Understanding how to correctly hold a pickleball paddle can make a difference in playing to the best of your abilities, leading to more victories.
Regardless of the sport, how you hold the equipment is a vital component of it. Sports such as golf, baseball, and hockey all require athletes to have a good, firm grip on their tools of the trade. Pickleball is no different. We’ll break down how to correctly hold a pickleball paddle and the pros and cons of each style to help you determine what best suits you.
The Three Standard Grips
You can use one of three grips to hold your paddle: the continental, eastern, or western grip. Each has its benefits and downsides, but the continental grip is the most common, particularly for newer players. Therefore, we’ll focus only on how to hold the paddle employing the continental grip.
The Octagon
When picklers reference the “octagon,” they’re refering to the bottom of the paddle. This is the easiest way to understand the proper grip. The first step of using the continental grip is placing your index finger’s knuckle on the octagon’s second notch. You’ll want to keep your hand over the paddle’s edge, with your thumb and pointer finger on the side of the paddle. When you slide your hand down to the handle, your finger should be on the second bevel, making a V-like shape pointing back to you.
Strong, Neutral, or Weak
You can begin to tinker with different ways to hold the paddle once you have the continental grip down pat. A strong, neutral, or weak grip is about where that V points.
A neutral grip is, as you’d imagine, the middle of the road. You’ll probably employ this grip instinctively when you first grab a paddle. A neutral position is the most well-rounded grip, giving you the best chance at doing most types of shots—particularly dink shots.
A weak grip will have you rotating your wrist to the left. The primary benefit of a weak grip is an open paddle face, leading to funky spin and cut shots. Other than that, a weak grip will more than likely hurt your game.
A strong grip will have you move your wrist to the right. This grip will lead to some vicious forehands and other aggressive shots. This might be the most fun of the three grips, but keeping it under control instead of crushing balls out of bounds may take time.
Changes Throughout the Game
You can generally maintain the same grip throughout most of the match, but you might consider altering it in some situations, depending on the scenario. For example, a neutral grip works if you stay on the baseline. But if the action gets closer to the net, you might want to switch to a stronger grip for more potent shots.
Now that you know how to hold a pickleball paddle correctly, you can head to the courts and see how it feels. Fromuth Pickleball has several pickleball paddles for sale that you’ll see on the professional circuit. Grab one of the best JOOLA paddles today and get a grip on your game!
