ok, i never play on such rough surfaces. but picking up shuttles from a wooden floor or common sports-gym surfaces doesn't scratch your racket. some micro-scratches in the paint at most, and seriously: that's the least problem i have. rackets scratch and get paint chips by playing, so some mini-scratches won't bother me at all...
I always return the birdies over the net. There are a bunch of old guys (looks like mid-40s to 50s) that just use their racquets to flick the birdie from their side to my side under the net. It annoys the **** out of me. I don't get what's so hard about scooping up the birdie with their rackets and hit it to me so that I can catch it. After a while, I just gave up and I do the same thing back to them and make them pick up the birdies. If they're going to be rude towards me, then I'm going to be rude towards them.
That's why I no longer play badminton in a facility that utilizes wooden floors. The only way I'll do so is if I get to use someone else's racket.
A micro-scratch is a scratch. To be honest, I never really paid attention to it because my AT800 DE is pretty banged up. There could be tiny little stones/rocks that gets on to the floor as a result of people coming in from the outside. I find that in those facilities, not everyone wear court shoes so some will utilize the same shoes that they used walking outside the badminton facility. At the dedicated badminton facilities, I always have to wear court shoes and they are obviously cleaner because I don't wear them outside so the floor mat tends to be cleaner.
Yes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBea8SS0HdQ&list=PLA173F841103447B7 I'd suggest you watch it all, but drills start around 4mins, discussion I think around 2mins.
If you are worried about scratching your racket when picking up the shuttle or anytime you make contact with the ground or partners racket then add some tape to the racket head. I do it on all my rackets and replace the tape when it gets too dirty or scratched. It has also helped to minimise paint chips when clashed on the taped areas.
Hi, I doubt it will affect the aerodynamics much because the tape fits neatly onto the racket and into the grommet recess. I have uploaded a couple of pictures to my photobucket account. Excuse the quality, the flash is rubbish on my phone. http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/Dave1011274/media/photo1_zps9537a038.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1