The backhand pinch shot is slightly more difficult than the forehand pinch. Practice hitting the ball back in your stance and at knee level or below. Hit the pinch when your opponent is behind you!
In the second video, Kris Odegard demonstrates how he practices a shot by slowly increasing the difficulty of each successive drill. By the last drill, he hits the pinch shot under nearly game conditions.
The pinch shot is one of the most effective shots in racquetball. Along with the kill shot, the pinch shot is a rally ending shot. It is better than a kill shot because you do not need to hit the ball as low or as hard.
A very basic tactic to use during a game revolves around the pinch shot
If you can add the pinch shot to your game, then expect to start winning more rallies.
I cannot repeat myself enough about how important the serve is in racquetball. You get to decide the speed, angle, and direction of the serve to your opponent who is pretty much unprepared, flat-footed, and positioned in the worst place on the court.
So why would you hit a lob serve instead of a blistering drive serve?
So you can watch your opponent skip the ball…and give you a free point.
This is certainly possible if you can master the high lob or the high z-lob serve— these high lob serves, when properly done, tempt your opponent to hit a low shot from 38 feet from the front wall.
The steeply dropping high lob will amplify any glitches or faults in your opponent’s swing. A mis-timed swing will result in them either hitting a skip shot or a too high off-the-back-wall setup shot.
The key is to hit your lob as high as possible on the front wall, yet have the first bounce land about 2 feet in front of the five-foot line. Open up your racquet face, keep your wrist and arm locked together, and use your shoulder turn to guide the ball to your high front wall target.
So if you like to get free points from your opponents, practice your high lob serves.
The location of your opponent determines the type of racquetball shot to play. If you are hitting a shot from behind your opponent, then you will try to hit ceiling balls and passing shots. If you are hitting in front of your opponent and can hit the ball at knee level or below, then you will want to hit a rally ending shot like a pinch shot.
No matter how much fun it is to hit a kill shot, it is a low percentage shot, so try to limit yourself to only hitting kill shots when you are the server and when you are in front of your opponent.