towel grip

[juniorbadmintonplayer]

Who here uses towel grip and who uses plastic? When you use towel do you put it on top of a plastic? Also some of the pros have their towels erally thick, how do they do it? I used to use a very thin grip (towel over wood!!!) but am gradually thickening it up. Also anyone know where to the the grip thingy from physio sport?cheers

[hilly1285]

I hate towelling grip, seem to go really dry dead quick. I usually use a think grip cos i feel that i have more control over the racket head and it (supposidely) reduces the risk of tennis elbow.

[Vorpulus]

I just wrap a tea towel round the base of the racket. It even doubles as a sweat band.

[flamingjam]

Toweling grips are great they soon 'bed' down to the shape of your hand and give great control in my view i far prefer them to the plastics. I dont grip mine very thick i enjoy loose control over the racket as its a theme of my game allowing you to easily change shot directions i also grip a Long way up the racket including the shaft for net play as i do spinning and slice shots at the net.

[eddykid]

You like a small grip do you James.
I would not admit that to many times if I was you....
I used to play with toweling when I was in competion especially when going abroad but now I use plastic as it is easier on your hands.
I prefer a bigger grip, biggest one ever so I have heard.

[Phil McBride]

Who told you that?

I hope it wasn't the voices in your head again!

[justme]

is it true that the bigger you have the grip the less power you generally have ?

[juniorbadmintonplayer]

not sure about the thick grip less power?n e 1 else? also how do you thicken up a towel grip??On another point i have heard people use yonex super grap as a grip? is this right? Do you put many layers on or what? I used to use long+this towel grip like james but am trying to thicken it up a bit.

[Phil McBride]

The general rule of thumb is that the thicker your grip the less chance of developing tennis elbow, grip thickness is purely a personal preference, I like a thicker grip because I am more of a wristy player with flicks etc, from what James says he also likes this kind of play but he uses a thin grip so there is no hard and fast rule about gripping rackets.

You should try a few different combinations to see how you feel with variations and how this affects your stroke!

[stuartwardell]

Phil,
I have also seen tennis elbow caused by thicker grips too as the individual felt that they had to grip it harder because they had less grip on the racket.
At the end of the day a sound overhead should keep tennis elbow away.

[Vorpulus]

You could also switch arms during play. I saw a man on court with two rackets the other day. My opinion of this man will not be posted on a family forum. The point is, he's using his whole body to play badminton.

For most people one of the upper quartiles is not used. Perhaps a new breed of badminton players will develop who are able to switch racket hands during play. No more 'keep it on his backhand' tactics, unless someone is daft enough to switch racket hands so that they only play backhands.

In response to the actual topic, I think a towel grip is most unsightly. If anyone here will be involved for whatever reason in the burial of my corpse, please do not put a racket with a towel grip in my hand. Thanks. Also, towel grips become saturated with sweat and increase the mass of my racket, thus messing up my timing. Besides this, they're pretty flimsy in my opinion.

Get a proper grip and play some proper badminton.

[Moose]

I know its all about personally finding out whats best for you, but i absolutely hate adding extra grips of any kind...

I dont know what it is; I find the racquet gets so unwieldy, lacks power and accuracy...

It could be that Im just not giving them enough time to get used to them, but I buy a racquet for its specifications "as-is" and dont like messing with it.

Certainly all of my mates use extra grips and prefer the spongy/plastic Karakal type super grips because they prefer it and say their forearms start to hurt with a too thin a grip.

I have used a towel grip, and yes it was "just horrible".

Ive never suffered from tennis elbow or the like, but then I do quite a few forearm exercises that I have subsequently been told are supposed to counteract it.

Currently I use a G3 size grip.

[Vorpulus]

>>
Certainly all of my mates use extra grips and prefer the spongy/plastic Karakal type super grips because they prefer it
>>

They prefer it because they prefer it...hmm... nope, still can't quite get my head round that one.

So... as a result of them preferring these grips, they prefer them? No, I just don't understand.

[eddykid]

Martyn,
What forearm excersizes do you use.
Are you a rapid mover of the wrist or do you just build your wrist up by weight trainning?
I tend to use a squash racket but sometimes I forget and loose games because of it.

