The Best Pickleball Grip 

What Grip do you use?

You are an amazing coach. Loved all the helpful info you’ve shared!

Thank you can’t wait to try this grip today.

I"ve been palming it, and now I know better. Thank you!!!

I will be using the Continental Grip now. Before it was just a Whatever grip. Thank you for your videos!

Started pickleball two weeks ago. I come from badminton, table tennis and tennis. Started with a naturally continental grip, moved to using semi-western at the back for more forehands and continental at the NVZ I'm really enjoying the sport at the moment. It's low stress but pretty high intensity as well, just love it!

Excellent! Thanks for reiterating what I always tell players/students about the ‘basics’ being the foundation for your game. I would pay you what you ask, just to tell me what I already know. It’s like an echo and I love it. I use markers as you do, to explain the different and quasi grips. I believe as you do that ergonomics are a very personal thing because we are all slightly different. Ultimately we come to hold and wield the paddle/racket(racquet) in the way that it’s the most comfortable and tends not to cause pain or discomfort. Another key aspect is how the ‘paddle face orientation’ is, before, during and after the stroke/swing. That being the direction you want the ball to go. Timing is another factor and it goes w/o saying that ‘footwork’ is absolutely key, in order to put you behind or alongside that ball while stroking it, not slapping at it. To get the body involved and not isolated from the paddle/racket arm. Personally I start out with the Continental grip and go through the others during a game depending. I’m a but disappointed you mentioned the other sports but not Badminton. Although I played all the others, Badminton won me over in the end. I still love them all, but try to use Badminton specific skills on some play/hits during a game. Coming to grips with your paddle in PB is so basic and needed when you observe, as you have, such a wide variety of quasi or background specific grips, lol! Cheers! So nicely explained and spelled out. 👍

Wow! I’m a PE teacher and have been struggling trying to figure out why one of my students always pops up his shot or why another can’t seem to make the switch to a backhand. Such a simple answer and I didn’t see it. They are holding the paddle in the palm not their fingers! I learned so much from just this video and the common mistakes one. You are great at educating.

Ping Pong. Tried the Continental for the past 6 months, fair results. Went back to Ping Pong with great success.

Great tips, have to focus on these and see if they help us. THX !!

great points

Continental grip. I just realized watching that only a short time ago I'd started putting a finger on the back to "stabilize" my paddle (on the well-meaning advice of an instructor). Coincidentally, in the last little while I have had balls bounce off fingers of my paddle hand. I hadn't realized the correlation until just now...that never happened when I didn't have a finger on the edge of the paddle face. Time to change back!

I've seen lot's of PB videos and really appreciate your well-communicated video. I'm a long-time tennis player (also play TT and squash) and since I focus on tennis doubles, I use continental since it makes serve & volley much easier. Along with my two-handed BH, I haven't had to change anything moving to PB. I play with a 4-1/2" tennis grip and find most paddle handles to be too small. I wish paddle handles had hard palettes like tennis racquets to make customization of grip sizes easier (using a tennis heat-shrink sleeve to increase grip size would melt most PB handles). IMO that old school PB rule about using smaller grip sizes isn't as applicable for current play styles where driving on 3rd and 5th shots and more aggressive hitting are used.

I came from squash and found I struggled with my grip when starting out in pickle ball. I am still a newbie and am still adjusting my grip. this video as well as your others are greatly appreciated.

I am a former ambidextrous tennis player. It served me well in that sport. Will I be at an advantage or disadvantage as an ambidextrous pickleball player?

I come from table tennis and I have at least one finger on the paddle itself. It gives me a little more stability but you're right, I often hit the ball with my fingers. Where should my thumb go?

Been playing for about 3 months, I enjoy the ping pong grip because of my ping pong experience. I am trying to get used to the continental grip but I feel myself going back to the ping pong grip in tight points in the game. I ordered a continental grip type of mold off amazon which i hope will help me get used to that grip.

I use the Continental grip with the Ping Pong stabilizing finger. (IS that what you are calling the Pong Pong grip in the list at 1:20?) I tried to switch to having the finger down, but it just distracts me too much, and my grip is working well for me, so I' m just staying with it. One allowance I've made for that, as I used to get hit on the finger now and then, is to buy one of the new oval shaped paddles (I use the Prince). That immediate fanning outward from the handle enables me to keep my finger out of the way, as I rest it on the edge. What are the "Eastern forehand", the "Western Forehand" and the "Ping Pong" (if not what I described)? BTW, when I played a lot of Ping Pong, I found that I can play well right handed with the Continental grip, and left handed with the "Chinese" grip (paddle facing down from the palm , rather than up) with my left hand, but not the other way around with either hand. Weird, eh?

McEnroe used continental on all of his shots. Really weird, but allowed him to do magic on the court.

i come from table tennis where i used the penhold grip. tried to use it in pickleball with no success. so i have to use the continental grip.

I just started playing pickleball about two months ago and I’ve unconsciously started putting my index finger on the back side of the paddle, I think because I did this over 40 years ago playing tons of ping pong in the dormitory basement. It feels natural and comfortable but is this limiting my pickleball success or should I nip it in the bud? Thanks for all the great videos, Peter.

I use the ping pong grip with one finger. I recently bought a new paddle by Selkirk made specifically for people that use ping pong grip. Short handle and flared bottom. I have not hit my finger once since using this paddle.

Please tell me what is the weight of the Gearbox paddle that you are using? Thank you

Is it better to have a paddle with a shorter hand grip, or with an extended, or longer paddle handle?

I think most people hear that “shaking hands” phrase and it turns into a (tennis) eastern forehand grip. Players with that grip will never have a backhand they can trust. When I work with new players I take great pains to get them to some kind of continental grip.

Continental… But I do rotate a bit when I to my back in.

For my tennis game, I am semi-western on my forehand, use two hands on backhand, and continental for my serve and volleys. The overwhelming majority of pro tennis players use semi-western on their forehand. No pro tennis players use continental on forehand and very few use eastern. Sampras was the last great player who used Eastern on forehand. Federer uses a modified eastern which is somewhere between semi and eastern.

I like shaking hands grip.

continental

1) For ground strokes at baseline, use semi-eastern forehand grip and backhand grip. It offers both lift and top spin brush effectively 2) During transition, use continental grip (hammer grip) to pick up ball coming to your feet. Your objective is pick it up for reset. 3) At kitchen line, use hammer grip and semi-eastern grip for two categories of situations: Category One - Using Hammer Grip: Use hammer grip for both forehand and backhand dink. Use hammer grip for forehand and backhand block to handle incoming speedup ball. Use hammer grip for forehand and backhand roll to reach deep into the kitchen for at net level or slightly higher than net level valley ball. Category Two - Using Semi-Eastern Grip: When the ball is higher than the net, use forehand or backhand semi-eastern grip to aggrievedly speedup at volley ball. This is most likely used on opponent's third ball drop. You will use the aggressive speedup to deny the opponent coming to the kitchen line. The semi-eastern grip will help on aggressiveness. When the opponent speeds up the ball at you, but the ball pops a bit too high, you will use semi-eastern grip to counter hit.

continental grip

Continental

BADMINTON

I use ping pong grip as I play competitive table tennis. However, I do serve with a continental for more power. In the Kitchen, I tend to become more backhand oriented and if I need to go to a forehand my paddle is too closed.

Ping Pong

That grip size is way too small for her hand,really bad for your arm.

Continental

Continental

Continental

Continental