How to Attack Drives and Beat Bangers in Pickleball

Getting absolutely demolished by hard hitters? Yeah, we’ve all been there. You’re standing at the net, minding your own business, and suddenly someone unleashes a drive that feels like it’s traveling at light speed. Your instinct is to swing harder, to match their power with your own. But here’s the thing: that’s exactly the wrong move.

The lesson is simple, but execution is the tricky part: control the point through positioning and technique, not through raw power. Instead of getting pushed around by aggressive drives, you can actually take control of the point and turn defense into offense. Better still, it’s not nearly as complicated as you might think.

Understanding the Banger Problem

Before we dive into the solutions, it’s worth understanding what we’re up against. In pickleball, “bangers” are players who rely heavily on powerful drives and aggressive shots to dominate points. They’re the ones who seem to hit everything hard, forcing you into defensive positions and making you feel like you’re constantly scrambling. For players who are newer to the sport or who haven’t developed specific countering strategies, facing these aggressive hitters can feel overwhelming and frustrating.

The natural response is to try matching their power, but this creates a problem. When you swing harder, you typically sacrifice control and consistency. You end up making more errors, getting pulled out of position, and ultimately playing right into the banger’s strategy. They want you to try hitting harder because that’s when mistakes happen. The solution requires a fundamental shift in how you approach these rallies, and it starts with understanding that you don’t need to generate power when your opponent is already providing it.

The Power Paradox: Less Swing, More Control

Let’s start with the counterintuitive part. When someone’s ripping a drive at you, your natural reaction is to muscle it back. But here’s something that separates elite players from everyone else: you don’t need to swing hard when your opponent is already doing the heavy lifting for you.

This is the fundamental mindset shift that changes everything. Instead of a full swing, you’re looking at extension. Think of it like catching a ball and redirecting it, not like you’re trying to hit a home run. Your paddle stays flat, your wrist stays locked, and you let the opponent’s power do the work. It sounds simple because it actually is, but executing it requires understanding the mechanics.

The physics here are straightforward. When a ball comes at you with significant pace, it already has kinetic energy. Your job isn’t to add more energy through a big swing, but rather to redirect that existing energy back toward your target. This is why top players often look effortless when handling hard drives. They’re not working harder; they’re working smarter by understanding how to use their opponent’s power against them.

This approach also has a psychological component. When bangers see their hardest shots coming back at them with depth and control, it frustrates their game plan. They start questioning whether their strategy is working, and often they’ll either make adjustments that take them out of their comfort zone or they’ll try hitting even harder, which typically leads to more errors. Either way, you’ve disrupted their rhythm without changing your own game plan.

The One-Handed Backhand Counter: Your New Best Friend

The one-handed backhand counter is the bread and butter of drive defense. This is the most important shot you need in your arsenal when facing aggressive hitters, and mastering it will transform how you handle power players.

Here’s what makes it work: you get low, and I mean seriously low. Your knees should be bent, your center of gravity dropped, creating a stable base from which to handle incoming pace. Keep your paddle face flat, and extend through the ball. This is crucial: no wrist involvement. No shoulder rotation. Just your forearm doing the work. Your elbow bends to prepare, then straightens as you extend through the contact point. That’s the entire motion.

The positioning of your shot matters tremendously. You want to aim for the back third of the court, not the net. When you execute this correctly, the ball lands deep and low, making it nearly impossible for your opponent to hit a quality fifth shot. They’re stuck at their feet, scrambling to get the ball up. You’ve just flipped the entire dynamic of the point from defense to offense.

The consistency of ball placement is what separates a floating counter from a devastating one. The key is keeping that paddle face neutral or slightly angled downward if the ball is high. If it’s low, stay dead flat. This precision requires practice and repetition, but once you develop the muscle memory, you’ll find yourself handling drives with confidence rather than fear.

One of the biggest mistakes players make with this shot is trying to do too much. They’ll attempt to add spin or angle the ball too aggressively, which usually results in errors. Keep it simple. Focus on clean contact, proper extension, and depth. The pace of your opponent’s shot combined with your controlled redirect creates enough difficulty for them to handle.

When to Switch to the Two-Handed Backhand

Now, the one-handed backhand works for most situations, but there are specific moments when you need to load up with both hands. This is where court positioning becomes crucial, and understanding these situations can elevate your defensive game significantly.

