What is the third shot in pickleball?

The serving team's first shot after the return of serve: serve is shot one, return is shot two, and the third shot is the serving team's reply. It is the most important shot in doubles because the serving team is at the baseline and the receivers are already at the kitchen line.

Why is the third shot a drop?

A soft shot that lands in the opponents' kitchen cannot be volleyed and must be hit upward after the bounce. That neutralises the receiving team's position at the net and gives the serving team time to move forward. A hard third shot at two players already at the line is usually blocked back at your feet.

Third-shot drop or drive: which is better?

The drop is the default at intermediate level and above. The drive works against opponents with slow hands or when the return is short and high, and a drive followed by a fifth-shot drop is a common pattern. Good players use both and choose by the ball they receive.

What is a fifth-shot drop?

If the third shot is driven or the drop is not good enough to advance behind, the serving team's next shot, the fifth, is the second attempt at a soft ball into the kitchen. Reset, then move in.

Guides · Technique

The third-shot drop

The shot that separates beginners from everyone else: why it is necessary, how to hit it, and when to drive instead. Updated 21 September 2026.

Ask any coach what one shot they would teach a new doubles player and the answer is the third-shot drop. It is not glamorous. Done well it looks like nothing, a soft ball that floats over the net and dies in the kitchen. But it is the shot that gets the serving team from the worst position on the court to an even one, and the shot that, more than any other, decides whether you are a 3.0 or a 3.5.

Why the third shot is a problem

Count the shots. The serve is one. The return is two. The serving team’s reply is three. By the two-bounce rule the serving team must let the return bounce, which keeps them at the baseline while the receiver, having hit the return, walks up to join their partner at the kitchen line. So at the moment the third shot is hit, the geometry is this: two receivers at the net, 7 feet from it, paddles up; two servers 40 feet away, about to hit a ball that has bounced near their baseline.

If the serving team drives that ball, it arrives at two ready players who volley it back at their feet, and the servers are now hitting up from the transition zone, which is worse. If they lob it, it gets smashed. There is one shot that does not lose the point immediately: a soft ball that lands in the kitchen, cannot be volleyed, and bounces low enough that the receivers have to lift it. While that ball is in the air, the serving team moves forward. That is the third-shot drop, and it exists because the two-bounce rule and the kitchen rule together make it the only sensible option.

Side view, not to scale vertically. A dink and a third-shot drop both die in the kitchen so they cannot be volleyed; a drive clears the net by inches and keeps going.

What a good one looks like

It lands in the kitchen, ideally in the front half of it, near the opponents’ feet. Landing past the kitchen line means it can be volleyed and you have hit a slow drive.
Its apex is on your side of the net. The ball is descending as it crosses, so it keeps descending and is below net height by the time it can be hit.
It has enough height to be safe. From the baseline you are 22 feet from the net; the ball needs to clear it by 1 to 3 feet, more than a dink, because it has further to travel and you have less margin.
It is unhurried. The ball should be slow enough that you can take two or three steps forward before it is hit.

A drop does not need to be a winner. It needs to be unattackable. If the opponents hit it back softly into your kitchen, the drop did its job: you are now at, or nearly at, the line and the point is a dink rally that started even.

Technique

Get behind the ball

The most common cause of a bad drop is hitting it on the move, reaching forward as you run in. Get set first. Read the return, move to where it will bounce, stop, and hit from a balanced stance with your weight slightly forward. You will move in after the shot, not during it.

Low to high, from the shoulder

It is a lift, the same motion as a dink but longer. Open paddle face, short backswing, contact out in front and below waist height, a smooth low-to-high path with the follow-through finishing toward your target. Very little wrist. The power comes from the length of the lift, not from the arm speed; think of tossing the ball underhand into a basket at the far kitchen line.

Let it drop

Take the ball after the top of the bounce, as it is falling, at knee height or a little above. A ball taken on the rise is hard to soften. Bend your knees; a drop hit from an upright stance almost always floats.

Target the middle first

Aim for the middle of the far kitchen, over the lowest part of the net. It is the safest target, the hardest for two opponents to claim, and a miss to either side is still in. Once the middle drop is reliable, drops to the backhand side of the weaker opponent are the upgrade.

