If your curious try this experiment. Mark with tape 60 inches high on your wall [painters lol] go back 78 inches and put a piece of the floor. Try the weird serve and the normal drive serve and mark where it hits on the wall. Under my lower rib when tipped up I measured 53 inches to the floor. Using the vertical serve with head down and shaft up so your thumb is pointed down [pan handle] I was able to hit the wall at 62 inches with lots of force with bird hit at 53 inches high. This would mimic passing over the net and if speed would stay constant probably pass over the service line at 69 inches. With the normal drive and keeping the racket in the more horizontal position with it legally below the handle I was hitting the wall at about 75 inches so anticipate it climbing to 97 at the service line using the same force . So realistically there is a 2ft height difference for me when standing at the service line using both serves. Thing most interesting is the difference in time to react as lower one makes you react quicker. No one to time it but I am sure you have about a second to react to it if standing up right at the line . Not a common serve but like Charlie said blast it down the middle and it will make people think twice. Being taller I have to move back etc like I mentioned prior as my reaction time is not fast enough in that short distance to do anything but try to block back or protect myself. If I was shorter then it would be easier by far as less bending up front. Interested to see if folks come up with the same conclusion as raining outside and was limited to the house. Maybe try it tonight and see if it seems valid on court. Yes I have that exciting of a life Fidget
Interesting experiment you ran there If your opponent can't play a strong return from your drive serve, you gain control of the rally straights away
There's something wrong with the thinking here: If you're worried people pounce on your serve, develop a better serve. The idea of a flick/drive is to surprise your opponent. You lose this element of surprise when you lose confidence in your low serve, when they know you will flick. Also note, virtually all effective drives are illegal, so forget about that shot. If your smashes aren't powerful enough to break through, develop a more powerful smash. Trying to vary with drops doesn't work because people aren't scared of your smash and can creep forwards.
Uh...I don't know what game you're playing, but badminton doubles is a game where drives are about 80% of shots. You'd have to be asleep to get caught by an upwards drive.
Upwards drives are ineffective (even suicidal). The only drives that can work are drives that never travel more than 1.55m above ground, which is basically impossible to do legally.
Depends on the opponents, there are some players you can catch out with a good drive serve, and others it'll be completely ineffective. It becomes pretty obvious when you do it once. The shuttle also arcs when struck, so it's perfectly possible to avoid the drive serve going high for long. Nevertheless, that does not mean the serve is illegal. Again I said earlier, people must distinguish what is against the rules, and what they don't like.
Your opponents who can't deal with it are probably asleep, or don't know how to play badminton doubles. I doubt there's much arcing going on between the distance of two service lines, especially if the serve is fast. If that shot comes like a bullet and ends up at shoulder height, that's guaranteed illegal. Yeah I don't like it, but I'm certain it's not legal either. When it's legal: If it doesn't come like a bullet (slower), then there is too much time to respond. If it does come like a bullet, it goes just above head height, my racket is already there ready to send it right back down.
Huh? I think we are on different pages. When I use a drive serve it's not at the opponent, it's towards the back service T. Standing 1 foot back from the service line, at my height, it's not hard to achieve a shot that arcs down towards that point.
Eh, okay, you were talking about recreational badminton, which isn't really true doubles badminton imo. Tactics/tricks at those levels might work, and fairly frequently. These tactics aren't proper though, and won't work against people who can play 'true' doubles. The counter to that serve positioning is to stand at very close to the left/right corner of the T. I would say standing 1 foot back would also make it too slow.
That depends, the serve didn't work against my coaches but it did against various county players. It can work, it can fail. Same with a flick serve.
I would have to disagree. Judicious and practical application is important. A drive serve against one opponent maybe effective versus ineffective against a different player. Using a drive serve for the first time may not be effective a second time in a game.
Well, I end up pretty much disagreeing with everyone when I end up in this forum. I feel a little like Trump, in fact. Either way, playing this shot is bad in theory because 'correct play' can counter it. And when something is bad in theory, you'll get destroyed by actual doubles players. It's not something you should learn (unless you want to stay playing 'fake' doubles), but it's ok to mess around in a casual game I guess. I don't know what on earth county level is; but badminton must be very unpopular wherever you are if county levels can't counter this. If a guy cannot counter an UPWARDS drive from midcourt when he is waiting in a STATIC position (relative to a dynamic-constant moving game), he's a recreational player. Look at any normal game and you'll notice the front guy has to know cover flat and occasionally downwards drives and in a dynamic position, a much bigger challenge than reacting to a drive serve.
That's an absolutely reasonable opinion to have - the problem I had was that you were saying it was straight up against the rules. I'm reasonably tall but not the absolute tallest at 6', but even then that's tall enough to play a legal drive serve and have good trajectory on it. Taller people have an even easier time. I don't know why you're obsessed that I'm playing fake badminton. It's just variation in my game. Same as a flick, when people challenge the net or continually rush forwards, the serve can make them panic. If their partner is standing in the middle at the back T, I'm basically aiming straight at them. It's not my go-to serve, nor my default, it's something I use to keep my opponents guessing and from rushing the net every time. And yes, against some opponents it just doesn't work, but that's only one point, and you take the same risks with a flick - because if they're quick they get the opportunity to smash in front of the tramlines.
No, my first statement are effective drives are illegal. I never said your serves are illegal, but your ones aren't effective in my opinion (against decent players was my assumption). If you suddenly changed your serving position from the T to more backwards, it would be obvious to me you were trying something fancy. I would even argue low serves would be a bad idea standing backwards because the net response secures the initiative. My argument is that the drive is far inferior to the flick, stated above. Proper drives are shots that are simply too easy to get and will be punished.
Yeah I think you guys are saying the same thing. He's saying the only way to have a real, effective drive serve would be to do it from an illegal height. I agree that for something to be considered "effective" it has to work against high level players because, let's face it, a lot of things work against lower level players and you pick up bad habits that you'll have to fix later. IMO the short doubles serve is so important that you shouldn't be wasting time learning how to do a drive serve. Flick serves are important to learn at some point and from that skill you can probably learn to drive easily, but flick serves are still bad serves too. It's just that they add a bit of variety but drives will get you destroyed at higher levels even worse than flicks. You're giving your opponent a free attack which is what you don't want to do in doubles (both drive and flick). I do understand that not everyone plays at the same level (and some are going down in levels because of injuries/old age) but if you still young and improving then drives shouldn't be a part of your repertoire. Every drive you play against someone who can't return them properly is a lost opportunity for you to practice a proper, useful serve.
Yay! Someone finally agrees with me! You probably explained my point better than I did, although I had it clear in my head, I didn't translate that best into words.
