Beating pickleball bangers: What the pros recommend

A man playing pickleball. — Advice from the very best in the game. PPA Challengers Series

Beating pickleball bangers: What the pros recommend

Victoria Radnothy

May 26 2026 12:30 PM ET

Pickleball bangers might be my biggest pet peeve on the court.

Nothing kills the fun of open play faster than facing a team that tries to crush every shot as hard as possible. No soft game, no strategy — just nonstop power.

So, I reached out to some of the top pros in pickleball to get their best advice on how to beat the bangers.

Michael Loyd shared his strategy.

“We used to teach people that you need to learn how to reset the ball when it comes to bangers, but I think it’s more important that you can counterattack whatever’s coming back at you,” he explained. “You also need to get really good at leaving out balls. Bangers hit a lot of balls out, and one of the biggest deterrents is just watching the ball. A lot more times than not, the ball is going out. That’s going to be the biggest deflection for a banger because they’ll hit it out.”

Riley Newman took a similar approach.

“A lot of bangers’ balls go out, so think about letting some of those go,” said Newman. “Some might hit, but I’d bet the majority fly out.”

Nick Black, a coach and high-level player, offered this strategy.

“Beating bangers is all about hitting really good volleys. Ultimately, you want to be able to get your volleys down so they can’t keep driving the ball at you, so staying really low, getting your paddle out in front of you, closing your paddle face, and making sure that first volley at the kitchen line is down,” said Black. “The other thing is adding a really good deep return. Sometimes, an effective strategy on bangers is honestly hitting a crappy return, one they can’t just tee off on. Hit a crappy return in the sense that they're trying to drive the ball, but there’s not enough space between them and the net to clear it, so they hit the net a lot.”

Gio Morelli, an up-and-coming pro and local pickleball coach, also weighed in on the conversation.

“It’s all about slowing the game down,” mentioned Morelli. “Try to bring them in, slow it down, and do what they don’t like. You don’t have to play their game.”

Greg Dow explained it this way.

“For dealing with bangers, it’s about getting the volley down. Just get the first volley down and don’t try to be too aggressive on your volleys. Don’t give them any free points,” noted Dow. “Also, if you’re playing against a banger in a tournament, take a timeout. A lot of bangers are streaky and thrive off momentum, so if you have a timeout option, take it, and that will help slow them down.”

Yates Johnson, who self-identifies as a banger, offered this advice.

“I’d say I’m a bit of a banger myself, so if you’re a banger like me and playing against another banger, then it comes down to execution and whoever gets to the net first,” said Johnson. “You’ve got to try and keep them back with the great, deep groundstrokes. At the end of the day, it’s about whoever is in control and whoever is being more aggressive, they’ll win.”

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