Three Ways to Grip Your Pickleball Paddle: Continental, Western, Eastern 

Never heard such a complete description of the "grip"...Well done

really glad to see you cover having an index finger on the paddle - having played ping pong this makes it an easy transition to pickleball. It really does help tell my brain what angle the paddle is in my palm.

All your videos are incredibly helpful. Your words are in my head as I work out on my quarantine garage backboard. Thank you!

Wow! Super helpful with the use of the numbers and marking your hand to assure clean position. Will be marking my hand for next pickleball practice!

Awesome demonstration and this was demonstrated at LevelUp camp! Thanks

I played pickleball at the YMCA for the first time today and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will continue to watch your tips in order to improve my game. Thank you for sharing this great information.

Great grip primer....big thx! Very helpful for this beginner.

Clear and concise instructor. Thank you for sharing your wisdom n experience. Learned so vmuch.

As a PPR professional I teach the 3 most common grips in pickleball: 1) the Continental, 2) Eastern with a Finger, and 3) the V. The Continental is the most commonly used grip and the grip used by most pros. You can easily hit all the strokes necessary with the Continental grip. The Eastern with a Finger is fairly easy for most players to use. The finger helps stabilize the wrist. Often beginners will start with this grip and progress toward a Continental grip as they become more skilled. The V is similar to a table tennis grip. The grip is created by choking up on the paddle toward the top of the grip and placing one or two fingers on the face of the paddle; often with the thumb on the opposite side of the paddle face. Pickleball is not tennis, it has some similarities, but it is important to understand that it is a different game and will have different grips.

Very helpful with drawing the bevel positions on whiteboard to describe the three grips and advantages/disadvantages of each.

That was extremely helpful. Most detailed explanation of grips that I've heard.

Thank you....I've just started playing and wondered about the paddle grip. Very informative!

You are an amazing teacher!

Thank you. I find I'm changing my grip on the paddle at all times, almost something I do without even thinking about it. Different grip for backhand roll, forehand roll, and firefight at the net. Sometimes at the net I notice I put the paddle in my finger tips so I get more extension and not having to let the ball bounce, keeping my opponents back.

Great instructional video. I’m a visual learner. This is so helpful. Thank you.

Excellent video. I lost the "pinky" finger on my paddle hand years ago in an accident. I use the one finger on the paddle technique to help with control but the result is a loss of power due to the missing digit. This helped me verify that the one finger on the paddle can be used successfully.

Thank you very much!!! I’m going to watch as many of your videos as possible. You are a great teacher!! 🙏

Such good clear helpful information. Ty!

As a new player, I found these tips on grip to be incredibly helpful. I appreciate your approach of "there is no best way", instead reviewing the options and discussing the pros and cons of each grip approach. Thank you for taking the time to create these tutorials.

Wow...this is great. I learned so much about my grip. Thanks you. I will pass this on

When I started playing tennis, I used to have an eastern forehand and continental backhand, but they later merged into a single continental grip for all strokes. Thus when I started pickleball, I also used continental for all strokes.

I instinctively played with the eastern grip which I use in tennis. When I learned to get to the kitchen, my thought process was, “Okay, play ping pong, not tennis.” And I didn’t realize that I would shift my hand up to the ping pong grip.” It works for me, but I will admit, a dura to the thumb is no laughing matter! Keep your eye on the ball!

Very clear and well-presented ... thanks!

Love the very graphic approach. As a former engineer it's what I like best. Thanks for the detail.

Thank you for posting this helpful video

Thanks. Great video. Being an old tennis player I was wondering how to grip the racket. I guess I'll do what I did in tennis.

I've only played for around 3 months, but I have thoroughly researched that I can use the western grip more in singles and only certain situations in doubles. Mainly use it for forehand groundstrokes and the timing is a little hard because you wanna start your swing higher.

Thank you! Very helpful!

