Find a Comfortable Grip for Dinks, Volleys, and Drives

For a new recreational doubles player, start with a Continental pickleball paddle grip and a relaxed, secure hold. It lets you play forehand and backhand dinks and volleys without changing your hand position between every shot. It is a starting point, not the only grip worth learning: ProXR’s grip guide recommends Continental or Eastern first and highlights Continental for quick exchanges at the Kitchen.

“Paddle grip” can also mean the material wrapped around the handle. Your hand position, squeezing pressure, and handle wrap are separate things. If the paddle slips, check the wrap and handle fit rather than simply squeezing harder. If the paddle stays secure but the face points the wrong way, work on hand position and paddle angle.

Choose your playing hand and the problem you notice; use the result to pick your next check.

Find the Continental Grip With the Hammer Cue

Think of holding a hammer: the paddle’s edge, rather than its broad face, would strike the nail. Pickleball Central uses this cue to explain the Continental hold. This gives you a practical starting position without needing to memorize handle geometry first.

1. Hold the paddle by its neck with your non-playing hand, with the face vertical and the edge pointing up.
2. Wrap your playing hand around the handle as though holding that hammer. Keep your fingers comfortably around the grip rather than crushing it in a fist.
3. Check the base knuckle of your index finger—the large knuckle where the finger joins your hand.

Let your fingers settle before you start swinging. The goal is a position you can recognize and return to, not a pose that looks correct only while your other hand supports the paddle. Release the supporting hand and check whether your playing hand still feels secure.

For a more exact check, look from the butt end toward the paddle face, keeping the edge pointing up. The handle’s eight flat sides are called bevels. Number the top bevel 1, then count clockwise: a right-hander’s index-finger base knuckle rests on bevel 2; a left-hander’s rests on bevel 8. These are the first angled bevels beside the top flat—the knuckle positions described in Pickleheads’ grip guide.

Playing Hand	Viewing Direction	Knuckle Position
Right	Butt toward paddle face	Bevel 2
Left	Butt toward paddle face	Bevel 8

Keep the viewing direction consistent. Looking down from the paddle face instead of up from the butt reverses what you see and makes the bevel instructions confusing. The hammer cue and bevel check should describe the same hold, not two competing grips.

Check Both Sides Before Hitting a Ball

Slowly rehearse a forehand dink and a backhand dink. You should be able to present the paddle face to either side without first rotating the handle in your hand. Move the paddle into each contact position deliberately rather than taking a full swing.

This check does not mean your wrist, arm, and paddle must stay frozen. You still position the face for the shot. What stays repeatable is the relationship between your hand and the handle. If you have to regrip before every backhand, return to the hammer position and check your knuckle placement again.

Once both sides feel available, practice returning the paddle in front of your body. That gives you a consistent place to notice whether the handle has turned during the previous shot. Correct an accidental shift before the next feed rather than building the next swing around it.

Use Enough Pressure to Stabilize the Paddle

For dinks and soft defensive blocks, begin with less pressure than you would use to squeeze the handle hard. Keep enough pressure that the paddle does not slide or twist during contact. “Relaxed” describes a controlled hold, not fingers so loose that the paddle moves independently of your hand.

Pickleball Central’s guidance distinguishes a softer hold for dinks and blocks from a firmer hold for serves and drives. The guidance cited here does not provide an exact pressure figure. Use the ball’s flight and the paddle’s stability as feedback instead of trying to reproduce a numerical setting.

Separate changing pressure from changing grip position. You can squeeze the same Continental hold more or less firmly without rotating your hand to an Eastern position. During practice, check that your knuckle stays in the same place when you adjust pressure; otherwise, you are testing two changes together.

Test a Softer Hold Without Changing the Whole Shot

If a soft shot keeps springing too high, test a slightly softer hold while keeping your swing and paddle angle similar. Use a gentle, repeatable feed so you can compare the contact rather than react to a different incoming ball each time.

Grip pressure is one variable—not a diagnosis for every pop-up. If you soften your hold but also open the face more or swing farther, the ball’s flight will not tell you which change mattered. Return to a small, familiar motion and make the pressure adjustment on its own.

Watch for the opposite problem, too. If the face wobbles at contact, you have loosened too far. Add enough pressure to restore stability, then repeat the same feed. The target is a soft ball from a secure paddle, not the loosest hold you can manage.

For serves and drives, test a firmer hold without turning it into an all-out squeeze. Notice whether you can return to your softer hold for the next dink. Pressure should be something you adjust deliberately, rather than a permanent response to one difficult shot.

