most difficult shot to master

[WhyrlWynd]

I find straight net shot is the one that's truly hard to master and execute, even by the pros. How many matches have we seen in Singles where Lin, Gade, Taufik, Lee Chong Wei etc fight for net supremacy and even they are unable great net shots all the time (and end up getting tap from the net from the opponent). The margin for error for net shots is pretty small.

[Jurethatsme]

what should one begininer focus on at first

1. Movement/footwork
2. Clears
3. Drops
4. Netshots
5. Defense
6. Smash/ Backhands *
7. Tatics

That would be a good order of skills to learn for a beginner, I agree. Maybe I would put tactics before defence, because it's important to play smart, especialy in doubles - one cannot play in doubles if he/she doesn't know where to stand, how to response in specific situations... Let me explain. Once I played with one girl/total beginner (panhadle all the time ) against one male/very good beginner and one male/good beginner. I invite them to meet my beloved sport ... And I explain to the girl the logic of doubles play and it was really difficult at start (I was flying all over the court ), but when she started to understand, the game started to be fun! Score? we vs. them: 0:1, 0:2, 1:2, 2:2, 3:2! Sweet victory! Other guys very like this

[huynd]

I agree with WhyrlWynd. An improvement in tight net shot makes a big difference in single. Play it loose and you will run like crazy afterward :-). Play it tighter and you probably will get a good chance to smash.

[drifit]

That would be a good order of skills to learn for a beginner, I agree. Maybe I would put tactics before defence, because it's important to play smart, especialy in doubles - one cannot play in doubles if he/she doesn't know where to stand, how to response in specific situations... Let me explain. Once I played with one girl/total beginner (panhadle all the time ) against one male/very good beginner and one male/good beginner. I invite them to meet my beloved sport ... And I explain to the girl the logic of doubles play and it was really difficult at start (I was flying all over the court ), but when she started to understand, the game started to be fun! Score? we vs. them: 0:1, 0:2, 1:2, 2:2, 3:2! Sweet victory! Other guys very like this

that is good to you as the gal can learn it fast. just some people do learn at slow.... very slow pace. maybe due to the laziness or no interest to learn and improve...

[XtC-604]

the hardest skill to master, as in excellent if not perfect form must be either the smash or the clear, but since the first thing you learn to do when you start playing, is learn to clear. Clearing is one of those skills that can come out half-assed or can come out full on perfect. in other words, it can be easily done bad or extremely easily done well----> its hard to grasp.

[Athelete1234]

Hey Xtc-604 . Haven't seen you for a few days...and yeah, I agree that the clear is most important, as it's the basis for the drop and smash as well.

[remix441]

yea, athelete1234 doing more clears will increase your strenght before starting to smash. IF your clears arent good enough, dont do smashes yet because that means you not have enough strenght/technique to even do the other. Once you master one, move to the other. Drops come from practice

[chickenpoodle]

i'm the only one that's voted for the lift as being the most difficult shot out of the list... i looked at the list and approached it this way.

theres lots of shots that you see done to a fairly adequate level in beginners.
the clear, smash, drive, and various net shots.
clears, smashes, and drops are all based on the same stroke and mastering one will put you well on the road to mastering the others. yes, some players lack technique, in fact, a lot do, but the fact is, their clear still forced us to move back to baseline, their smash still forced us to lift or drive it back, and their drop still forced us to take a step or two forward.
drives are fairly basic. heck, even beginners with pan-handle and bent elbow smashes produce decent drives.
i've seen a handful of beginners with a crazy assortment of netshots. they're not very pretty, but they're acceptable. besides, i'm sure we've all come up with a bunch of stuff for netplay through horsing around on the court anyway. i agree that netshots are very difficult, requiring us to look at the direction of spin and applying the correct stroke, or having to wait for it to recover, since if we strike the tumbling shuttle in the wrong manner, it won't go where we wanted it to.