Then move

A drop with no movement behind it is wasted. As the ball leaves the paddle, start forward. If the drop is good, keep going to the line. If it is a little high, stop in the transition zone in a ready position and block the attack softly into the kitchen (a reset), then continue. If it is really bad, stop and defend. Never sprint blindly to the line behind a ball you have not looked at.

Drop or drive?

The drop is the default, not the law. There are good reasons to drive the third ball:

Situation	Better choice
Return is deep and low	Drop. A drive from a low ball has to be lifted and sits up.
Return is short and sits up	Drive. Take the free ball and follow it in.
Opponents have slow hands or paddle down	Drive at the body, then drop the fifth.
Opponents block well and reset everything	Drop. Driving just feeds them.
Only one opponent is at the line	Drive at the one who is back, or drop to the one at the line and move in.
Windy or outdoors with a fast ball	Drive more; drops float in wind.
You are tired or off balance	Drop crosscourt, deep in the kitchen, and reset.

A common intermediate pattern is drive, then drop: a hard third shot that the opponents block back, followed by a soft fifth shot into the kitchen. The drive earns a slightly weaker ball; the drop cashes it in. Another is the shake and bake, where one partner drives and the other crashes the net to put away the pop-up.

The fifth-shot drop

Nobody hits a perfect third every time. When the drop is a bit high and gets attacked, or when you drove and it came back, the serving team is usually somewhere in the transition zone with a ball at their feet. The fifth shot is the second attempt at a soft ball: block or lift it gently into the kitchen, and now move to the line. Points at intermediate level are often decided by whether the serving team can stay calm through the third and fifth shots rather than by the quality of any one of them.

Mistakes

Too high. Floats to chest height at the line and is smashed. Cause: upright stance, hitting on the rise, too much wrist.
Too deep. Lands past the kitchen line and is volleyed. Cause: too much lift, hitting through the ball.
Into the net. The over-correction. Cause: trying to hit a winner; a drop should clear by a foot or more.
Running while hitting. Cause: impatience to get to the line. Set, hit, then go.
Hitting every third the same way. If your opponents know a drop is coming, they lean in and take it early. Mix in a drive now and then to keep them honest.

The drop in the browser game

In the free online pickleball game here, after you serve, let the return bounce, then tap the swing key rather than holding it. A tap is a soft shot; from the baseline that soft shot is a drop into the far kitchen. Then walk forward with W (or the stick on a phone) to the line. Hold the swing until the bar is yellow and you have hit a drive instead; try both against the Normal AI and notice which one comes back at your feet. The how-to-play page has the full controls.

Drills

Baseline drops to a target (alone or with a feeder): Put a towel in the middle of the far kitchen. From the baseline, drop 20 balls at it after a self-feed or a partner’s feed. Count the ones that land in the kitchen and would have been below net height. Move the towel to each side.
Drop and advance (two people): Partner at the kitchen line feeds a deep ball. You drop, move in three steps, receive the next ball in the transition zone, reset it into the kitchen, and continue to the line. Repeat until you reach the line without hitting a ball above the net.
Third-shot decision (four people): Play points that start with a serve and return. The serving team must call “drop” or “drive” out loud before the third shot. Keep score of which choice wins the point. Most groups discover they drive far more often than they should.

Common questions

How high over the net should a drop go?: About 1 to 3 feet, with the apex on your side. Higher than a dink because it travels further.
Where should it land?: In the kitchen, ideally the front half, in the middle to start with.
Should I use topspin?: A little topspin makes the ball dip and is useful once the basic lift is reliable. Start flat.
Is the third-shot drop needed in singles?: Less so. With one opponent, a deep drive to the open side is often better. The drop is a doubles shot first.
Why do pros drive the third so often?: Because their drives are heavy and their fifth-shot drops are excellent. The drive-then-drop pattern is a two-shot version of the same idea.

Keep going: once you are at the line, how to dink; and the rule that makes all of this necessary, the two-bounce rule.

Or serve, let it bounce, tap, and walk in.