I have been playing badminton for about 3 years and I play with plastic shuttle most of the time. I found some strange differences between the two. Having switched to feathers, I can forehand clear from back to back almost effortlessly and a lot of them were out even... However my smash seems a lot slower than with plastic... Also all drop shots take a bit more power to hit... It felt super strange to play with feathers. Can anyone explain this to me and I wonder have anyone experienced the same before?
Heh - welcome to the club. Imagine two cars approaching traffic lights; the lights have just turned amber. Driver 1 applies the brakes 20 yards from the lights and slows down gradually; Driver 2 waits until 10 yards and slams on. Driver 1 is a plastic - they come off the racket slower, but keep their speed longer. Driver 2 is a feather - they come off the racket faster, but the "brakes" come on more suddenly. IME. A very common manifestation of this is that smashes that would only just go over the net with plastics end up flying very high with feathers. Indeed, when our lot has to switch over to feathers for training and matches I have to aim my smashes into the middle of the net to get any angle!
I notice it most during drives, but yeah, the feather birds float more. With plastics I have great aim at landing shots on the back of the court but I'm still having trouble with aiming the feathers.
Plastics you have to 'punch' the shots and it requires more effort from your body whereas feathers is more effortless and the feather helps alot. The trajectory is very different from both as well as feel and control. I can play a whole day with feather shuttlecocks and have no pain next day but playing only 1 hour or so with plastic shuttles and my shoulder gets very sore. I hate plastics..lol. Kindest regards, -Ajay- Quote of the Day It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.