How do you direct your shots when hitting a clear, smash, drop or overhead drive ? Hitting straight is easy: the racket moves forward and the racketface is square at impact (or parallel to the back lines). But how do you hit right or left? Let's say you want to hit left. Should the racket go from right to left with the racketface square to its path at impact? Or should the racket just go forward, but the racketface is angled to the left (ie. similar to a cut) ?
You really wanna play a whole match with sliced clears? Are you superman? ;-) Think about the strength you would need...
Haha! That's true! But I have trouble really crossing my shots. For example, when doing a cross court right to left drop shot, it is pretty easy. But the moment I try to put more power into the shot, like making a smash, that shot becomes more of a straight shot then going left.
If possible, consult with an expereinced player or reputable coach. Then, perform drills to let the theory become the "real thing".
For clears, lets say I'm in the back right corner, before the clear I prepare my body so that I'm facing the back right corner of the opponent's court, ie. down the line. (I'm right-handed) Then for a cross-court clear, I'd turn my body slightly to the left and clear the same way. For a round the head in the back left corner, I'd still face the back right corner of the opponent's court, and turn my body at the last second. If you prepare by facing the left side, it'll be impossible to play the clear to the right side of the opponent's court. Full length clears are impossible if your racket doesn't hit the shuttle square. However for smashes and drops, you can change the direction of the shuttle simply by adjusting the racket face and follow through. For the crosscourt forehand smash, you should turn your body to the left more and bring your arm more to the left in the follow-through, the racket should still be hitting the shuttle squarely, and the follow through of the racket should be in the same direction of the shuttle.