i'm not talking about A-level or pro-level mastery of a particular shot or technique, but i'm seeing this as doing that particular shot with a level of consistency and quality that can be accepted in game-play, and all the shots above i have listed are seen to be used by various levels of beginners.

the lift however, i think is deceptive in it's level of difficulty.
lifts are done when? only when we're in trouble. when its done in trouble, the inherent difficulty of the shot increases. the quality of the shot the opponent also influences this level of difficulty. when i think of a lift, i'm not talking about those rainbow-arc'ed lifts we see in beginners games, because those get killed or smashed with ease. a good lift is one that maximizes height and length, perhaps breaking the opponent's rythem, attack, forcing them to wait for the shuttle to fall. it also forces them to strike what is probably one of the most difficult positions to attack a shuttle in: when the cork is facing straight down.

some might say a lift is a lift, but i feel that a bad lift is not a lift. it's someone serving up dinner.

[kinoko]

lifting a hard smash for me.. im not talking about some chicken smash.. i tend to only able to do drop.

the other is cross net drop.

[jhirata]

I have problems with my net-drops. They either go too high, allowing the opponent to smash me, or they hit the net sometimes.

[cappy75]

It has to be the full smash. Proper smash with body rotation is hard on the body. Getting properly setup with the smash is hard enough, you gotta add in the overhead stroke with the appropriate grip as well depending on where the shuttle is overhead. Lots of mechanics to worry about. If you're not in a position to smash, you won't be able to smash hard and accurate.

Comparing to other overhead shots, it's hard to practice the stroke properly cuz many things have to be done right to have the proper smash. If you do one aspect wrong, you screw up your entire stroke.

[DivingBirdie]

the hardest skill to master, as in excellent if not perfect form must be either the smash or the clear, but since the first thing you learn to do when you start playing, is learn to clear. Clearing is one of those skills that can come out half-assed or can come out full on perfect. in other words, it can be easily done bad or extremely easily done well----> its hard to grasp.

EXACTLY
in fact i voted for 'Clear' in the poll. Maybe i'm lousy but according to what i see, consistent, accurate clears(looking identical with other strokes) can ONLY be done by players who have trained under coaches for a significant period of time. I evidently have poorer clearing skills than most who beat me.

[Gollum]

This is a hard question to answer.

In terms of consistent performance of a basic stroke, I would say the backhand clear is the hardest to master. Although this is an elementary stroke -- no slicing, deception, or anything fancy -- many players consider it beyond them.

The forehand smash is obviously a complex stroke that requires excellent movement skills as well as hitting skills. It's a crucial skill in doubles, and you can always use more power. It's hard to say you've "mastered" the smash unless you can hit near 200mph.

In terms of mastering an advanced skill, I would say the sliced straight low serve (in doubles) is the hardest. This is an incredibly subtle skill with many small variations. As a closed skill, it's something that you can potentially perfect regardless of your opponent's ability. The best serves almost guarantee a lift, but they are frustratingly hard to make consistent and attempting a perfect serve is risky (you get it right once in a match, and the rest of the time it goes in the net or into the jaws of the receiver).

[-Silver-]

All of the above! my body coordination is not good at all.

[cooler]

All of the above! my body coordination is not good at all.

not even dinking?

[Badmintan]

Apologies for the complexity.
This is the list of basic strokes I find hardest to easy:

(Service and crosscourt shots not included)

Hardest::::::
Backhand smash
Backhand clear
Around the head-clear
Forehand jump smash
Around the head smash
Around the head Drop
Backhand drive
Forehand smash
Forehand drop
Forehand net hairpin drop
Backhand net hairpin drop
Forehand clear
Around the head-drive
Forehand drive
Forehand lift
Forehand block
Backhand lift
Backhand block
easiest::::::

[450450]

Upon high flick serve to your backhand.. and you, the reciever close to the net to push the shot. You lunge forward too much that you have to execute a backhand clear or drop from the back.