How to cut off lobs

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Millions of Americans play racquetball, yet instructional material is scarce. This guide, written by a veteran instructor (Turner) and a ranked professional (Clouse) provides tips for both the seasoned recreational player and the novice. They examine everything from equipment to match strategy in straightforward, conversational language augmented by more than 140 photos and line drawings. Readers will learn how to select a racquet and a facility; how to condition themselves specifically for the sport; and how to avoid the most common types of injuries. There are also excellent tips for doubles play, mental conditioning, and gamesmanship. In addition, the authors break the game down into offensive and defensive skills, an approach often overlooked in racquet-sport instructionals. A key feature is the inclusion of drills to develop the recommended shots and strategies. Too often players just play, forgetting that even a minimal amount of time devoted to skill development can pay huge dividends. In areas where the sport is popular, this is the instructional of choice.

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From an Ed Arias post to the racquetball news group

Don't know about others but for me...I certainly have to devote time to
practice this...and I CAN say that with practice, you will (should :)
improve. Before I would practice cutting off lobs, I had a very low
percentage of successful returns...after practicing, just the
opposite...it's really not that hard.

Basically, the server is lobbing you and it may be to your advantage to
hit the lob on a fly or on the short-hop vs waiting to hit it off the
back wall or something similar. At first, this (cutting
off/short-hopping) may seem worthless but with practice, it'll pay off
very well.

I practice both cutting off a fly lob and short-hopping...and I'm better
at cutting off the fly (in particular). To practice this, stand about
2-4 feet behind the receiving line near the left sidewall (for righties)
and just hit yourself lobs and work on positioning yourself to cut off
the lob and making an offensive shot. Positioning is very
important...so you might want to start by just catching the ball in your
non-racquet hand at the spot where you would want to hit the ball...in
other words, lob to yourself and move into position so you catch the
ball (with your left hand) right about waist-to-knee level with enough
room to have a somewhat extended swing. Once you succeed doing
this...go ahead and swing away...try to place the ball...either
killshot/pass DTL or a pinch/splat...try hitting your pinches/splats so
that the ball hits near the opposing sidewall at the service
zone..making it hard for the server to retrieve your shot.(since they
should be trying to maintain center court).

Once you practice this a while...practice short-hopping the ball in the
same way...except you really won't be able to catch the ball (off the
short hop)...but give it a ferw good swings (concentrating on good
position relative to the ball) and you should become progressively more
apt.

You can do the same on the right side of the court...even hit backhand
lobs to your forehand to work on better control with soft-backhand shots
(lobs)...at first it'll probably be miserable...but with time (and not
too much time at that :) you should start gaining a lot of control in
the "set-up" and "put-away".

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Racquetball Central
http://www.racquetballcentral.com/