Backhand Clear Grip w/ pictures

Gollum has explained this already

Please read http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/ . Gollum has written a few very good pages about grips.

One question to Gollum, which grip is ideal when you are forced to play a back hand, that means, when the shuttle has gone behind you & you have no much scope with any other shot than back hand? With a full thump grip wrist mvement is restricted, but creates a lot of power if timing is right.

Prince

 

He suggests the panhandle, which would be with the thumb resting on the bevel that is perpendicular to the racquet face. If you need more rotation, you should continue to turn your grip. The key is to be able to hit the bird squarely with the racquet face to avoid slice.

 

These are good questions to be thinking about. Understanding these fine details about grips can help your play a lot.

In general, you want to use the bevel grip. This will be right for a "normal" backhand clear, where you are contacting the shuttle approximately level with you, or slightly behind you. When the shuttle has travelled farther behind you, you'll need to adjust towards panhandle -- as Athlete1234 said, this allows you to hit the shuttle straight and without slice (slicing will rob you of power).

It's important to remember that, even if you get this grip adjustment perfect, a backhand clear from this position is a very difficult shot. But the same grip adjustment will be useful if you choose to play a drop shot instead.

The thumb grip is usually not used for backhand clears. If the shuttle is substantially ahead of you (i.e. between you and the net), then you will need to adjust towards a thumb grip for playing a backhand. However, in this situation, you would normally play a round-the-head forehand instead. After all, you've had enough time to get behind the shuttle; this likely means that you could play a forehand.

Now let's look at your three "thumb position" pictures: pictures 3, 4, and 5. Picture 3 shows a correct tight grip; picture 4 shows a correct relaxed grip; and picture 5 shows an incorrect relaxed grip.

When you begin the stroke, your grip should be relaxed. At the last moment, you should tighten your grip to generate racket head speed as you hit the shuttle. So you start with a relaxed grip (like picture 4), and finish with a tight grip (like picture 3). You can read more about these ideas on my page about badminton grip principles.

The grip in picture 5 is incorrect, because you have bent the knuckle of your thumb. This will prevent you from tightening the grip effectively.

Hope that helps.

 

As far as I know, that's right. I can't think of any situation where that thumb position would be good.

The grip angle of your pictures is unclear to me. Picture 1 looks like a panhandle grip, and picture 2 looks like a thumb grip. If so, you've got the wrong idea.

 

Back hand of Taufiq

Thanks Gollum-But I have something more specific,

I have been using Panhandle/Bevel for my back hands for many years. But recently, I tried something different, After seing a Taufiq video, where he has used a full thump grip for his back hand when approaching the shuttle in an angle (Diagonal) and the hiting action is similar to that of a back hand serve. I just tried it out and I was amazed! If the timing is corret, I was easly clearing from Back to back. But there were a few problems,

1. It was a low percentage shot & I was not consistent.
2. It was twisting my wrist/Arm too much I was afraid of injury.

Please coment on the scope of this grip for a back hand hot.
Thaks,
Pricne

 

I've never seen Taufik do that. Can you provide a link to a video showing this?

Everything I've observed and everything I've been taught says that this won't work. I'd be interested to see contradicting evidence, but I need something verifiable.

 

I would say there are plenty, if not all, of Indonesian prof players using thumb grip for backhand "most of the time". Im not saying that Gollum is wrong in any case, but looks like its the way they have been traditionally trained

 

If you're talking about backhand clears, I would be astonished if that were true.

Again, I'd appreciate a link to something that I can assess.

 

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grips/thumb-grip.php
Are we talking about the same 'thumb grip'? There's no way to backhand clear with that grip

 

I use thumb grip as well (thumb on the flat part of the handle) but is mostly when I am too lazy to use round the head, ie the shuttle is still between my body and the net but heading towards my left rear baseline (I am right handed). I will take more notice of when the shuttle is past my body heading to my backhand baseline.

 

This is what I meant by approaching back hand corner at an angle. I know thump grip will not be possible if shuttle has gone far behind you. I was going though the videos and could not locate one which is very clear-but I remember seing it somewhere. Here I have attached a picture which looks close to the scenario.

 

How about this? what grip do you think he's using?

also check out these 2 youtube slowmotion video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0sY9Qof7J8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNhM3NvLmr0

 

I think TH is using a bevel grip here. Am I correct?
If TH had used a full thumb grip instead, his arm would have been in a more twisted position.

 

nprince: Your pic shows how I would normally have my thumb pressed on the flat handle too. I don't know if that's incorrect either, but it feels natural and my backhand clears are generally okay in situations where I could also have used RTH shots.

Others have pointed out that a bevel grip is the appropriate grip when the shuttle has gone passed you (ie away from both your body and the net heading towards your backhand rear court). I will take notice next time of how I would execute such backhand returns next time. From experience, such backhand returns from me from near my baseline would normally reach the opponent's midcourt. Possibly wrong execution of stroke, grip, strength or a combination of these factors.

Just keep on experimenting with what you see on TV, advanced players in your club and see which one works.

 

Monster: It is a confucing topic to me. For almost 10 years, I was using conventional grips for back hand (Panhandle & Bevel). But after watching a few videos & pictures, I just experimented with a grip similar to what is shown in picture. And the result was good. But I was worried about injury as I felt my wrist & upper arm twisted in an occuvard angle. Also I could not use thump grip if the shuttle has gone past me.

I have contacted a senior coach in my club(Who is also coach for many national players) and he was of the idea that Bevel or pan handle are the ideal ones-Or he was coaching only those grips for back hands. Hence I tht, I will ask people like Gollum, who is observing the latest trends.


Thanks for responding,
Prince

 

The first video shows a sliced shot, some players switch their grip in order to slice the shuttle so it's hard to tell if it's his regular grip for backhand clears.

On the second video, I cannot clearly see his grip so I can't help you here.

On the picture, the grip seems to be somewhere between the thumb grip and the bevel grip, but notice where TH is placed: his is almost in the middle of the court (not far to his backhand side). Two things concerning that: 1) (I think) You will rarely play backhand shots from the center of the court 2) From TH's position on the picture, a bevel grip would send the shuttle straight, and since he is placed almost on the center of the court, it would not be such a great choice of shot. I think that on this picture, TH is trying to send the shuttle to his opponent's forhand corner (if he is right handed), which is why he turned his grip slightly torwards the thumb grip for that specific shot.

Just my opinion, lets see what the coaches have to say about that.

 

In that first pic of Taufik, with the full thumb grip, it seems like the birdie's approaching waist-level.

Since it's not a above-the-head level backhand clear, I guess you could use either the thumb grip or the bevel grip in that situation, because you still pretty much make contact with the birdie in FRONT of you, in which, as Gollum said, the thumb grip is ideal.

If it's coming at an angle and it's NOT in front of you, but far out to the side (still at waist high level of course), I actually prefer a bevel grip. It lets me take advantage of supination and generate more power, in case I need drive the birdie back. I guess if you're just going to perform a drop, you could use the thumb grip...

Anyway, as far as I know, if the birdie's low and on your backhand side, both the thumb and bevel grip is feasible. Again, I personally prefer a bevel grip when it's right there, and reserve the thumb grip for birdies that are at least a few feet in front of me, e.g. a net kill.

 

yoppy's taufik pic shows a grip that's much more adjusted towards panhandle/bevel than full thumb grip---The one posted by nprince shows the thumb grip.

It's prolly terms that are confusing...