10 Pickleball Drills to Improve Faster (Solo and Partner)

Most players improve slowly for one reason: they only play games. Games are fun, but in a typical rec game you might hit six third-shot drops all afternoon. Thirty minutes of focused drilling gets you two hundred. That ratio is why drilling players pass game-only players who have been at it twice as long.

Below are ten drills that cover the shots that actually decide points, each with a solo version, a partner version, and a clear note on what it fixes. You do not need all ten. Pick the two that target your biggest leak and run them every week.

Before You Start: How to Drill Well

Three rules make drilling work:

1. Give every rep a target. "Hit some dinks" is not a drill. "Land 20 dinks cross-court inside the kitchen line" is.
2. Count and keep score. Chase a number. Consistency records create pressure, and pressure is what makes practice transfer to matches.
3. Finish with random practice. Block practice (same shot repeated) builds the stroke. Random practice (unpredictable shots) builds the decision. Do 20 minutes of block, then 10 minutes of something game-like.

The 10 Drills

1. Wall dinking

What it fixes: Soft hands, paddle-face control, contact point out in front.

Solo: Stand about 7 feet from a smooth wall. Mark a line at 34 inches (net height) with tape. Dink continuously, keeping every ball above the line and landing softly. Aim for 50 consecutive without a miss, then switch to backhand only, then alternate.

Partner: Straight-ahead dinks at the kitchen line, both players moving nothing but their paddle. Count consecutive dinks as a team. Two people who can rally 100 dinks are two people who have stopped popping balls up.

2. Cross-court dink battle

What it fixes: Patience, angle awareness, and the discipline to not attack an unattackable ball.

Solo: Not practical, but you can shadow the footwork: slide-step along the kitchen line, touching a cone at each end, keeping your paddle up in front.

Partner: Both players stand at the kitchen line diagonally opposite each other and dink cross-court only. Rule: you may only speed up a ball that bounces above net height. Play to 11. This one drill probably teaches more about intermediate doubles than any other.

3. Dink to targets

What it fixes: Placement, specifically the ability to move an opponent instead of just keeping the ball in.

Solo: Place two cones or towels in the kitchen — one at the sideline, one at the middle T — and drop-feed yourself balls, aiming at each in turn.

Partner: Same targets, live dink rally. Score a point for each target hit. Then add the real goal: dink to your opponent's feet and to their backhand-side hip, the two spots that generate pop-ups.

4. The third-shot drop ladder

What it fixes: The single most valuable shot in doubles, and the one most players skip practicing.

Solo: Drop-feed from the baseline into an empty kitchen, 30 balls. Track how many land in. Then move to the transition zone and repeat.

Partner: Your partner stands at the kitchen line and feeds you a deep ball at the baseline. You drop; they let it bounce and feed again. Run 20 reps, then move up one step at a time — baseline, mid-court, transition zone — hitting a drop from each. That is the "ladder": the drop has to work from every distance, not just the baseline.

5. Drop and go

What it fixes: The gap between hitting a good drop and actually getting to the kitchen behind it.

Solo: Shadow it. Baseline drop motion, three steps in, split-step, freeze in ready position. Twenty reps builds the pattern.

Partner: Partner feeds deep, you drop, then advance and split-step as they hit the next ball. They alternate randomly between a soft dink and a hard drive so you have to read it. Most points are lost in the transition zone, not at the baseline.

6. The reset drill (the hot seat)

What it fixes: Blocking hard drives and turning defense into a neutral rally instead of a lost point.

Solo: Wall work at low intensity — stand close, hit the ball hard into the wall, and absorb the rebound softly so it drops in front of you. Focus on a loose grip and a paddle that gives rather than punches.

Partner: You stand in the transition zone; your partner stands at the kitchen line and drives at you continuously with medium pace. Your only job is to reset each ball softly into the kitchen. Thirty balls, then swap. Loosen your grip pressure — most failed resets are a death grip, not bad technique.

7. Kitchen-line hands battle

What it fixes: Reaction time, compact blocks, and the counter-attack.

Solo: Close wall volleys from 4 feet, alternating forehand and backhand, no backswing. Sixty seconds on, thirty off, four rounds.

Partner: Both at the kitchen line, one player starts a firefight with a medium-pace ball at the other's chest, and you go until someone misses. Rule: no swinging, paddle stays in front, elbows in. Add a variation where you must aim every counter at your opponent's right shoulder — the hardest spot for most players to defend.

8. Serve depth targets

What it fixes: Short serves that hand the returner an easy attacking position.

Solo: Lay a rope, towel, or line of balls across the court 3 feet inside the baseline. Serve 50 balls and count how many land in the deep third. Track the number each week. Add a second target: 10 to the backhand, 10 to the body, 10 wide.

Partner: Same, but your partner returns, so you also practice the recovery step and the ready position after serving.

9. Return depth and approach

What it fixes: Weak returns, and the failure to reach the kitchen after returning.

Solo: Shadow the return: split-step, unit turn, low-to-high swing path, then four steps to the kitchen line and a split-step. Fifteen reps a side.

Partner: Partner serves, you return deep past the same 3-foot marker, then sprint to the kitchen line and freeze. Score it: 1 point for a deep return, 1 more for arriving and split-stepping before your partner's next contact. A deep return plus a fast approach is the highest-percentage way to take control of a doubles point.

10. Skinny singles

What it fixes: Everything — under pressure. This is the random-practice finisher.

Solo: Not applicable, but a strong substitute is a 10-minute footwork circuit: lateral shuffles along the kitchen line, forward-back split-steps, and cone touches in the four corners.

Partner: Play singles using only half the court, either straight ahead or cross-court. It is one of the best conditioning and shot-selection games in the sport: you cannot rely on your partner, you have to construct points, and every drop and reset you drilled gets tested. Play to 11, switch halves, play again.

A Simple Weekly Plan

If you can practice three times a week, this works well:

• Session A (60 min): Drills 4 and 5 (drops and transition), finish with skinny singles.
• Session B (45 min): Drills 1, 2, 3 (soft game), finish with a dink-only game to 11.
• Session C (30 min, solo): Drills 8 and 9 at an empty court, plus 10 minutes of wall volleys.

Then play your normal rec and league games. Six to eight weeks of that is usually enough for the difference to be obvious to everyone you play with.

Turn Drilling into Results

Drilling is only half the loop. The other half is testing it in matches that count and watching whether your numbers move. On GameTime you can find pickup games and drilling partners at your level, browse coaches if you want eyes on your technique, and register for local leagues and tournaments so your improvement shows up in recorded results. It is free, and having the partner search and the event calendar in one place removes the most common excuse for not drilling: nobody to drill with.

The Bottom Line

You do not need a new paddle to get better this month. You need targets, reps, and a record of whether the number is going up. Pick two drills that attack your biggest leak, run them weekly, and finish every session with something game-like so the skill transfers. That is the entire method.

Related reading: How to Raise Your DUPR Rating: A Practical Plan · Control vs Power Paddles: Which Style Fits Your Game? · How DUPR Ratings Actually Work