Love the points of each grip

I like this because it's specific and detailed. His marking of the base of his forefinger is a bit different, because most casual PB instruction references the V between the forefinger and the thumb. But then I dug into this more carefully, and I discover that _serious_ discussions use the knuckle protuberance in the top corner of the palm (top of the 5th metatarsal) as the bevel position reference point. The protuberance is more obvious when you flex your forefinger into high extension. On my hand, it's about 1 cm below the skin notch between forefinger and middle finger, and dead center on the long axis of the forefinger. I was using the "finger-gun" V between thumb and forefinger to identify the continental grip. But this week I got a new paddle (finally a good one) and I decided to overwrap it immediately because I have large hands. Then I realized that my old method doesn't achieve consistent results between my two paddles, now with quite different grip geometries. Additionally, the finger-gun V moves around when you change from extending an index finger to a round-fingered handshake. It also doesn't accurately follow your hand as you rotate the paddle into non-continental grips, which also shifts some minor axes. Especially in the eastern grip, you can shift the butt of the paddle from side to side, between the base of the pinky finger, and the base of the thumb: butt at the base of the pinky orients the paddle lateral to the forearm; butt at the base of the thumb orients the paddle longitudinal to the forearm. Both of these are technically eastern grips, because the forefinger knuckle maintains the same contact point with the bevel. But the finger-gun V shifts by an entire bevel with this adjustment. It's simply a bad reference point. Using the finger-fun V-for me there's a prominent skin fold to serve as a consistent reference point when I'm using an undersized grip-what I _thought_ of for the last sixteen months as continental was actually on the bevel ridge, just slightly to the eastern side. I've been slightly favouring my forehand in my "neutral" grip, and slightly disadvantaging my backhand. As if my forehand needed help ... This explains why I've been popping net-height line drives to my backhand side. In the eastern grip, it requires focused attention to position a waist-level paddle into a perfectly flat face angle (you have to work against your own tendons). Sitting in my chair with a paddle, it seems that the true continental grip (which I've apparently never used) makes it more difficult to handle balls just outside my dominant shoulder, causing the paddle fact to bias toward a face angle that will knock the ball across my body-not much, but certainly not straight. Probably the fix for that is a little extra footwork. The inconsistency for me between finger-gun continental (not the real thing) and foreknuckle continental (actually the real thing) was exacerbated because I have large hands and I was playing an unmodified grip, a size or two below my hand size.

This helps me a lot thank you

Thank you, Glen!

Excellent description.

Good job, Glenn.

Thanks for the video!

Thank you very much,

Glenn is very thorough in this video.

Than you Glen 😃🙏

I found my game change significantly the day I held the paddle loose. I elevated my game from one day to the next and I was pleasantly surprised

Love the video with one exception! You don’t show the (x) that you place on your hand, you just match up the (x) on the paddle with the (x) on your hand. You need show the (x) on the hand for each stroke and how they match up with (x) on paddle. I found myself trying to see where you placed the (x) on your hand for Western and Eastern grips!

thank you...

On ground strokes I go from Western grip for forehand to “shake hand” grip for backhands.It feels natural and there is more time to switch. At the no-volley zone I stay in “shake hand” grip and try to cover two thirds with backhand and then pray when forehand is needed for fast volley shot. Only been playing for 3 months and come from a table tennis tournament background.

If you move your thumb to rest on the top of your middle finger instead of on top of your index finger, then allow your index to ride slightly higher, you’ll dramatically increase your control and flexibility in switching between forehands and backhands. This is a must for ping pong and tennis as well, and works even if you don’t rest the index/thumb on the paddle surface.

The thumb and index finger makes sense to me but I haven’t had a chance to try it. I’m a beginner player with some racquet ball experience. Does the thumb and finger or fingers control work better with the eastern grip? I’m struggling with inconsistent vertical placement and I’m wanting to employ a stable grip that doesn’t require a grip change while switching from forehand to backhand.

Oh my, another Glen(n) Peterson! No chance I'll be mistaken for him on the court, though. :)

Good video

What about penhold grip?

Oddly enough, both my father and I don't use any of these three grips. My father used to play racquetball, so he grips the paddle with his pinky under the pommel--and I used to play table tennis, so I play with my pointer finger in-line with the edge of the paddle. I'm sure there's pros and cons to both, but we play the best when we use them.

