Hit a Devastating Forehand Drive: The Hip Rotation Secret That Changes Everything

As the game evolves and players get more skilled at dinking and net play, the ability to put away a ball with pace and control separates the good players from the great ones.

If you've been grinding on the pickleball court trying to add pace to your forehand drive, you've probably been thinking about it all wrong. You're not alone. Most players obsess over their backswing, their follow-through, their paddle angle, basically everything except the one thing that actually matters.

According to Briones Pickleball Academy's latest breakdown, the real magic happens in your hips. And honestly? Implementing this one critical tweak changes everything about how you'll start approaching your drive.

The Three-Part Foundation That Makes All the Difference

In the video, Briones brings in Brooks, a player with a tennis background who hits one of the most devastating drives on the court. When asked what he's thinking about during his swing, he breaks it down into three distinct phases: legs, hips, and contact point.

"The biggest thing I'm looking to do when I hit this is incorporate my legs," Brooks explains.

This isn't revolutionary stuff, but here's where it gets interesting. Getting low isn't just about bending your knees. It's about creating the foundation for everything that comes next. Your legs are the launching pad. Without them engaged, you're essentially trying to generate power from your upper body alone, which is like trying to hit a home run with just your arms.

The second element is clearing those hips. This hip rotation is where the real power lives. It's not your paddle doing the work. It's your core rotating explosively through the ball.

And then there's contact. Brooks wants it "out by my front knee." Why? Because hitting out in front accomplishes two things simultaneously:

• It keeps the ball lower over the net
• And it naturally sets up your follow-through.

You're not forcing anything. The momentum is already carrying you through.

The Grip That Closes the Door on Defense

Here's something that might surprise you: Brooks uses an eastern grip, maybe even slightly past continental. That's pretty extreme. But it serves a specific purpose, it helps him close the paddle face and generate spin.

"I'm holding it here and by the time I'm hitting it, I'm closing," Brooks says, demonstrating the grip transition. This isn't about strangling the paddle. In fact, Brooks keeps his grip pressure around a four or five out of ten. Loose. Relaxed. Natural.

This is where a lot of players mess up. They think more grip pressure equals more control. It doesn't. Tension travels up your arm, into your shoulder, and suddenly you're fighting your own body instead of working with it.

Brooks lets his wrist stay natural, which allows the paddle to do what it's designed to do.

Stance: The Semi-Open Sweet Spot

You'll notice Brooks isn't in a fully closed stance (perpendicular to the baseline) or fully open. He's somewhere in the middle, about 45 degrees. This semi-open stance is the Goldilocks position for the drive.

"It allows you to kind of rotate your core and it actually frees up that momentum as you're going through," Briones explains. For Brooks specifically, the semi-open stance makes it easier to bring that back hip through without excessive turning.

• It's efficient.
• It's powerful.
• It's repeatable.

When Briones works with his own drive later in the video, he makes an adjustment to open his stance slightly more. The result? More hip engagement, more whip, more pace.

The Compact Swing That Packs a Punch

One of the most counterintuitive points in the video is this: Brooks doesn't take a massive backswing. His power doesn't come from a long, looping motion. It comes from a quick hip rotation with a relatively compact backswing.

"That's the key to my forehand is I like to stay short and compact," Brooks says.

In pickleball, especially with the drive, efficiency matters. You're not trying to hit a tennis serve. You're trying to generate pace in a shorter motion while maintaining control and consistency.

The follow-through itself is high, Brooks finishes with his paddle near the back of his shoulder. But again, it's not forced. If you have the correct hitting target point (that front knee contact), your arm naturally flows through. You're not muscling it.

The Real Takeaway: It's About Efficiency, Not Effort

What makes this video valuable isn't that it introduces some brand-new technique. It's that it reframes how you should think about generating power.

Each element builds on the previous one.

The drive shot has become increasingly important in modern pickleball. As the game evolves and players get more skilled at dinking and net play, the ability to put away a ball with pace and control separates the good players from the great ones.

If you're looking to improve your drive, start with your legs. Get low. Engage your core. Let your hips do the work. Keep your grip relaxed. And trust that the follow-through will happen naturally if everything else is in place.

That's the simple fix. That's what makes your drive unstoppable.

Heads up: hundreds of thousands of pickleballers read our free newsletter. Subscribe here for cutting edge strategy, insider news, pro analysis, the latest product innovations and more.