Four Amateur Pickleball Habits That Are Sabotaging Your Game

You’ve been playing pickleball for a while now. Your serves are landing in, you’re getting to the kitchen line more consistently, and you’re starting to hold your own in competitive matches. But despite all this progress, something feels off. You’re stuck at a certain level, and you can’t quite figure out why the breakthrough isn’t happening.

The truth is, your pickleball game might actually be better than you think. The problem isn’t necessarily your skill level or your athletic ability. Instead, four sneaky amateur habits could be quietly undermining everything you’re trying to accomplish on the court. These habits feel natural, they seem harmless, and in some cases, they might even work against weaker opponents. But against players who know what they’re doing, these patterns are costing you points, games, and matches.

Jordan Briones, a respected coach at Briones Pickleball Academy, has identified exactly what’s sabotaging your performance and provided clear, actionable fixes for each one. In his latest video, he breaks down these four critical mistakes that keep recreational players from advancing to the next level. What makes his insights particularly valuable is that these aren’t complicated technical flaws that require years to correct. They’re specific habits you can start addressing in your very next game.

Attacking From Too Low and Aiming at the Chest

Let’s start with a habit that probably feels completely natural to you. You see a ball sitting low, maybe around your shins or knees. Your instinct kicks in, telling you this is your moment to attack. You wind up and send that ball directly at your opponent’s chest with as much pace as you can generate. Against beginners, this might actually work. They panic, they mishit, and you win the point. But here’s the problem: this same shot is a gift to better players.

When you attack from a low position and aim at your opponent’s chest, you’re actually setting yourself up for disaster against anyone with decent reflexes and court awareness. Better players have devastating counters ready for exactly this situation. They’re expecting that chest-high ball because they know it’s the amateur move. The moment your attack leaves your paddle, they’re already preparing to send a fast counter directly at your feet. Now you’re scrambling, off-balance, and suddenly defending instead of attacking. The entire dynamic of the point has flipped in an instant.

The geometry of pickleball explains why this happens. When you’re hitting from a low position, you have to lift the ball significantly just to get it over the net. That upward trajectory combined with pace means the ball is arriving at a height that’s perfect for your opponent to counter. They don’t have to generate their own power because you’ve already done that work for them. They simply redirect your pace with a slight adjustment of their paddle angle, and the ball is screaming back at your feet before you’ve even recovered from your attack.

The fix requires discipline and a willingness to resist your attacking instincts in certain situations. If the ball is really low, somewhere around your ankles or shins, the smart play is simply to dink it. This isn’t being passive or defensive. It’s being strategic. You’re maintaining control of the point rather than handing your opponent an easy counter-attacking opportunity. Save your attacks for balls that are higher, where you can generate pace without having to lift the ball so dramatically.

But what if you’re absolutely determined to attack? Maybe you see an opening, or you sense your opponent is slightly out of position. In these situations, the key is to find an uncomfortable spot instead of just blasting it at their chest. Think about hitting toward their backhand side, where most players have less reach and less power. Or create what’s known as a “chicken wing” situation, where they have to reach awkwardly across their body to make contact. The goal is to make them work for their counter, to take away some of their options, and to force them into a less-than-ideal position for their return shot.

Bailing Out Under Pressure

Pressure situations reveal who has truly developed their game and who is still playing with amateur habits. Picture this scenario: You’re engaged in a dinking rally when suddenly your opponent starts moving you side to side. A dink comes at your feet while you’re stretched out toward the sideline. Another one forces you to reach in the opposite direction. The pace picks up slightly, and you feel yourself getting out of position. In this moment, panic mode kicks in, and you do what so many recreational players do. You just slap the ball anywhere without any real plan or purpose.

This is what coaches call “bailing out,” and it’s one of the clearest signs of an amateur player. When the pressure builds, instead of maintaining composure and executing a sound fundamental shot, you simply try to survive the moment by getting the ball back over the net in any way possible. The problem is that bailing out gives your opponent exactly what they want. They’ve succeeded in pressuring you, and now they have another opportunity to pressure you even more. You’ve essentially rewarded their aggressive play by giving them another attackable ball.

The psychological component of bailing out is just as important as the technical component. When you panic and slap at the ball, you’re operating from a defensive mindset. You’re reacting instead of responding. You’re playing not to lose instead of playing to win. This mental state tends to compound on itself. One panicked shot leads to another, and before you know it, you’ve lost control of the entire rally.

