremental changes are almost always better than dramatic shifts.
Consider video recording your play to see what your grip actually looks like in action. Sometimes what feels like a certain grip position is actually something quite different when you see it on video. This visual feedback can be invaluable for making sure your hand is where you think it is.
The Mental Game of Grip Selection
Beyond the pure mechanics, there’s a psychological component to grip selection that doesn’t get discussed enough. When you’re constantly thinking about your grip during a game, you’re not fully present in the point. Your attention gets divided between mechanics and strategy, which inevitably leads to mistakes.
The players who excel at pickleball are the ones who’ve automated their technique to the point where they can focus entirely on the tactical battle. They’re reading their opponents’ positioning, anticipating shots, and setting up strategic patterns. They’re not thinking about whether their hand is in the right position because that part has become automatic.
This is why Humberg’s advice about finding one grip and sticking with it is so important. It’s not just about the physical benefits of consistency—it’s about freeing up your mental resources for the parts of the game that really matter. When your grip is automatic, you can focus on why you’re hitting a shot rather than how.
There’s also something to be said for confidence. When you trust your grip and your technique, you swing more freely. You commit to shots without hesitation. That confidence and commitment often make more difference than the specific technical details of your grip choice.
Advanced Considerations and Exceptions
While the advice to stick with one grip applies to most players, there are situations where grip changes make sense even for intermediate players. The transition between continental for volleys and eastern for groundstrokes is probably the most common and useful grip change in pickleball.
If you’re going to learn one grip change, make it this one. When you’re at the kitchen line trading volleys, the continental grip’s neutral face gives you excellent control. But when you back up to hit a groundstroke, quickly shifting to eastern allows you to generate the topspin needed for effective offensive shots.
The key word there is “quickly.” If you’re going to change grips, it needs to happen in a split second without conscious thought. This only comes from dedicated practice. Spend time just working on the transition itself—volley, back up, shift grip, hit groundstroke, move forward, shift grip back, volley. Repeat until it’s automatic.
Some players also find it useful to use a slightly different grip for their backhand versus their forehand. This is more common in tennis but can work in pickleball too, especially if you have a tennis background. Just be aware that it adds complexity to your game, so make sure the benefits outweigh the mental load.
Common Grip Mistakes to Avoid
One of the most frequent mistakes players make is gripping the paddle too tightly. Regardless of which grip style you use, tension in your hand and forearm reduces feel and control. Your grip should be firm enough to control the paddle but relaxed enough to allow for touch and finesse when needed.
Another common error is placing the hand too far down the handle or too high up near the paddle face. The optimal position is typically with your hand at the base of the handle, which maximizes your reach and leverage. Some players choke up on the handle for more control, but this should be a conscious choice rather than an unconscious habit.
Many players also fail to maintain consistent grip pressure throughout a point. They start with a relaxed grip but then tense up when they get into a fast exchange. This tension affects your shots in ways you might not even realize. Practice maintaining consistent, moderate grip pressure even during high-speed volleys.
Finally, some players change their grip unconsciously during play without realizing it. Your hand might start in the right position but gradually drift as you play. This is why it’s worth occasionally checking your grip between points to make sure it hasn’t shifted. Over time, you’ll develop better awareness and your grip will stay more consistent naturally.
The Evolution of Grips in Modern Pickleball
Pickleball technique continues to evolve rapidly as the sport grows and players bring innovations from other racket sports. The grips that work best today might shift as the game continues to develop. We’ve already seen a trend toward more topspin-heavy play, which has pushed more players toward eastern and even western grips.
Watching professional matches, you’ll notice that most top players use something close to an eastern grip for the majority of their shots. This reflects the modern emphasis on offensive baseline play and spin-based drops. The days of pure soft game with continental grips are largely behind us at the highest levels.
However, that doesn’t mean recreational players need to chase every trend in professional play. The pro game and the recreational game are different in meaningful ways. What works at the highest level might not be necessary or even optimal for weekend players. Focus on what makes your game better, not on slavishly copying professional technique.
That said, understanding how the game is evolving can inform your choices. If you’re serious about