If you’re on the left side of the court, use the two-handed backhand only when the ball is in the corner. If you’re on the right side, use it when the ball is anywhere on the right side of the court. The reason for this specificity? You need to protect your body and maintain the ability to slide or open up if the ball pulls away from you.

When you’re loading the two-handed backhand, don’t start way back. Stay relatively neutral, ready to adjust based on where the ball actually goes. As the ball comes toward you, take a minor backswing, return to neutral, and then extend with your left hand driving through the court. Same principle as the one-hander: you’re going through the ball, not chopping at it.

The danger of slicing the volley when the ball gets off your body is that it becomes an easy tell for opponents to crash the net. By loading the two-handed backhand in those corner situations, you maintain aggression while staying in control. You’re not giving away your defensive position through your shot selection.

The two-handed backhand also provides additional stability when you’re stretched wide or dealing with balls that have awkward bounce patterns. The extra hand on the paddle gives you more control over the paddle face and allows you to generate adequate pace even when you’re in a compromised position. This is particularly important when facing players who deliberately target your corners to pull you off the court.

Packing the Middle: The Advanced Move

Here’s where things get interesting, and this is a concept that most recreational players don’t think about, but top-level competitors absolutely do: packing the middle.

When someone drives from the corners, it’s straightforward. You know where to position yourself based on court geometry and angles. But when the ball comes from the middle or slightly to either side, that’s where players get caught in no-man’s-land, unsure whether to take the ball as a forehand or backhand. The solution? Commit to your backhand.

Instead of trying to guess whether you should hit a forehand or backhand when the ball is in the middle, just take everything as a backhand. Slide into the middle of the court, stay aggressive, and focus on extension rather than worrying about opening or closing your paddle face. If the ball pulls way over to the forehand side, sure, you might need to open up and adjust. But for most middle balls, you’re taking them as backhands.

This positioning strategy allows you to be more aggressive overall. You’re not standing in a neutral position trying to cover everything equally. You’re committing to a strategy that protects against the highest-level threat first, which is the drive. By favoring your backhand and positioning accordingly, you eliminate the indecision that often leads to poor shot selection or late reactions.

The mental clarity this provides cannot be overstated. When you know your default positioning and shot selection before the point even starts, you can focus entirely on execution rather than decision-making. This split-second advantage makes a massive difference when dealing with balls traveling at high speeds.

Additionally, packing the middle often forces your opponents to try hitting to the edges of the court to beat you, which naturally increases their error rate. They can’t simply blast balls at your body or through the middle anymore because you’re positioned and prepared to handle those shots. This subtle shift in court positioning can completely change the risk-reward calculation for aggressive players.

The Strategy Behind the Technique

What these techniques really teach is a fundamental principle of pickleball strategy: control the point through positioning and technique, not through raw power. The players who dominate at higher levels aren’t necessarily the strongest hitters. They’re the ones who understand how to use their opponent’s power against them, much like a martial artist redirecting force rather than meeting it head-on.

This approach builds tremendous confidence. When you stop getting pushed back and start controlling the rally, your entire game changes. You’re no longer reacting; you’re dictating. And that psychological shift is just as important as the technical one. You begin to relish facing hard hitters because you know you have the tools to neutralize their biggest weapon.

The beauty of this system is that it scales with your improvement. As you get better at executing these counters, you can start adding variation. Maybe you redirect a drive down the line instead of cross-court. Perhaps you intentionally drop the ball short at their feet after several deep counters. But these advanced variations only work when you’ve mastered the fundamental technique first.

Consider how this fits into the broader context of beating bangers and maintaining control at the kitchen line. The principles align: don’t try to overpower power, use positioning and technique to control the point, and maintain composure under pressure. These aren’t isolated skills but part of a comprehensive approach to high-level pickleball.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even when players understand the theory behind these techniques, execution often breaks down due to common mistakes. Being aware of these pitfalls can accelerate your improvement significantly.

First, many players stand too upright when attempting to counter drives. This high posture makes it difficult to get your paddle under the ball and reduces your stability. Remember: get low, stay low, and extend from that low position. Your legs should feel the burn after rallies with bangers.

Second, players often use too much wrist action trying to generate their own pace or spin. This inconsistency in paddle face angle leads to erratic results. Lock that wrist, keep the paddle face stable, and let extension do the work. The ball should feel like it’s almost glued to your paddle face momentarily as you redirect it.

