Most shots are Dinks!

 With the exception of overheads and some slapping shots, the rest of the shots are ground strokes.  I would suggest that most ground stroke might be hit like a dink.  Not a lot of wrist, some arm movement, not much much of a backswing.  If you apply the dink structure to other shots, you will find more control and less anxiety!  All good.  Now let flesh this in a bit and add an exercise to test this proposition...

A good dink is a smooth, short stroke without much of a follow through or backswing.  It contacts the ball near the south pole.  The more you need to hit a short dink or get it over the net, the closer you hit it towards the bottom of the ball.  A cross court dink is closer to the equator.  As a human machine you'll do this somewhat automatically.

Step back from the kitchen line two paces and then hit a shot into the kitchen.  It's just another dink but with a touch more follow through.  It doesn't start with a bigger windup or body movement or wrist flip, just a gentle lifting of the ball.  Since this is more of a lift than a hit, you again need to hit the ball closer to the south pole.  Keep this is mind as we move further back from the kitchen line.

Step back another six feet  and you're close to the baseline.  Hmm, a short, shot with a lot of follow through is all you'll need to hit the dink, but now we will call it a drop shot.  It's the same shot.

How about a lob?  Hit the bottom of the ball, long follow through.  You don't hit the ball hard, it's just more lift as you hit it.

The location of the strike on the ball controls the elevation.  For a dink it's three feet, for a drop it's maybe six feet, and the lob is 10 or 15.  Again, you'll do this quite well with a bit of practice.  

Try this out by starting at the kitchen line with a dink, hit it, then step back a step or two, hit the shot, and keep moving back with the same shot just varying the follow through. 

How about a lob from the kitchen line?  Just get under the ball more, and a longer follow through.  Though I think people should dink when at the kitchen, it is possible to just lob -- how sad.  :-)  (Sorry Sam!)