What the top PB players do:
Jeff Shank is a noted Pickleball coach and player. He has played with some of America’s best Pickleballers.
After analyzing a USAPA national tournament finals match, he found that preferred third shot was:
Soft shot just keeping the ball in play – 84%
Go for winner – 15%
Lob – 1%
Later in the podcast/interview, he makes another good point that I have come to realize. Among intermediate players, most of the points are not won, they are lost, i.e. unforced errors.
You can listen to the entire podcast, but the comments above are to be found at the 11:22 – 11:58 markers (+/-)