I (Dustin) began playing pickleball in 1988, in my driveway growing up. I played all the time with friends — but pickleball was a very different game back then. There were no “pickleball shots,” no real strategy. We just whacked the ball around and had a blast.

After high school, life got busy and pickleball disappeared from my life for about 20 years.

Then one day, I noticed pickleball courts being built at our local park. I turned to my 11-year-old son, Xavier, and said, “If those are pickleball courts, this is going to be our new thing.” And it was.

We played constantly — mostly singles. I felt athletic, competitive, and confident. I thought I understood the game.

So for my 40th birthday, I signed up for a 4.0+ tournament. I didn’t really understand the rating system, but I figured I’d see where I stacked up.

The singles day went great. I won gold and walked off the court feeling unstoppable.

The next day was men's doubles....And everything fell apart.

I didn’t know where to stand. I rushed balls I didn’t need to. I popped up dinks, got caught out of position, and watched better teams quietly take control of every point. We lost most of our matches — and it wasn’t because my partner was bad. It was because I didn’t understand how doubles pickleball actually works.

A few months later, I tried again with a different partner...

SAME RESULT...

At one point my partner looked at me and said, “You’ve gotta get your dinks down or this is gonna be over real quick.”

He was right. We were knocked out of the bracket in 2 games.

Embarrassed and confused, I drove home trying to understand what went wrong. I came to the conclusion that I was losing because I simply didn’t know what I was doing! I didn’t understand pickleball shots. I didn't understand positioning or patterns. I didn’t understand when to be patient and when to attack.

Well, my embarrassment motivated me to 'figure it out'... and I'm glad I did! 

Over the next two years, Xavier and I stopped guessing and started studying the doubles game. We learned how points actually unfold. We practiced intentionally. We focused on shot selection, positioning, and patterns instead of just “playing more.”

And everything changed.

We went from being stuck at 3.5…to winning 5.0 tournaments.

​This guide breaks down the exact framework we used (and now teach) — so you can reach 4.0 (and beyond) much faster than we did, without the confusion and frustration we went through.