Level Up Your Pickleball Game: Say Goodbye to Exploding Forehand Volleys!
We’ve all been there: a beautifully high, juicy ball floats your way, practically begging to be smashed into next week. Your eyes light up, you swing with the fury of a thousand suns, and… whack! It either plummets directly into the net or blasts way past the baseline. Why does a shot that looks so easy end up going so spectacularly wrong?
Coach Cori Elliott is here to fix exactly that. Working with student Lauren, Cori breaks down the secrets to mastering the forehand swinging volley, turning your frustrating errors into reliable point-winners.
Here is how you can stop hitting your forehand volleys out and start dominating the court.
1. Ditch the “Wristy Business”
The number one culprit behind the exploding volley is excessive wrist movement. When you snap or lag your wrist, you lose complete control over the paddle angle, leading to wild shots.
- The Fix: Keep your swing compact and stable. Cori suggests visualizing your paddle face staying parallel to the net during the setup.
- Try This: As you swing through, focus on keeping your wrist relatively firm. To force yourself into a compact motion and prevent over-swinging, try catching your paddle with your non-dominant hand at the end of the follow-through. Think of it like a short, controlled punch rather than a giant tennis groundstroke.
2. Close the Book
If you find your ball sailing long, your follow-through is likely finishing too high or twisting outward, which opens the paddle face and lifts the ball.
- The Fix: Guide the ball forward and turn over the shot. Cori uses a fantastic analogy: “Close the book.” * Try This: Start with your arm out in front (comfortably within your peripheral vision, never lagging behind your shoulder). Swing through the ball, driving the top of your paddle forward, and finish across your body as if you are cleanly closing a book. Point your follow-through toward your target to guarantee laser-like depth and direction.
3. Get Out of Your Heels (The 7-Eleven Secret)
You can have the most beautiful hand technique in the world, but if your feet are glued to the court, your shots are going to suffer. If you are leaning backward or sitting heavily in your heels, your core disconnects, and you end up relying entirely on arm muscle. That cuts your power in half and destroys your accuracy.
- The Fix: Engage your lower body and shift your momentum forward.
- Try This: Imagine you are about to sit into a chair, engaging your knees and your core, but keep your weight leaning slightly forward on your toes. When that high ball drops, step dynamically into the shot.
- The Goal: When you engage your shoulders and core rather than just flailing your arm, you unlock effortless depth. Master this positioning, and you’ll be serving up easy putaways all day long—as Cori calls them, “putaways like 7-Eleven!”
Practice Makes Perfect
At the end of the day, your technique might be solid, but your body needs to be in the right place to execute it. Whether you are drilling with a partner or working with a ball machine, focus on staying low, leaning forward, keeping that wrist steady, and closing the book on your follow-through.
Get out there, stay aggressive, and start turning those high balls into effortless points! For a full visual breakdown of these tips, check out the training session on Cori Elliott’s YouTube Channel.
