Too flat smashes

[Abdullah Ahmad AAK]

is a video of my 4 smashes:

1- was a mistimed hit
2- didn't hit well
3- felt timing was good from sound of shot, but didn't go as downwards enough as should have.
4- went out of the court

I heard GLY in a video tell amateurs about somebody's contact point being wrong and somebody's swing style. I think even if my contact point is ok (when I consciously hit shuttle considerably in front of me), it doesn't have enough of an angle.

What am I missing? Contact point, swing style or the 'wrist' movement at the end (also explain wrist please because it is hella confusing)? I use the V grip when playing

 

[ralphz]

Maybe better to have the camera on the side where your racket arm is..

It's going flat because your racket face is flat when it contacts the shuttle. You need to time the swing so that you make contact with the shuttle when your racket face is tilted down more, so, making contact with it at a later part of your swing.

So you position yourself and do your swing such that when your racket makes contact with the shuttle , your racket face points where you want it to point, in this case, you want your racket face to point more down at the point of contact.

Maybe it was pointed down more when you hit the first one, the cross court one, though that one went in the net. . Cross court shots have to be flatter in order to get over the net. And maybe the fact that you hit that in the net caused you to make the others much flatter to avoid hitting the net.

As to why your other ones were flat. Consider a flat drive. The shuttle travels straight / flat, because the racket is flat on contact. If when you try to do a smash, the racket is flat on contact then it makes for a flat smash.

How all the timings work in order to adjust how steep or flat the shot is, i'm not entirely sure.. but there is absolutely no doubt that your racket is flat on contact, and if you hit the shuttle in the part of the swing where the racket is pointed down more, so at the time in your swing when the forearm is pronated more, then the shuttle will go down more.

 

[Budi]

One thing i notice, you tend to put down your racket after shot. Idk what racket you use but mine are 3U HH racket (normally & my most prefered racket). Sledge hammer racket really put a burden on you if you are lazy & yes before my smash always going flat coz late/slow response. When your racket always ready, you had a whole lot of time to adjust racket face direction but if not, you just try to brute smash the shuttle with very little time you had without having time to adjust the angle.

 

[Mason]

It’s hard to tell but it looks like you have a pan handle grip .. any chance that you could record with better quality ?

 

[ralphz]

I agree with the idea that your grip is a bit panhandly.., not really recommended for forehand overheads, but it is still a simple concept to hit it a lot steeper than you are even with a panhandle or panhandly grip. Ensuring that your wrist isn't bent back on contact, 'cos if your wrist is bent back, your strings will be flat. and that could be what's happening causing your shots to go flat..

When you change your grip to the "proper grip" for overhead forehands, conventional forehand grip, then the swing will look different and that's a huge change.

 

[Simeon]

I watched slow motion. Three of four smashes happen when you have landed already. Jump smash or not, hit before you are landing.
Because of the panhandle you avoid accelerating your forearm in right way, pronation, in the end. Otherwise you would slice the shuttle to the side.

 

[ralphz]

I watched slow motion. Three of four smashes happen when you have landed already. Jump smash or not, hit before you are landing.
Because of the panhandle you avoid accelerating your forearm in right way, pronation, in the end. Otherwise you would slice the shuttle to the side.

though his smash is so flat that if he stood both feet flat on the ground and panhandled it with quite a low contact point then it still wouldn't have to be anywhere near as flat as that

 

[Abdullah Ahmad AAK]

1- So I tried implementing the following. Please review:

Bringing my arm at an angle forward, at 1 o clock instead of vertically upwards (viewed from the back)
Keeping my wrist angle at 135 degrees instead of 90 degrees for a cleaner hit

2- Ik the jump timing and bodyweight transfer isn't synchronised well. Still working on that.

