I have just changed my views about the forehand grip, after being presented with convincing information from Badminton England. The current BC grips guide (http://www.badmintoncentral.com/badminton-central/content/view/81/35/) shows a forehand "shake hands" grip, where the "V" of webbing between the thumb and first finger is exactly in line with the racket head, as if holding an axe. I now believe this is not accurate. For right-handers, the grip should be rotated slightly clockwise (looking down the butt of the handle). The "V" should rest on the narrow diagonal bevel instead of the larger side bevel. Left-handers will rotate the grip anticlockwise. The change is about 15-20 degrees rotation. It is a rotation away from panhandle. I am aware that Lee Jae Bok teaches a grip for smashes that is a rotation in the opposite direction, towards panhandle. I have used this grip myself; but now I advise against using it. I will explain in more detail in the new guide. For backhands level with your body (not behind or in front), you should use the same grip, except that the thumb will be straightened to provide support from behind. The current guide recommends a full "thumb straight down the large flat bevel" grip. This is not correct. I am posting this now because my opinions on grips, as presented in the guide, appear to have acquired influence on these forums -- whether I deserve this influence or not! The new guide is still some months away, and I don't like the idea of players all around the world learning bad habits because I made a mistake!
Forehand Grip at rear court Thanks Gollum for your original grip guide, it has a lot of insight. But I still had difficulty to do a forehand rear court cross court clear, but recently I happen to see a photo in Sigapore Open Final, PG used a grip kind of similar to your new version of grip guide. I practiced few time it seems help me to do a accurate and powerful cross court clear. BD-Fan
Grip Photos It seems work for me by curling the index finger and bend the thumb firmed aganst the shaft. By placing bended thumb at different locations on the shaft (rotate the shaft) to control the raquet direction. There will be space between V shape hand and shaft, but no space between the bottom three fingers and palm. This works for non-smash rear forehand shot. Time will tell if it consistantly works for me. Hopefully somebody will comment on my post. Cheer, BD-Fan
There is one simple test to find out if you are using your grip correctly. Try returning smashes with backhand flicks and and forehand flicks, and if you do equally well returning from both sides you probably have the right grip. If not, something is wrong.
If you do not feel that your forehand and backhand flicks are approximately equal in power and quickness, then your grip probably needs to be worked on more. This is the acid test. Of course most recreational players never reach this level. Ambitious young players must reach this equal backhand/forehand flick level if they are going to have any future in the game to play competitively.
Because of the natural swing of the backhand flick return of smashes the backhand is used to defend a wider area. But what if the smash is to the right of your forehand? If you can return a smash with your forehand flick with as much power and quickness as your backhand flick return, then you can build up a formidable defence. If your forehand return of smashes is wanting then your grip has to be worked on.
I do not agree....some people are just naturally forehand or backhand defenders...for me: backhand works best because you can use finger-power with your thumb...with your forehand you use fingerpower with your 4 fingers... the anatomy of the stroke is just different, the difference lies in your wrist-muscles, not your grip... saying that if you can't kick as hard forwards as backwards something is wrong...that isn't a technique problem...it's anatomy..
If you are equally good with both your backhand and forehand flick, returning an opponent's smash with a powerful cross flick will turn the tide, from defence to attack, for your side.
I won't post pictures yet, because the change is subtle: I need a high quality presentation to illustrate it clearly. The old grip guide pictures are unsatisfactory because they still lead to confusion about the angle at which the racket is held. Rather than quickly produce a low quality presentation, I will invest such time as I have to producing the higher quality presentation for the guide. I would like to give a finishing date, but I don't yet feel I have enough knowledge of the processes to form a reliable estimate. I will, of course, keep you posted Taneepak's comment is interesting; certainly I have found that adopting this basic grip for smash defence works better than other grips. Expect more on this subject in the guide. I do not, however, believe that any acid test exists for grips -- except, that is, the trends of successful professional players. If the pros use the grip, then it is good enough for me
well yes, it's off course soemhtign to train after, and somehting I want to realize. but fact is I'm a backhand-defender, and I feel that's more anatomy then grip...though, somehow, I hope you/gollum can prove me wrong (so I can improve) Gollum, mayeb your grip-guide is better to do with a grip only on wood (wiht the towel-gripped-racket it was hard to see the bevels..so pleae leave teh bevels als clear as possible. maybe mark them on your grip (will cost $3 for a new grip..sorry)
As a suggestion, would it be feasible for you to put a red line down the vertices of the handle when you take photographs? You could perhaps use a very thin strip of electrical tape. Towel grips make seeing the vertices a bit more difficult because of the way they round off the edges so it sometimes took me a while to work out where the edges were. Or maybe it's just me and my dodgy eyesight!
Let me explain my current thinking about the photos: The problem with grips photos is lack of context. It is hard in a small photo to show both a detailed grip view and the overall orientation of the racket. I think the easiest way to see a grip in context is to observe it close-up in the hands of a coach. The coach can show you the grip from all different sides, and you can see the whole racket and also look more closely at the fingers. I hope to imitate this with the new pictures. My aim is to provide context by showing the same photograph at three levels of zoom: Situation level: shows the player on court, using the grip to play a particular stroke. Racket level: zoom in on the racket. Fingers level: zoom in to see the finger positions. All three photos will be visible together, allowing you to put the grip in context and use the wider-angle photos to deduce the orientation of the racket in the fingers. As an additional check against misapprehending the racket angle, I will include a "common errors" section with side-by-side comparison of the right and wrong ways to hold the racket. The other methods -- using a bare wooden grip, or external markers -- are also possible, but they lack the directness of the "zoom in" method. I want a way to give context at a glance, with minimal need for interpretation. I don't want people to have to decipher a colour-coding system to work out what angle the racket is at. A possible further development is to make sophisticated use of non-photo graphics to improve contextual understanding. At the moment I plan only to use very basic diagrams, but it might be possible to make use of 3D models. Don't expect this in version 2 of the guide! Before I try anything this fancy, I'd like to concentrate on the photos. Rome was not built in a day!
I find the link below to be pretty useful if you want to look at different type of grips. http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zt8s-oon/bdm/grip.htm
