Hi, This evening I was warming up before a game with another member of the club, and we went from clears to drives, before playing a game. Because she is not used to drives, I intentionally slowed down my drives so that the driving rallies last longer. And then I realized that I was rotating my grip during the drives. Here I am not talking about switching grips when changing from a forehand drive to a backhand drive --- I was doing forehand drives when I noticed the nature of my grip changing. I would start off swinging the racket towards the shuttle with an ordinary forehand handshake grip. But just before impact, my grip would rotate from the handshake grip, with the side of the thumb resting on the flat side of the handle, to a grip in which the thumb presses down on the narrow side of the handle. While this is happening, I also released my index finger, so that thumb presses the racket down to a position where it is almost horizontal upon impact with the shuttle. To see what effect this grip rotation has on the drive, I tried driving with and without grip rotation, and found that when I lock my grip to a purely handshake grip, the shuttle goes one or two inches above the net, but when I allow the grip rotation to take its course, the shuttle consistently skims right over the net. Maybe this is just something that I develop for my drives unconsciously, and not some generally applicable technique. But I guess it would be interesting to share this observation. Would someone like to comment on their grips during a drive?
When you slightly rotate your grip while driving, you're basically brushing the shot so that it'll stay horizontal or bend after crossing the net. I don't use a full-on v-grip when driving because it's easy for me to lock my wrist and lose control on my drives if I do. Holding the racquet by the fingers allow more relaxed hold and improve control... and yes, rotate your racquet head.
i was watching some instructional VCD by Xiong GuoBao. i noticed that after he do a forehand drive, instead of having the racket head vertical (ie. hitting surface facing front) all the time, he actually rotate his racket after impact, resulting in the hitting surface facing downwards after impact. after trying that in the gym, i notice that there is a nice curve to the drive, even from a low driving position, instead of the shuttle rising or flat after the net, it actually curves downwards! i know the physics is probably totally different, but this reminds me of a top-spin in table-tennis. anyway, back to answering cheongsa's question. do you mean the racket grip actually moves (rotate) with respect to your palm? resulting in a panhandle like grip? or is it just a rotation of the racket by finger/wrist motion?
Yes, there is a small rotation of the handle with respect to the palm, but the final grip is not panhandle-like. I would say it is more like a backhand grip, except that the thumb presses down on the narrow side of the handle instead of the broad side of the handle. I would say the handle rotation is initiated by the pinky finger (and to some extent, also the fourth finger) tightening, so that the thumb slides away from the broad side of the handle onto the narrow side of the handle. Once the thumb reaches this position, I rotate the thumb so that instead of the side of the thumb resting on the narrow side of the handle, I have the thumb pressing down gently to rotate the handle relative to the palm even more. At this point, all the other four fingers are relaxed, and the racket is prevented from flying off by the last two fingers, much like a pinky grip.
Well, if it works then by all means use it However, if someone came to me looking for more power/better trajectory on their drives, I would recommend using arm rotation rather than rotation from the fingers (i.e. from the grip). Here's how it works; we'll look at the forehand drive but the backhand is similar: Many people simply draw their racket head straight back and then uncock their wrist into the point of impact. That is, the racket face travels straight towards the shuttle. It's more effective to include an element of arm rotation in this motion too. As you draw the racket back, rotate the forearm so that the racket head is facing the ceiling. You "lead" the shot with your little (pinky) finger. As you hit the shot, the forearm rotates back so that the racket head is square to the shuttle. Using a tap action, there will be a very short follow-through of the racket head (it will point slightly downwards). Backhand is the same. Think of it as a "karate" movement if you like - chopping with the outside of the hand
A good badminton shot is produced by the face of the racquet being square to the target line through impact. If your grip is rotating through impact it would be very dificult to achieve a consistent strike. It is possible that the racquet is moving as a result of an off-centre hit or, more likely, that the various pressures acting on the racquet are forcing it to move after impact. Unless you can get a really good time-lapse video of the action I would be very hesitant to rely purely on what you observe or feel through the shot. By slowing your shot down you are significantly altering the physics of the shot, and our meagre senses are not really accurate at the speeds required for this sort of analysis.
I agree with Slanter that this method is unlikely to be optimal. However, it's not committing any major "badminton sins" (for example, hitting a backhand with a whip action). Therefore use it if you find it helps your play, but use it in the knowledge that there is probably a better alternative As a general principle, be open to experimentation! It's one of the main ways of learning, and you can learn useful information even from the drawbacks of a technique. Once again, this is not how I'd teach forehand drives, and I'd recommend that people don't do this if they want an optimal technique.
If the poster is talking about hitting over the top of the shuttle in a drive from a defence position then it is a very valid technique, but far more commonly used from the backhand grip. The racket face scoops over the top of the shuttle helping to flatten off the drive, usually played off of a smash. Probably less likely to use this when taking the drive at shoulder level since it can be hit across the tape with greater force and still achive an attacking shot. On the forehand, rotating the grip slightly towards pan handle would help to achieve the desired effect. Slanter is I suggest correct in stating that an optimum power shot is achieved by having the racket face square to the target line through impact however if the aim is to achieve maximum control then the use of a "slice" shot is valid, although I would think more difficult to acheive on the fhand without reverting to a big "swing"
