Please check out this thread... To all players, Please forgive me for bringing attention back to an old thread. I believe this thread to be the most instructive and helpful one for all intermediate players. In fact, my strokes have vastly improved upon reading it. After changing the way I hold my racquet, my shot options increased and I worry less about shots and begin to think more tactically. Believe me that it'll make your life easier once you mastered this technique. Of course there are a few caveats, mainly wrist strength development and the basics. Please check it out!
Like that picture Matt put up of those Indonesian doubles player, I too tend to hold my racket quite high up. I find that I have more control and can bring down the racket faster when smashing the shuttle, compared to holding the racket midway of the grip. An interesting new technique to try but I still can't seem to see how it can also benefit when hitting a backhand clear. Kwun, can I hear your experience with it please.
backhand clears more than possible Hey Kennyb, Backhand clears are more than possible with this technique, in fact it helps you develop the 'proper' strokes (which is more of a whipping motion than a straight swinging one). The most important thing to keep in mind about backhand strokes and also drives is that the thumb powers it... keeping your thumb behind your swing (and the direction you want to propel the birdie) will ensure control in your shot. This technique powers your shot more because the pivot is nearer to your wrist than the conventional V-shape hold. Hope this helps!
Kennyb, the finger technique appears less applicable in overhead backhand as you will now be using the backhand grip instead of the forehand grip. however, it is the similar idea. instead of pushing with index and middle finger, you now push with your thumb while holding the racket relaxed with your pinky and palm.
That's the beauty of this technique! Its flexibility comes from the fingers... held in its proper form (relaxed) and your body would follow... which incidentally is how badminton is supposed to be played... with finesse and grace. You can't be finesse without being relaxed. From the fingers, you could switch quickly to backhand and to net shot grip (panhandle or otherwise) and then forehand as you position for the next shot. An important thing about the finger power technique is that you can't tense up. When you tense up, you might even lose the grip of your racquet. So take it easy and let the flared base of the handle anchor to your ring and pinky fingers. A good analogy of how it feels to swing properly with this technique is to imagine hitting a fly on a wall with a wet towel I recommend that you try baseline clearing a few times to get used to it. Just swing normally and relax... little to no tension in your arm until you hit the birdie. BTW, you might want to make sure that your grip is good (new would be better) so as to maximise control.
this may or may not have been covered, i was too lazy to read all the posts but this could be do to something called the relaxation explosion? i'm not sure this is the right situation, but in martial arts, the proper way to attack is to keep your limbs loose until the point of contact, and then tense up. gives it a faster, and harder (due to the added momentum of the added speed) hit.
Pushing/Driving I had just experimented with it and i was amazed at how well it work. I had been able to do everything better. But it does have a weakness, i think... My coach wanted us to do a drill on pushing. However, i could not do so as well as i had when i was using the short grip. I only managed better when i slide the pinky grip to the middle part of the grip. Does anyone also has this problem?
>this may or may not have been covered, i was too lazy to read all the posts > >but this could be do to something called the relaxation explosion? > >i'm not sure this is the right situation, but in martial arts, the proper way to attack >is to keep your limbs loose until the point of contact, and then tense up. gives it a >faster, and harder (due to the added momentum of the added speed) hit. Yes deltaonex. Your stroke will accelerate faster if you start off with relaxed muscles at the beginning of the stroke. At the end of the stroke, your muscles should be tensed up - especially, your grip - as this will maximize power transfer through the handle, then through the shaft, and finally to the racquet head and onto the shuttle.
related but not the same thing. what you mentioned is when to exert power. what i talked about in this thread is where power is exerted.
Re: Pushing/Driving by pushing i think you mean drives? this grip doesn't work for all situation. drives is one of them. the grip is a bit slower thus fast drives is not as effective. but for overhead, it is quite effective.
FH and BH drives This kind of grip is effective for me personally due to less friction from the hand, thus it's easier to alter my hold to suit different situations during play. As you may have notice, contact to the racquet handle is pretty minimal (we're basically gripping to it via the fingers and not the whole palm like conventional V-shape hold). Contact of your hand to the handle would increase marginally in the palm when doing forehand drives with this technique, so it varies a little from v-shape hold. Backhand drives using this method would involve the thumb fully buttressed against the handle (unlike the overhead backhand whereby the contact of the racquet is to the side of the thumb). All the while, constant contact would only be the fingers with the pinkie finger on the flared base of the racquet. Like anything new, we can't expect too much in the beginning. Finger power grip will only take us so far in our development. However, IMO, it's a significant step towards the right direction. In the community spirit of things, I seriously urge anyone who have tried this technique and found it helpful or not to comment on this thread so that we could keep it near the top of the forum for other badminton players to check it out. Thanks!
Re: Pushing/Driving Hey Teddy, It's true... doing drives and netshots with the short grip is better than the finger power grip since the short grip gives you better control than power. However, this technique allows you more flexibility than the basic (v-shape) grip. You will find it easier to switch from short grip to finger power grip and back... just slide your fingers along the handle. For me, it's better to be consistent and limit the number of variables involved with shots, so I usually use the same grip in the same portion of the handle for all my shots (including serves) to save time. Eventually I would learn to adjust to the shots' requirement. In the long run, control will not be much of a problem using this powerful technique.
Heh! Sorry! Forgot to qualify my statement. What I wanted to say is that this grip works very well with traditional length and short handle racquets because there's less length to work with (faster too) if one switch grips during game (eg. from short grip to power finger grip along the handle). In my humble opinion, of course!
I tried the grip... use it if you have a good towel or synthetic grip. Its really flexible. I actually tried it few times.. at first i was worried that my racket will fly. It didn't , i used less energy to smash and at the same time , i can do abit of deception when i use this grip. M still trying to test this kind of grip. Very good in overhead drives and baseline drives. But with good control of the grip and the racket... maybe u can do some deception.
