Local Pickleball Player Billie Discovers Shot Named After Her Haircut — Immediately Becomes Unstoppable
Billie Ferris showed up to open play like she does every week: paddle in one hand, cold brew in the other, undercut freshly buzzed on the sides. What she did not expect was to leave the courts having discovered her spirit animal in racquet sport form.
“Someone yelled ‘nice tomahawk’ after I put away an overhead,” Billie said, still visibly stunned. “I thought they were talking about my hair. Turns out it’s a shot. I have never felt so seen by a sport.”
According to court regulars, Billie has not lost a single overhead point since making the discovery four days ago.
What the Tomahawk Actually Is
The tomahawk is a replacement for the standard backhand overhead, used to smash a high ball on your backhand side without the awkward, cramped swing that shot usually forces. Instead of muscling through a traditional backhand smash, you shift your grip mid-point and snap your wrist through contact, generating serious reach, topspin, and pace.
It’s named for the chopping, arcing motion — the same reason a certain haircut shares the name, thanks to its short, sharp, no-nonsense sides.
Billie’s paddle coach confirmed the shot is very real and not, in fact, an elaborate bit the regulars were running on a newcomer.
“The tomahawk exists because the standard backhand overhead has a huge flaw,” the coach said. “Players get a high ball on their backhand side and either can’t generate any power or end up shanking it wide. The tomahawk lets you flip to your forehand face mid-swing, which means you can actually attack a ball you’d normally just be trying to survive.”
How to Actually Pull One Off
Here’s the step-by-step breakdown, the same one Billie’s coach used to get her hitting clean tomahawks within days.
| Step | What to Do | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Spot a high ball on your backhand side | The tomahawk is a backhand-overhead replacement, so it only comes into play when a lob or floater sits up high on your backhand. If you have time before the ball arrives, you have time for this shot. | This isn’t a shot for every overhead. It’s specifically for the awkward high backhand balls that are hard to smash with a normal swing. |
| 2. Shift your grip | As the ball is in the air, rotate your grip toward a Western-style hold, essentially turning your wrist so the paddle face flips to the other side. | This grip shift is what lets you strike the ball with what would normally be your forehand face, even though you’re set up on your backhand side. |
| 3. Snap the wrist through contact | Think of the motion like checking the time on your watch, a quick inward wrist rotation that drives the paddle into and through the ball. | The wrist snap is the actual engine of the shot. It’s what generates the extra reach, power, and angle that make the tomahawk worth learning. |
| 4. Push forward and upward | Drive the paddle forward and slightly upward through the ball rather than chopping straight down. | This is what creates the topspin that pulls the ball down into the court instead of sending it long. |
| 5. Reset your grip immediately after | As soon as the shot is away, rotate your grip back to your normal hold. | You’ll need your regular grip back fast for the next shot, which is exactly why coaches say to use the tomahawk sparingly and only when you have time to execute it cleanly. |
“Billie’s actually got a head start because she plays a lot of doubles and gets a lot of high balls on her backhand,” her coach said. “Once she trusted the wrist snap instead of babying the shot, it basically clicked.”
Billie’s Teammates Have Thoughts
Her doubles partner says the transformation on court has been “borderline unfair.”
“We were down 8–3 in a game Saturday and she hit four tomahawks in a row that just ended points,” her partner said. “I stopped covering my half because there was nothing left to cover. People were legitimately annoyed.”
A fellow club member who has played against Billie in league matches was more blunt: “She found out the shot had her energy and now nobody’s overhead is safe. Genuinely inspiring. Also deeply frustrating to play against.”
Multiple players have since started referring to any well-placed topspin smash as “pulling a Billie,” a phrase Billie says she “did not ask for but will absolutely accept.”
Common Mistakes to Watch For
Trying to use the tomahawk on every backhand. The grip change takes time to execute and time to reverse, so this is a shot for high, slow balls only, not a full replacement for your regular backhand.
Babying the wrist snap. A hesitant, half-committed rotation kills the power and reach the shot is supposed to deliver. The watch-check motion needs to be quick and full, not tentative.
Forgetting to reset the grip afterward. Players who nail the tomahawk and then get caught flat-footed on the next shot usually forgot to rotate their grip back. Make the reset automatic.
Is This Actually a Real Trend, Or Just Billie
Coaches around the country confirm the tomahawk has been rising in popularity for a few seasons now, particularly among players who struggle to generate any power on a high backhand ball. It’s become a go-to option specifically for the floaters and lobs that land just awkwardly enough to make a standard backhand overhead feel like a coin flip.
The catch: it takes reps. Most players need two to three weeks of dedicated practice — ideally against a feeding partner or a ball machine — before the motion stops feeling awkward and starts feeling automatic.
“It’s one of those shots where the first fifty attempts feel wrong and the fifty-first suddenly feels like the easiest thing in the world,” the coach said. “Then you can’t imagine playing without it.”
The Takeaway
Whether or not the shot is secretly named after anyone’s haircut — for the record, it’s a coincidence, tied to the chopping motion, not the hair — there’s a real lesson buried in Billie’s week. A quick grip shift and a committed wrist snap will turn a liability backhand into a weapon for just about any player willing to put in the reps.
As for Billie, she has one piece of advice for anyone hoping to replicate her results.
“Cut the hair first,” she said. “It really does help with the follow-through.”