Hi guys, little new to the forums but saw that they didn't have a newbie forum so just went directly to the proper one. I have been playing for about a year and a bit with mates and we are all just playing as a hobby, so no coaching. In my opinion, our techniques are horrible to the point where it feels so good to get a rally going because half the time it is won just by serving.. One of the players is good friends with an intermediate level player and he always buys Aeroplane Black Label, which I hear (aside from the recent talk about degrading quality) is a pretty stable shuttlecock to use. We have been using the same shuttlecocks for most of our plays. Although it seems the norm that the pricing is at $25 a tube, we take a while to wear them out as no one knows how to properly do a power shot/slam. There is one player who just uses his whole arm to hit the shuttle and sometimes the outer end of the shuttle ends up being oval shaped instead of circle. My question was, even due to all these details, are we wasting our money on buying such shuttlecocks? I was planning on trying out the RSL classics, but we are still novices at best.. On some occasions we did have to buy the clubs shuttlecocks, and I dont remember what brand they were but they were horrible and dry, which meant a whole feather would break off from just a drive, I am worried that the second or even third tier shuttles will end up like this. Thanks!
Honestly? If your a beginner, it's more cost effective to buy decent plastics. Use the money saved to get a decent pair of badminto shoes if you don't have some and then a couple if hours of coaching.
depends on how beginner and how terrible the techniques are. some beginners level can hit the shuttle back and forth quite consistently. they don't hit hard but they make good contact on the shuttle. in this case the shuttle actually last quite long. and having a good quality shuttlecock will even last longer. however, some beginners have very poor contact point and they consistently mishit on the feathers and they destroy shuttles very quickly. in this case it is better to get some plastic birdies which is more resistant to mishits.
The OP states half the points are earned upon serving, so I would take that as pretty basic beginner. I would suggest either low costing feathers or nylon, for now. I wouldn't stock up on too much. Let the shuttles move up in quality as you do.
Hi guys, its the OP here, I forgot that I registered on these forums a while back and made a new one, so I'll just be posting with this account from now on. Thanks for all the replies. Yeah, I was going to say, I was worried that if I bought cheaper shuttlecocks that even though they would be ~1/2 the price, they'll last 1/2 as long. I think in our year or so of playing once a week and recently twice a week, we've used about 10-12 tubes all up. We have one player on the team that mishits and kills the shuttle.. It's hard to say because our group is anywhere from 4-8 people which means we constantly change partners and the skill levels are all over the place, we could have a close 19-21 game or sometimes it'll be 5-21.. Any suggestions on any low costing feathers? I'm from Australia, so badminton isnt exactly the top sport everyones playing. I've been considering getting coached a few lessons because when I learn a new technique (eg. forearm pronation) the only time I can actually practise the said technique is DURING games meaning I may very well never be able to even get the basics right. But I'll take that over to the coaching/techniques forum.
It would suggest that the person who sold you the RSL classic shuttlecocks knows a lot about badminton.It seems like you're enjoying the games that what it matters the most.
To my opinion, if you play indoor, dont use plastic shuttlecocks if you plan to improve your game,unless u just wanna swing the racquet n sweat it out.Feather and plastic shuttlecocks have a different feel all together.