3- I have been using the conventional forehand grip or V grip as Badminton Famly calls it for 2 years. So I think if there's an issue it's the way I swing or low contact point rather than the grip

 

[Cheung]

1- So I tried implementing the following. Please review:

Bringing my arm at an angle forward, at 1 o clock instead of vertically upwards (viewed from the back)
Keeping my wrist angle at 135 degrees instead of 90 degrees for a cleaner hit

2- Ik the jump timing and bodyweight transfer isn't synchronised well. Still working on that.

3- I have been using the conventional forehand grip or V grip as Badminton Famly calls it for 2 years. So I think if there's an issue it's the way I swing or low contact point rather than the grip

Do you think it's better?

 

[Mason]

1- So I tried implementing the following. Please review:

Bringing my arm at an angle forward, at 1 o clock instead of vertically upwards (viewed from the back)
Keeping my wrist angle at 135 degrees instead of 90 degrees for a cleaner hit

2- Ik the jump timing and bodyweight transfer isn't synchronised well. Still working on that.

3- I have been using the conventional forehand grip or V grip as Badminton Famly calls it for 2 years. So I think if there's an issue it's the way I swing or low contact point rather than the grip

I struggle with my grip as well but your grip does not look like a V grip, it look very much panhandle …..perhaps a more experienced player could correct me if I’m wrong

 

[Cheung]

Agree, it's a very panhandle grip.

Not close to being a V grip

 

[Mason]

Agree, it's a very panhandle grip.

Not close to being a V grip

Then perhaps this is the root cause of his problem ….? Is that what think to?

 

[ralphz]

Agree{with Mason}, it's a very panhandle grip.

Not close to being a V grip

Putting aside that I'm a bit skeptical about trying to draw a conclusion about grip from a video of a game and it is possible to make things look right with an unconventional grip,

But anyhow, Looking at those images do you really think that's "a very panhandle grip"" and "not close to being a V grip"?

 

[ralphz]

1- So I tried implementing the following. Please review:

Bringing my arm at an angle forward, at 1 o clock instead of vertically upwards (viewed from the back)
Keeping my wrist angle at 135 degrees instead of 90 degrees for a cleaner hit

2- Ik the jump timing and bodyweight transfer isn't synchronised well. Still working on that.

3- I have been using the conventional forehand grip or V grip as Badminton Famly calls it for 2 years. So I think if there's an issue it's the way I swing or low contact point rather than the grip

The result is an enormous improvement.. You see it's much steeper.

I'm curious what you mean by "wrist angle".? An angle is between two planes. Which two places are you talking about? Do you mean the angle between the racket handle and your arm around the time you make contact?

 

[Cheung]

I'm a bit skeptical about trying to draw a conclusion about grip from a video of a game

That's OK. I still maintain my opinion even though you're skeptical.

 

[Cheung]

Then perhaps this is the root cause of his problem ….? Is that what think to?

The root cause of a smash not being steep is when hitting the shuttle, the racquet face is too vertical. A person can still get a steep smash with a pan handle grip.

 

[ralphz]

That's OK. I still maintain my opinion even though you're skeptical.

well, do you normally see a panhandle grip looking like this? (Racket handle is circled with a black circle).. (ignore the black horizontal line coming off the circle).

 

[Cheung]

well, do you normally see a panhandle grip looking like this? (Racket handle is circled with a black circle).. (ignore the black horizontal line coming off the circle).

I think it can be consistent with a panhandle. Can you prove it isn't?

 

[ralphz]

I think it can be consistent with a panhandle. Can you prove it isn't?

I agree that image can be consistent with a panhandle. I think panhandle with arm rotation can produce an image like that.

I think that image can be consistent with a V grip too though. Do you think that image can be consistent with a V grip?

 

[Cheung]

I agree that image can be consistent with a panhandle. I think panhandle with arm rotation can produce an image like that.

I think that image can be consistent with a V grip too though. Do you think that image can be consistent with a V grip?

Far less likely given that the OP already starts off with the racquet face facing outwards as his normal (panhandle) grip, when raising the racquet panhandle for the overhead and the racquet face turned towards the ceiling (in panhandle) when he starts his overhead stroke.