Third, many players aim too close to the net, either out of fear or in an attempt to hit winners. This is a mistake. Depth is your friend when countering drives. Aim for the back third of the court, and if you miss, you’d rather miss long than into the net. A deep ball that lands out by a foot is still better than a ball that floats mid-court and sets up your opponent for another attack.

Fourth, poor court positioning undermines even perfect technique. If you’re standing too far forward or too far back, you’ll struggle to handle drives effectively regardless of your stroke mechanics. Find that optimal position about a step behind the kitchen line, adjusted based on your opponent’s position and tendencies.

Finally, players often lack commitment to their shot selection. They start to execute a one-handed backhand, then second-guess themselves mid-swing and try to switch to a forehand. This indecision is deadly. Commit to your choice early and execute fully.

Practice Drills to Master These Techniques

Understanding the theory is one thing, but developing the muscle memory and consistency to execute under pressure requires deliberate practice. Here are some drills that can help you master these drive-countering techniques.

Start with a partner feeding you drives from the baseline while you stand just behind the kitchen line. Begin slowly, focusing entirely on technique: low stance, flat paddle face, extension through the ball. Don’t worry about where the ball goes initially. Once your mechanics feel solid, start focusing on depth, trying to land every counter in the back third of the court.

Progress to a drill where your partner alternates between driving to your backhand corner, forehand corner, and middle. This forces you to make quick decisions about whether to use a one-handed backhand, two-handed backhand, or forehand. Pay attention to which situations cause you the most difficulty and focus extra repetitions there.

For more advanced practice, have your partner drive randomly while you and another player are both at the kitchen line. This adds the complexity of coordinating with a partner and dealing with potential confusion about who should take middle balls. This game-like scenario helps you develop the decision-making skills that complement your technique.

Video yourself during these drills. Often, what you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing are different. Watching footage can reveal if you’re swinging too much, standing too high, or making other technical errors that are difficult to self-diagnose in the moment.

Adapting to Different Types of Bangers

Not all aggressive players are the same, and being able to adapt your counter-driving strategy to different styles is important for consistent success. Some bangers hit with heavy topspin, making the ball dive quickly after crossing the net. Others hit flatter drives that stay lower throughout their trajectory. Some target your body, while others try to exploit the corners.

Against topspin-heavy drivers, you may need to adjust your paddle angle slightly more closed (facing downward) to account for the ball’s tendency to kick up after bouncing. Your contact point might also need to be slightly further in front of your body to catch the ball before it rises too much.

Against flat, hard hitters, focus even more on staying low and keeping your paddle face completely flat. These balls won’t have as much vertical movement, so your counter needs to provide the necessary trajectory to clear the net and land deep.

When facing body-hunters who consistently drive at your chest and hips, positioning becomes even more critical. Give yourself slightly more space behind the kitchen line, and don’t be afraid to take a small step back if needed to create the room necessary for proper technique.

Understanding these adaptations comes from experience and observation. Pay attention to the ball’s behavior off your opponent’s paddle. The spin, speed, and trajectory will tell you what adjustments you need to make in your counter-driving technique.

The Mental Game of Facing Power Players

Technical skill alone won’t make you successful against bangers. The mental side of the game plays an enormous role in how well you handle aggressive players. Many recreational players defeat themselves mentally before the point even starts, assuming they’ll get overpowered and playing tentatively as a result.

Confidence in your counter-driving ability comes from preparation and repetition. When you’ve successfully handled hundreds of drives in practice, your nervous system recognizes the situation and responds appropriately without conscious thought. This is why consistent practice is so important, it literally rewires your brain’s response to high-pressure situations.

Maintain a neutral emotional state when facing hard hitters. Don’t get frustrated when they hit a winner, and don’t get overconfident when you successfully counter several shots in a row. Stay present, focused on the next ball, and trust your technique. This emotional regulation prevents the momentum swings that often favor aggressive players.

Remember that patience is a weapon against bangers. They’re often looking for quick points and can become frustrated when their power isn’t producing immediate results. By consistently returning drives with depth and control, you force them to sustain rallies, which many power players find mentally taxing. This is similar to the approach discussed in smart defense at the kitchen line, where calming things down and getting back to neutral footing is often more effective than matching aggression.

Integrating Counter-Driving into Your Overall Game

These counter-driving techniques shouldn’t exist in isolation but should be integrated into your