Hi There, My first post and I did know what i was going to say, then followed the advice on the stickeys and read some relevent threads and have found out a few answers, firstly I would have started off describing myself as an intermediate player , but now have revised that to beginner/int ( have played for 4 years 1-2 times a week) . This is quite a long post but I have mulled over this problem for a couple of years and it is still unresolved -the rest of my game has improved to the point that without sorting this out It seems a bit pointless continuing to try as hard as I do. The main problem I have is that I have really weak backhand, The last time I really tried to sort out a high backhand clear was 2 years ago, I messed up my timing so much that I was completely missing the shuttle. I exclusively do a round the head forehand or a backlhand drop shot. I think I have got away with this for years as I am lefthanded. Secondary problem is that my smashes are poor, badly timed and inacurate- no way near as bad as my backhand but the next thing I would address if I could. I think that alot of this is due to my job- I am a Blacksmith typically I spend 4-5 hours a day hammering. It seems to have taught me an incorrect grip ( the badminton Bible grips guide has helped allot with this) backhand was very close and is easy to correct. But forehand is way out, it is past vertical the wrong way towards panhandle- I can easily correct the grip but if I was to smash like this it feels like I would dislocate my shoulder or tear it. Something that I could not afford to do from a work point of view. I just haven't got the mobility in my shoulder/forearm to rotate this far round. I am assuming that 10 years of forgework has tightened and reduced my shoulder mobility- Is there any exercises I can to do to address this? Timing is always going to be difficult for a while as a badminton raquet feels ( and is ) ridiculously light compared to the hammers I use all day, I generally don't even try to smash for the first game I play. I consider myself to have strong wrists yet a backhand feels like jelly to me- any specific backhand wrist exercises? In the past I was advised to string a shuttle up and hit this to practice a backhand clear- I could easily do this again at work, but last time it destroyed my timing to the extent that I haven't attempted one since- any other off court exercises I could try? any other ideas advice come to mind- unfortuntley trips to ostopaths/ coaches are unlikely due to cost and time constraints that I am under. great forum by the way! tonnes of information to digest- although most of the diagrams need pasting into photoshop and flipping!
