If you follow the Pickleball Guru, Prem Carnot, then you probably know that he has a book, Smart Pickleball, (which I have read and recommend) which he now announces has somewhat of an error. (More about this later)

In his recent post:

The Surprising Strategy to Make Sure You Cover Every Shot at the Net

The PB Guru explains why, the majority of the time, a doubles team only has to cover two-thirds of the court at a time. He lists the most important elements of this strategy as follows:

• The middle third is ALWAYS being covered.
• You and your partner form an impenetrable WALL on the 2/3 of the court that you ARE covering. (Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it?)
• You’re mentally prepared to cover that extra 1/3 if your opponents go for a low-percentage shot to that area.
• You’re in a position to pounce when your opponents get out of position.

To get the rest of the details, read his article and share it with your partner(s). No sense in only one-half the team knowing about the two-thirds strategy.
The Surprising Strategy to Make Sure You Cover Every Shot at the Net

Also remember…once in a while the other team is going to get one past you in that difficult and open one-third, but it should be a low percentage shot and if you follow Prem’s additional advice, it shouldn’t happen often.

Prem’s Pickleball book, Smart Pickleball, is a good one and I have read it from cover-to-cover and some parts more than a couple of times. Apparently there is an error in the book and the PB Guru takes this opportunity to set the record straight as follows:

“If you’re REALLY paying close attention to what I say, you’ll come back to me and say, “But, Prem, on page 66 of your book, you have us mark the center of each half of the court and you tell us to stay that far apart. That’s 10’ apart, not 6’ or 7’. So which is it?”

See the the Pickleball Guru’s post linked above for the correct answer and solution.

So if you have the book, print out the correction and if you have the e-Book version, which I have, annotate it.

I hope you found this post of interest and that you can practice these strategies.

See you on the courts!