The solution sounds deceptively simple, but it requires conscious effort and practice to implement effectively. When you feel that pressure building, when you’re being moved around and the ball is coming at your feet, take a breath and execute a split step. That split step serves multiple purposes. Physically, it helps you get balanced and ready to move in any direction. Mentally, it gives you a tiny moment to calm yourself down and remember your fundamentals. Instead of that panicked slap, you hit a controlled dink.

This approach might not seem dramatic or exciting, but staying composed when things get tight is precisely what separates amateurs from advancing players. The best recreational players don’t have wildly different shot-making abilities than the players one level below them. What they have is better decision-making under pressure and the discipline to execute fundamental shots even when their heart rate is elevated and their opponent is applying pressure.

Popping Up Your Dinks Using the 3S Method

According to Briones, this is the most common mistake he sees on courts across the country. Players pop up their dinks, either off the bounce or on the volley, and suddenly their opponent has an easy put-away opportunity. One moment you’re engaged in what feels like a controlled dinking rally, and the next moment you’re watching the ball sail past you because your dink sat up just a few inches too high. The frustrating part is that you might not even realize what you’re doing wrong. You’re trying to dink, you’re aiming for the kitchen, but the ball keeps floating up into attackable positions.

The fundamental problem is depth control, and Briones teaches what he calls the 3S method to fix it. This systematic approach addresses the three key variables that determine where your dink lands and how high it arrives at your opponent.

The first S is Space. You need to create room between yourself and the ball by taking a drop step or shuffle step back. This might seem counterintuitive because many players think they should be moving forward, being aggressive, and taking the ball early. But if you don’t create space, especially on balls coming at you with any pace, you’ll be forced into a half volley with virtually no control. That half volley is almost guaranteed to pop up because you have no time to adjust your paddle angle or generate any meaningful topspin. By creating space, you give yourself options and time to execute a controlled shot.

The second S is Swing speed. This is where many recreational players go wrong without even realizing it. A fast swing pushes the ball way too far past the kitchen line. You might have perfect spacing and perfect paddle angle, but if you’re swinging fast, that ball is carrying deep into your opponent’s court, giving them an attackable ball at their chest or shoulders. The fix is to keep your swing slow and controlled, whether you’re hitting topspin or just lifting the ball. Think of it as a push or a lift rather than a swing. The slower, more controlled motion gives you much better depth control.

The third S is Size of swing. Even with good spacing and slow swing speed, a long follow-through will carry the ball too far. Amateur players often have backswings that are way too big for the shot they’re trying to execute. They take the paddle back a foot or more, then swing through with a full follow-through, and they wonder why their dinks keep sailing long. Keep your backswing minimal and just lift toward your target instead of swinging big. Your paddle might only move six to eight inches total from backswing to follow-through on a well-executed dink from certain positions.

Master these three elements of the 3S method, and you’ll land your dinks exactly where you want them, putting pressure on your opponent instead of handing them an easy attack. The beauty of this system is that it’s diagnostic. If your dinks are popping up, you can troubleshoot by checking each of the three S’s. Are you creating enough space? Is your swing speed too fast? Is your swing size too big? Usually, the problem will be obvious once you know what to look for.

Not Applying Pressure During Transition

Transition moments are the most critical points in any pickleball rally. When your opponents are moving up from the baseline toward the kitchen line, this is your golden opportunity to apply pressure and potentially win the point outright. Yet so many amateur players completely waste this opportunity by making poor decisions about when and how to hit the ball.

You have two good options during these transition moments. First, you can take the ball out of the air to limit your opponent’s reaction time. This is often the best choice because it cuts down the time they have to get set at the kitchen line. They’re still moving, still adjusting their position, and suddenly they have to deal with a ball coming at their feet. Second, you can take the ball off the bounce at the apex, that moment when the ball has reached its highest point and is just starting to descend. Hitting at the apex gives you good control and allows you to direct the ball with pace toward your opponent’s feet.

What you absolutely should not do is short-hop the ball. This is one of the biggest mistakes amateur players make during transition points. They let the ball bounce, but instead of creating space and waiting for the apex, they rush forward and try to hit the ball just as it’s coming up off the court. A short hop gives your opponent a free pass to the kitchen line because you can’t generate any topspin or meaningful pressure from that position. The ball tends to float, it lacks pace, and it gives your opponent plenty of time to get set and prepare their next shot.