But not all handles in every paddle are the same. The one i have is like a handle of table tennis that is semi-flat. Good thing i can switch around in 3 various grips in split second as ball come approaching.

can you still get a true eastern grip with a index finger on the paddle face?

Here is how I remember it using the bevels of the handle like a clock time zone: 1 o'clock, Continental (Europe Time Zone), 2 or 3 o'clock, Semi or Full Eastern (US Eastern Time Zone) and 4 or 5 o'clock, Semi or Full Western (US Western Time Zone) Continental European Time always comes before US Eastern Time, and US Eastern Time always comes before US Western Time.

if you are left handed - the base of the index finger should like up with corner bevel #8 then for the hammer/continental grip? please confirm. Thanks!

So the Full Western Grip is position #6?

I think he means the mark in the index finger should go onto the fourth bevel, not bevel number two. For the Continental grip. Right ???

Finger on the paddle squad, let's go!

I come from a tennis background, but pingpong as well. I’m mew to pickle and my natural grip is to have my finger on the paddle. Would this be holding me back? I’m above average in my opinion, but am early on enough to make the change if necessary. No idea if pros do this or not, but certainly gives me a little less reach that’s for sure. Would assume i lack a little power as well.

If you hold an eastern forehand grip you better be good at running around your backhand. Whenever I see newer players struggling with their backhands they are almost always holding an eastern forehand tennis grip.

Wish the camera angle was better when you mark your hand, for a better view of the exact location of the mark.

Please discuss how low or high your hand should be on the paddle. My local pro says as low as possible but ??????

😂 Good stuff.

New player here and I found it natural to put my index finger on the paddle face. I don't see any high level players using this grip so my question is should I change to eastern.....

Very impressive 👏 Bruce Lee 🏓

You are absolutely right!, the Eastern is the most popular among better players, so why does every teacher tell beginners to use the continental?

There's a common misconception that the grip positions used in tennis for generating topspin can be directly applied to pickleball. This isn't effective because the mechanics of pickleball strokes-both forehand and backhand-bear a closer resemblance to those used in table tennis, not traditional tennis. For those familiar with both sports, the tennis terminologies like "continental," "Eastern," and "semi-Eastern" grips don't translate well to pickleball. This is due to the different spin conditions encountered in pickleball, which are more akin to those in table tennis. The angle of topspin in pickleball varies based on the spin characteristics of the incoming ball, similar to table tennis, rather than tennis which uses a stringed racquet. There's a helpful example of this in a RU-vid video that discusses these differences in depth. Please remember that pickleball is more closely related to table tennis than it is to tennis. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M4q_pRQI6Sk.html

Other videos say the continental is preferred grip, not the eastern.

Finger on the paddle... eesh... I've always thought that was a no-no... I like to keep my fingers lol

I just don’t get the difference between the hammer and shaking hands grip.

There is a big difference between the western and semi-western grips in tennis. Most players on the tennis tour use semi-western for the forehand. Nadal uses a grip between semi-western and western. Djokovic grips is more semi-western than western. Federer's forehand grip is between Eastern and Semi. Sampras was one of the all-time greats who used eastern. Not too many easterns today - Del Potro is the most notable who still uses Eastern on the forehand. From what I can see is that the Eastern grip in pickleball is similar to the semi in tennis, as it allows the greatest usage of overall shot selection. In tennis, they say that the semi is the best overall shot in that it handles low better than western, and handles high better than eastern or continental. Continental is the preferred grip for serving and volleying in tennis. McEnroe was the last player to use continental. He literally never had to change grips. But the continental grip is outdated for baseline play.

Can you penhold a pickleball paddle?

Thanks, but consider magicians. When demonstrating how to, they show how it looks to them. I imagine a magician demonstrating paddle grips in a single, from-his-eye view showing the grips in succession. Here's the continental, (twist), the eastern , (twist), the semi-western.... While references to a chart or paddle end provides precision, an early over-the-shoulder view would provide the contrast and continuity of an overview to the topic. Overview first. Details follow.

I mean if you search for tennis grips back in the 90s u’d find the same videos…