How a Former Tennis Coach Fixed My Pickleball Drive Shot at Hacienda Iguana, Nicaragua

Sometimes in pickleball, all it takes is one small adjustment. One tiny hinge in the kinetic chain that either unlocks your full game or jams up the gears.

With the JOOLA Celebration and PPA Challenger coming up, back-to-back events in Orlando, I'm spending more time on the courts working on specific scenarios and patterns. And during this preparation, I leave my home courts at Rancho Santana to head over to the pickleball scene of my pickleballer neighbors at Hacienda Iguana. 

I’ve had weeks where I show up to the courts at Hacienda Iguana and my forehand drive shot is crushing. Heavy topspin, inside-in, inside out, effortless power. Other times, it’s totally inconsistent, taking two games to find rhythm with it. Worst case, it feels broken altogether and I can't dial it in.

Until Jason Hallquest fixed it.

Now, if you don’t know Jason, he’s on track to become a bit of a legend around Hacienda. 58 years old, still out there surfing, still flowing like he’s 25. He’s got this smooth, devastating drive shot and one of the most controlled backhands I’ve seen anywhere in Nicaragua. He doesn't have a twoey, but a Roger Federer-style one-handed backhand that is absolutely blistering (I witnessed him crush a 10/10-paced ball with an inside-out one-handed backhand winner in men's doubles last week). Kinda funny. Super cool. He used to coach tennis, so he sees the game through a biomechanics lens, but more importantly, he knows how to teach.

And man, he saw it right away.

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The Wrist Angle Fix

I’m a bit of a grip chameleon. I’ll go fully choked up on the paddle for ping-pong-style finesse at the kitchen line, then swing out wide with western, semi-western, sometimes continental, eastern, even "what the hell is that?" depending on what I’m trying to do with a backhand roll or a spicy counter.

That variability has its upsides. I’m never locked into one style. But it can also throw off timing, angles, and drive mechanics, especially when I’m not feeling the flow state.

Jason noticed something subtle. My forehand drive, when it was off, had a slightly misaligned wrist lock. Just a few degrees. Enough to mute the topspin and throw off the natural arc of the stroke. At first, I thought I just needed to accelerate more in my follow through.

But Jason said: “Try bringing the wrist back just a touch more.”

I did. And boom! Everything clicked.

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Topspin Like a Machine

Suddenly, I’m not thinking about the shot, I’m just feeling it and my success rate is high again. The paddle face stays closed through contact, the wrist has just the right placement and lock, and the topspin is dialed to eleven. The ball bites and dives with authority. It’s repeatable. And it’s fun.

What’s crazy is how quickly that one micro-adjustment translated into momentum. I’ve been out every day since Saturday's revelation: drilling, ripping balls, pushing my envelope. It’s like getting a new paddle that just feels like magic, except the upgrade came from inside my own mechanics.

Big thanks to Jason Hallquest for the eye, the advice, and the reminder that sometimes the fix isn’t in overhauling your game: it’s in fine-tuning a specific fundamental of the instrument.

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Charging Into the Season

Over the past few weeks, I can feel my pickleball game leveling up in real time. It’s intoxicating. The family’s gearing up for the JOOLA Celebration and then PPA Challenger in Orlando... and I’m going in full of excitement, paddle in hand, ready to test this newly upgraded drive shot under fire.

That’s a big part of the joy of pickleball... there’s no ceiling, just new things to work on and edges to refine. New layers to become aware of and feel.

And when it clicks? It’s magic.

—
Geoff Bourgeois
CEO, Palmera Sports

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p.s. I started writing 'Pickleball Polymath' on Substack. It's my personal musings coming from tech to pickleball entrepreneurship.

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