The geometry and physics explain why short hops are so ineffective. When you hit a ball on the short hop, your paddle is moving in an upward motion to match the rising trajectory of the ball. This upward motion naturally imparts lift rather than topspin. Without topspin, you can’t drive the ball down at your opponent’s feet. Instead, the ball floats across the net at a comfortable height, exactly what your opponent wants as they’re establishing position at the kitchen line.

If you can’t take the ball out of the air during transition, the better approach is to create space and hit it off the apex instead. Take a step back, let the ball rise to its highest point, and then drive through it with topspin, aiming for your opponent’s feet. This keeps them honest, makes them uncomfortable, and potentially forces a pop-up that you can attack. Either way, whether you’re taking it out of the air or off the apex, try to find their feet and make them hit up on the ball while they’re still in motion.

Understanding These Habits: A Beginner’s Perspective

If you’re relatively new to pickleball or these concepts seem a bit technical, let’s break down why these four habits matter in simpler terms. Think of pickleball as a game of positioning and percentages. Every shot you hit either improves your position or makes it worse. These four amateur habits all have one thing in common: they make your position worse while making your opponent’s position better.

When you attack from too low at someone’s chest, you’re taking a low-percentage shot that good players can easily counter. It’s like taking a difficult shot in basketball when you have a better option available. When you bail out under pressure by just slapping the ball anywhere, you’re giving up control of the point. It’s similar to a quarterback in football throwing the ball away under pressure, except in pickleball, that panicked shot often goes right back to your opponent in a perfect position for them to attack.

Popping up your dinks is like serving up a batting practice pitch in baseball. You’re giving your opponent an easy ball to hit hard. And not applying pressure during transition is like a soccer team failing to press when the other team’s defense is disorganized. You had a perfect opportunity to create problems for your opponent, but you wasted it by making a poor choice.

The good news is that all four of these habits are completely fixable with awareness and deliberate practice. You don’t need to be more athletic, you don’t need a better paddle, and you don’t need years of training. You simply need to recognize when you’re falling into these patterns and make a conscious choice to do something different. Start with one habit, focus on correcting it for a few practice sessions or games, then move on to the next one.

Putting It All Together

These four habits might seem small in isolation, but collectively they’re the difference between staying stuck at your current level and actually improving in meaningful ways. The challenge is that these habits often work just fine against players at your current level or below. You can get away with attacking from low positions, bailing out under pressure, popping up dinks, and not pressuring during transition when you’re playing against people who have the same habits. Everyone is making the same mistakes, so nobody has a significant advantage.

But the moment you step up to play against someone who has eliminated even one or two of these habits, you’ll find yourself losing points you don’t understand. They seem to counter your attacks effortlessly. They stay composed when you try to pressure them. Their dinks are always low and controlled while yours keep popping up. They punish you during transition while you give them easy balls.

The path forward is clear. Watch yourself play, either by recording your games or by paying closer attention to your decision-making during points. Ask yourself after each rally whether you fell into any of these four amateur habits. Did you attack from too low at someone’s chest? Did you bail out under pressure instead of executing a controlled dink? Did your dink pop up because you failed to create space, swung too fast, or had too big of a swing? Did you short-hop a ball during transition instead of taking it out of the air or off the apex?

As you become more aware of these patterns, you’ll start catching yourself in real-time. You’ll feel the impulse to attack that low ball at someone’s chest, but you’ll remember Briones’s advice and choose a controlled dink instead. You’ll feel pressure building during a rally, but instead of panicking, you’ll take a breath, split step, and execute a fundamental shot. You’ll see your opponent moving up to the kitchen line, and instead of short-hopping the ball, you’ll create space and drive it at their feet off the apex.

These small adjustments compound over time. Each point you save by making a smarter decision is a point your opponent doesn’t get. Each rally you extend by staying composed under pressure is another opportunity for your opponent to make a mistake. Each low, controlled dink you hit is one less attackable ball you’re giving away. And each time you apply pressure during transition, you’re making it harder for your opponents to establish their preferred position at the kitchen line.

The beauty of focusing on these four habits is that improvement doesn’t require you to develop new skills. You’re not learning a completely new shot or mastering a complex technique. You’re simply making better decisions with the skills you already have. That makes the path to improvement much faster and more accessible than you might think. Within just a few practice sessions, you can start seeing results. Within a few weeks of focused attention on these habits, you’ll notice that you’re competing better against players who used to beat you consistently.

Remember that even professional players had to work through these exact same habits at some point in their development. The difference between a 3.5 player and a 4.0 player often comes down to these fundamental decision-making patterns more than pure shot-making ability. By addressing these four amateur habits now, you’re building the foundation for continued