For early beginners, try goals of eight consecutive hits from the service line, six from halfway between the service line and the baseline, and four from the baseline. For more advanced beginners, try twelve, nine, and six. Instruct the players to use shorter, slower swings from the shorter distances and to concentrate on control, good positioning, and seeing the ball well. Also remind them to try to make the ball bounce well in front of their partners, not right at their feet.
If you reach the baseline goal, you can continue by trying to set new records from the baseline, or you can start from the service line again, but require that all but the starting hit be backhands. For an even more challenging extension, you can run through the whole sequence with the requirement that each player alternate between forehand and backhand strokes.
Difficulties: Some pairs of players tend to magnify each other's errors. Player A hits a little bit off target, and in trying to adjust, Player B hits even more off target, and so on. It will help to mix pairs around so that no one gets stuck at a certain distance for too long. If you have an especially wild hitter, hit with him yourself, both to regain control of balls that start to go wild and to give him a good demonstration of a controlled swing.
