For the Perfect Lob, It Helps to Be a Little Ruthless

A well-struck lob can get you out of a tricky point or pour gasoline on a routine dink rally. It all comes down to deception, timing, and picking on the weaker opponent.

The first step in knowing when and where you should lob is identifying if the lob you are about to hit is offensive or defensive.

Understanding this is quite simple: Where are you positioned in the court? If you are on the baseline, your lob is going to be defensive (unless you are a touring pro – a few can hit offensive lobs from the baseline).

If you are at the kitchen, odds are you are about to hit an offensive lob with the goal of forcing your opponents off the kitchen line to retreat back towards the baseline.

I do not recommend lobbing from the transition zone. Only rarely will you not be able to hit a reset and need to throw up a defensive lob to stay alive.

To summarize, where you are on the court will determine if you should hit an offensive lob (aimed at getting the ball over your opponents’ heads) or a defensive lob (throwing the ball up in the air to buy you and your partner time to get back in position and keep the point alive).

Offensive Lobs – Deception is Everything

I want you to think of a time when you played a known lobber. You know the exact person I am talking about. This person lobs relentlessly. They live to lob.

Unless you struggle to hit an overhead, these types of players should be easy to beat. Why? They are predictable. Unless the obvious lobber is able to hit a lob over your head perfectly a few inches from the baseline on command (unlikely), you should be able to adjust and use their lobbing against them.

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Knowing a lob is coming is more than half the battle toward shutting the lob down.

That’s why deception is everything when hitting an offensive lob. The best lobs aren’t hit perfectly over the head of an opponent, landing somewhere 4-6 inches from the baseline. Those are low percentage, once in a blue moon lobs. The best lobs come when the opposing team least expects it.

Let’s look at a few ways to hit a deceptive lob

First, you want to have your paddle face and grip look exactly like a dink, or a speedup. If you have to dramatically change the way you hit the ball to hit a lob, it becomes predictable. Changing your grip or paddle face is a dead giveaway to your opponent.

Disguising a lob by making it initially look like a dink or a speed-up will keep your opponent guessing, or even better, will make them have no idea a lob is even coming.

Second, you want to hold or delay the motion as long as possible. If all four players are at the kitchen and the ball is coming to you, try to wait as long as possible before hitting the lob. This not only plays into deception, but it will keep your opponents on the kitchen line longer, preventing them from getting a head start at tracking down your lob.

Deception plus timing equals the perfect lob.

Now that you have a few keys to hitting an effective lob, let’s discuss where you should hit an offensive lob when all four players are at the kitchen.

First, if you know one of your opponents struggles to move backwards or has a weak overhead, start by hitting the lob over them. Find the less athletic opponent and use them as a target, aiming to hit the lob over their backhand shoulder.

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Playing Men’s Doubles at the PPA tournament in Bristol, I was shocked whenever my opponents would try to lob Donald Young instead of me. Donald is three times the athlete I am, and yet he got lobbed more often than I did.

I have found that I don’t have to hit as good of a lob in terms of quality if I can locate it over my opponent’s backhand. Hitting a backhand overhead is way more difficult than hitting a traditional overhead.

If there isn’t a weaker opponent, I like lobbing through the middle at a crosscourt angle. This will cause confusion between your opponents, and if you are on the right side, it will help get the ball over your right-side opponents’ backhand shoulder.

Defensive Lobs – Depth and Height are Key

Most pickleball players, regardless of skill level, have a pretty solid defensive lob. A defensive lob is exactly what it sounds like and should be used when you lack other options and are trying to keep a point alive.

If you need a pro player to watch, check out Allyce Jones’ tape. She is one of the best defensive lobbers in the game and will even go to the lob over trying to hit a mediocre reset.

Forcing your opponents to hit five, even ten overheads in a row in a point is not just physically draining, but mentally draining. Unlike tennis, it’s much easier to defend overheads in pickleball and will often result in your opponents overplaying an overhead, resulting in unforced errors.

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Hitting a defensive lob as deep and as high as possible is key.

Force your opponents to have to wait on the ball; the deeper you can force them to have to retreat in the court to hit an overhead, the better the chance you and your partner have of returning it.

Finally, aim to hit your lobs to the middle of the court. This will further increase the chance of your partners miscommunicating and will also help cut out your opponents’ ability to hit angle overheads.