Keep Continental Until a Specific Shot Justifies a Change

An Eastern forehand grip shifts your hand toward the forehand side and can suit forehand drives and topspin. A more extreme Western grip favors the forehand but makes a conventional one-handed backhand more awkward. ProXR explains those tradeoffs.

Grip	Main Use or Advantage	Tradeoff to Check
Continental	Dinks and quick exchanges	Forehand preference may differ
Eastern forehand	Forehand drives and topspin	Return to your soft-game hold
Western	Strong forehand emphasis	Awkward conventional backhand

For now, prioritize a repeatable hold for the soft game. Continental gives a new doubles player a straightforward way to work on forehand and backhand contact without adding a grip switch to every exchange. That does not make it mandatory for every shot or every player.

Add a deliberate change when you have a specific shot to work on. If you want to explore an Eastern forehand drive, practice that shot separately, then rehearse returning to Continental. Our Eastern grip guide explains that position and how to switch back.

Judge a new grip on more than the best forehand it produces. Also test the next backhand and your return to a ready position. A change that helps one planned shot may still add work when the next ball arrives on the other side.

Copying a professional’s hand position without that context can leave you changing grips without knowing why. Name the shot you are trying to improve first. If your immediate task is controlling alternating dinks, stay with the repeatable starting hold while you learn the contact.

Fix a Slipping Handle Before Adding More Pressure

A replacement grip replaces the base wrap. An overgrip goes over that base and can add traction, cushioning, and handle thickness. Total Pickleball explains the distinction and recommends changing an overgrip when it loses traction, rather than on a fixed schedule.

The distinction matters when you are troubleshooting. Replacing a worn surface and making the handle thicker are not the same goal, even if a new overgrip can do both. Decide whether the problem is traction, size, or hand position before adding another layer.

What You Notice	First Change to Test	What to Check Afterward
Worn, slippery surface	Refresh the wrap	Security without extra squeezing
Handle feels too small	Try one overgrip	Comfort and added thickness
Handle feels bulky	Compare a thinner setup	Fingers settle comfortably

Refresh a Worn Surface Before Reworking Your Swing

If the wrap feels slippery and you keep repositioning your hand, address the surface first. A technique change cannot tell you much while the handle is moving during contact. After refreshing the wrap, repeat your forehand and backhand check with the same hand position.

Do not replace an overgrip merely because a particular amount of time has passed. The cited guidance uses loss of traction as the trigger. Inspect how your current wrap performs during play rather than assuming a calendar alone describes its condition.

Test Thickness One Change at a Time

If the handle feels too small, test one overgrip, then reassess. Because an overgrip adds thickness as well as changing the surface, compare both effects: does your hand settle more comfortably, and does the paddle stay secure without constant squeezing?

If the handle already feels bulky, avoid adding more layers as the default fix for slipping. Compare a thinner setup instead. The sources used here do not establish a universal handle circumference for every player, so there is no single size figure to prescribe.

The useful fit test is practical: you can wrap your fingers comfortably, keep the paddle stable through contact, and stop repeatedly adjusting your hand. A thicker handle is not automatically better, and a tighter squeeze is not proof that the fit is right.

Run the Five-Minute Forehand and Backhand Check

Stand opposite a partner, both just behind your Kitchen lines. Use cooperative feeds rather than trying to win the exchange. You are checking whether your grip remains repeatable and whether a pressure adjustment changes your soft contact.

1. Have your partner gently feed 10 bounced balls, alternating your forehand and backhand. Dink each back using Continental without switching grips.
2. Repeat with a slightly softer hold, keeping the swing small and the paddle angle similar.
3. Finish with a cooperative dink rally, returning the paddle in front of your body after each shot.

During the first feeds, notice hand position before judging ball placement. If the handle turns, reset the Continental hold. If the face is stable but the ball travels too high, use the second pass to test pressure without rebuilding the swing.

During the softer-hold pass, look for a stable face on both sides and soft balls that land in your partner’s Kitchen. If the paddle starts wobbling, restore enough pressure to control it. Keep the hold that gives you repeatable contact—not simply the loosest one.

The final rally checks whether you can maintain that hold between shots. Return the paddle in front, prepare for either side, and avoid an unnecessary grip switch. If the wrap slips even during gentle contact, stop the pressure experiment and address the handle surface or fit.

Leave the drill with one specific adjustment: a more repeatable Continental position, slightly softer pressure with a stable face, or a wrap change that improves security. Make that adjustment first, then repeat the same check before introducing a different grip.