Pickleball Strategy for Beginners: 3 Simple Rules to Win More Games

Main Points

• Serve deep to the backhand: A deep serve keeps opponents away from the kitchen and makes their next shot more difficult.
• Serve and stay: After serving, stay behind the baseline rather than immediately moving forward and risking an unbalanced shot.
• Target the player moving toward the kitchen: Hitting to an opponent while they are moving forward can force them to hit while off balance.
• Return deep to the middle: A deep return gives you a safer target and helps keep opponents from creating angles.
• Return and run: Move toward the kitchen immediately after a deep return to maintain your advantage and reduce the opponent’s available targets.
• Understand the advantage scale: A rally can be neutral, advantageous, or disadvantageous. Getting both partners to the kitchen can create a significant advantage.
• Recognize the power threshold: Hitting harder isn’t always better. Excessive power can reduce accuracy and control.
• Use “above the face, hit it with pace; below the chin, hit it with spin”: Higher balls can be attacked more aggressively, while lower balls should generally be handled with spin rather than excessive pace.
• Keep the ball in play: Beginners can win more games simply by avoiding unnecessary errors and waiting for opponents to make mistakes.
• Think in sequences: Your serve influences your third shot, while your return influences your fourth shot. Connecting shots together makes strategy easier to remember and execute.

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Summary

This video presents a simple approach to pickleball strategy designed to make the most important concepts easy to remember and use during a game. Instead of trying to memorize dozens of individual tips, the focus is on a few high-impact strategies involving the serve, return, positioning, and shot selection.

The first strategy is to serve deep to the opponent’s backhand and then stay behind the baseline. A deep serve keeps the receiver farther from the kitchen and gives the serving team more time to prepare for the next shot. Rather than immediately stepping forward and potentially having to hit while moving backward, the recommendation is to serve, stay balanced, and move forward after seeing the return. When the opponent is moving toward the kitchen, targeting that player can also create a more difficult shot because they are less likely to be balanced.

For the return, the strategy is similarly straightforward: give yourself space, return deep toward the middle, and then run to the kitchen. Standing a foot or two behind the baseline provides more room to handle balls that arrive at your feet. A deep middle return is a relatively safe target while still making it difficult for the opponents to attack. Moving forward after the return is critical because reaching the kitchen reduces the amount of court your opponents have available as a target.

The video also introduces the idea of an advantage scale, where a team can be in a neutral, advantageous, or disadvantageous position. Getting both players to the kitchen after the return can turn the receiving team’s initial advantage into an even stronger position. Conversely, staying back can allow the opponents to take control of the rally.

Another major lesson is to stop assuming that hitting harder will automatically produce better results. The video describes a power threshold: beyond a certain level of power, accuracy and control begin to decline. This is especially important for beginners, who may be tempted to hit every ball as hard as possible. Instead, players should learn to recognize which balls can safely be attacked and which require more controlled shots.

Two memorable rules reinforce this concept: “above the face, hit it with pace; below the chin, hit it with spin.” The idea is that higher balls provide more opportunity to attack aggressively, while lower balls should generally be handled with spin rather than excessive pace. The overall message is simple: maintain balance, avoid overswinging, keep the ball in play, and let opponents make mistakes.

The overarching strategy is to think about pickleball as a series of connected shots. Your serve sets up your third shot, while your return sets up your fourth shot. By remembering a few simple sequences—serve deep and stay, return deep and run, and control your power—beginners can apply effective pickleball strategy without becoming overwhelmed by complicated tactics.

Source: ThatPickleballGuy – Kyle Koszuta | YouTube

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Tags: pickleball strategy | Serve | Serve Return | Strategy | ThatPickleballGuy - Kyle Koszuta