Smashing in front of the body

Bear in mind, however, that the adjustment should be small. A full panhandle is never good for forehand overheads. If the shuttlecock has dropped too low, however, you will need to shift even farther towards panhandle: your smash will, necessarily, be very flat — almost a drive.

This type of badminton grip adjustment will probably happen naturally. The difficulty is usually stopping players from shifting too much towards panhandle!

Also, remember that this will not work if the shuttlecock is level with or behind your body. Make sure that you don’t use this slight panhandle as a substitute for the basic grip: your clears, drop shots, and some of your smashes will suffer.

Key tip

Be careful! Overuse of this badminton grip will have disastrous consequences for your technique. Remember:

• This only works when the shuttlecock is in front.
• The shift towards panhandle is subtle.

Comparing the normal basic grip with the adjusted version

This is only an example of adjusting your badminton grip. How much you actually change the angle will depend on where the shuttlecock is.