The backhand drive
Backhand Drive: what good form looks like, and the 8 faults you can see on your own video
What good form looks like
The backhand is where the coil is most obvious and most often missing. It starts with a unit turn: shoulders and hips together, your hitting shoulder under your chin, your bicep tucked against your body and the paddle set high behind you. Then you step, let the paddle head drop below the ball, and drive low to high with contact well out in front, chin down, finishing over your opposite shoulder. With two hands, your non-dominant hand supplies the power. With one hand, the contact point has to be even further in front and your free arm swings back to balance you.
The fundamentals
- Unit turn: shoulders and hips together, chin over your front shoulder
- Bicep tucked against your body, paddle set high behind you
- Two-handed: your non-dominant hand drives, hands touching but not overlapping
- One-handed: contact even further in front than your forehand, free arm counterbalancing
- Let the paddle head drop below the ball, then swing low to high
- Chin down through contact, finish over your opposite shoulder
The camera angle that shows the most
Film this shot from the side. Of the faults below, most reveal themselves in profile: weight transfer, swing path, contact position and balance are all things you see from the side and miss from anywhere else. Each fault below is tagged with the angle that reveals it, so you know what a single clip can and cannot show.
The 8 common faults
Each fault is named by multiple independent coaching sources, tagged for whether it shows up in your body or in the paddle, and mapped to the camera angle that reveals it. Green means the skeleton can see it. Read how to spot it, the fix, and one drill.
Slapping at it
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the frontSpot it
Your shoulders stay square to the net and it looks like a slap. No pace, and the ball sprays left and right.
The fix
Turn until your hitting shoulder is under your chin, then uncoil into the shot.
Drill it
Twenty shadow turns holding the coil for a beat at the top. Then twenty drives off a feed with that same pause.
Arm away from your body
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the frontSpot it
Your elbow points forward at setup and the paddle is held out away from your torso. The shot feels disconnected and weak.
The fix
Tuck your bicep against your body, chin over your shoulder, paddle high behind you.
Drill it
Pinch a fold of your shirt under your hitting arm and hit twenty backhands without letting it drop.
Late contact
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
You get jammed, the ball goes late and wide, and one-handers fall apart completely.
The fix
Turn early, set your feet behind the ball, and take contact well out in front. On a one-hander that is further in front than your forehand.
Drill it
Put a cone one paddle length in front of your front foot and hit twenty backhands contacting over it.
No paddle head drop
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
Backhands go into the net, and you get side spin you never asked for.
The fix
Start with your paddle tip up on the takeaway, then let it drop below the ball before contact and swing up through it.
Drill it
Twenty slow-motion swings pausing at the lowest point of the paddle path, then twenty live.
Dominant hand takes over
In the paddle and handFilm from the frontSpot it
Your two-hander feels like a one-handed slap with a passenger hand along for the ride. Inconsistent, and no pace.
The fix
Let your non-dominant hand drive the swing and your dominant hand guide it. Hands touching but not overlapping, non-dominant hand higher on the handle.
Drill it
Twenty backhands with your non-dominant hand only, then twenty more with the dominant hand added back as a guide.
Arms instead of legs
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
You stand upright, swing hard with both arms, and the ball still has nothing on it.
The fix
Turn, pause, step, swing. Feel the acceleration start in your back leg and travel up.
Drill it
Ten reps on a slow feed counting the four beats out loud: turn, pause, step, swing.
Free arm doing nothing
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the frontSpot it
You spin off balance after contact and your shoulders fly open early.
The fix
Use your free hand to set the paddle at the start, then let it swing back behind you as a counterweight.
Drill it
Twenty one-handed backhands finishing with your free arm pointed behind you.
Head comes up early
Visible in the skeletonFilm from the sideSpot it
Balls sail longer than you meant, contact is off-center, and your torso lifts before the ball is gone.
The fix
Keep your chin down and your eyes on the contact point until the ball has left the paddle.
Drill it
Twenty backhands holding your eyes on the contact point for a full beat after the hit.
Reading about it is not the same as seeing it
You can know every fault on this page and still not know which ones are yours. That is the whole problem with technique: it is invisible from inside your own swing. Dinklix draws a pose skeleton on a ten-second clip of your backhand drive and names which of these your body is actually doing, in order, with one thing to start with.