I like to smash, its fun , but not when the birdy doesn't go over the net. I'm able to smash the birdy from all the way back court and have it perfectly drift over the net about 80% of the time, but whenever I'm around the middle or by the net, I always seem to smash the birdy right into the net, or if I am lucky enough to get it over the net, it goes out of the court. I switched to using drives and short drops, but there are times I just want to smash it real hard, but I try to cover my weaknesses from my enemys. Could it be that I'm not jumping high enough or not supposed to jump at all? Could it be the way I'm holding my racket, or smahing it in the wrong form?
Its all about control. Get a friend with a few shuttles to do some smash drills with you. You're only smashing and he's only doing half court high serves. Also, if you want, learn to jump smash. Most of the time, you're hitting the shuttle into the net because you pull down your wrist too much too soon. Here's what I'm thinking: Since you can smash from the back court, that means one thing, when you approach closer to the net, your mind thinks you can hit it at a greater trajectory (which is common sense) and because of that you pull down your racket with your wrist very quickly to get the trajectory but you over did it to the point it gets stuck to the net. If this is the case, then jumping to the shuttle to reach it at a higher point can help.
It's all about the contact point. when you are smashing in midcourt position, it is going out because your striking point relative to your body is the same as when you are standing at the back of the court. Another problem is if you are at the net, the shuttle is coming at you in a shorter space of time. However, you need the same time to produce the smashing action. So what happens? the shuttle is actually more above your head rather than in front and the angle at which your racqet strikes the shuttle sends it out. When it goes into the net, you have over compensated and it is too far infront.
I don't think that you should be doing full smashes at the net because it's unnecessary and probably detrimental to winning the point. Try half smashes for half court shots. Since you're closer to the net, the distance the shuttle has to travel from your racquet to the opponent's court is shorter so the shot does not have to be as hard.