[Phil McBride]

Eddy have you tried using a stress ball or even a giro ball which builds up the wrist and forearm?

The other one for wrists and forearms are the tying a piece of string round a handle(sawn down broom handle) and the other end to a weight and roll up the string pulling up the weight gradually.

[rworsl]

I wonder if playing every shot as a backhand is such a bad thing. after all, you have much faster reactions on your backhand, and it would soon develop to be a more natural shot (especially for someone like me!)

Anywho...I don't like towel grips, they aren't as comfortable for me as the plastiky ones!

[rogersmyth]

ive used towel grips before but it always felt as if i was going to throw away the racket, is there a reason for this??
also what if any advantage soes using grip powders such as the ashaway one??

[flamingjam]

for the first bit or games or times the toweling grips do feel like ther're going to 'fly away' if you they soon bed down as i say to your hand to so fit brill

[gazz16]

yeah towel grip is sommit i would never get use to i like the thin sponge grips i find i can get more controll on the shuttle

[hilly1285]

People are saying that towel grips bed down to the shape of their hands, which is fair enough because i havn't used one for that long. But i have always been taught that you should never use the same grip for any one shot and that it should be constantly evolving, in manipulate the racket head as much as possible.

[eddykid]

That's the problem with your game then Michael.
You have been given the wrong advise.

[hilly1285]

Nar its not my grip that makes my game wrong, its everything else about it. If your saying that you only use one forehand grip and dont alter it at all, then your are more of a mong than you look/sound.

[eddykid]

Now now Michael that type of language got you into trouble sometime ago when everyone started to have a pop at you.
You sound like a nice chap so lets get back to the thread and not upset to many people.
Yes I slightly change my grip on the forehand to the panther style.
If you want to know what that is go to the library and look up Jake the Fake Downey's book on Badminton and turn to chapter 9 under "panther grip slightly off forehand"

[hilly1285]

Not read that one, is it the picture only one......thought so, did u manage to understand it or would you like me to explain the pictures to ya?

[eddykid]

Michael,
Yeah it has pictures in the book however you would learn much faster on court if you just watched some good players down at your local club if there are any.
If not then purchase a few video's from the same library and study some of the grips that you see on them.

They do say Michael that if you keep playing with it you will go blind and judging by some of your post I think you have...

[hilly1285]

Nar sorry dont watch videos to old fasioned, while your at it do you have a copy of Russ Conway's 1950's LP. Would love a copy if you could find one, cheers gaffer

[PeteG]

Can someone put a bdoom tish after these comments so that we know when they've finshed thanks!! Anyway, getting back to the point please!! There was an article in badminton written by Lee Jae Bok (either him or Park Joo Bong, not entirely sure on the source), referring to grip and saying that there are either 6 or 7 types of grip (some modifications of the same grip) that can be used and manipulted to suit different situations in badminton. For example a shortened grip (see Budiarto Sigit) when serving and tapping, because of the theory of levers (greater length is greater power, where as smaller length is control).
Going right back to the topic title, my personal preference is towel grips, mainly because it does fit to my hand quite well (in various positions around the racquet head, allowing for altered grips where my thumb or fingers have made dents in the towel).
I also prefer them because towel grips are more abrasive, but then again I've had problems with blisters on both hands and feet, so a towel grip is softer on them, especially once moulded to the hand, although if left for a long time it can get rougher of course.

[eddykid]

Pete are you having a laugh?

7 grips, christ however they do say that there is one born every minute.
Just for the record, small grips make the racket head more responsive not give it more control then before....

Remeber Pete, don't believe everything you read.

[hilly1285]

yer its true pete dont belive everything that you read, for example kiddy there hasn't spoken a word of truth in this whole thread, would make a class politician when he becomes a bigger boy.

But yer would agree with the 7 main grips and then more variations of each of them. You can obviously rotate the racket to change the grip or shorten/lengthen the grip, good point.

[eddykid]

Michael,
How did you come to the same conclusion as Pete?
Tell us as I am interested to know how a player of your standard comes up with this stuff.

[hilly1285]

great minds think alike!

[eddykid]

Yes Michael I understand and that's why you support Middlesbrough MMM.

[hilly1285]

Cos they are the greatest team in the world (well 32nd anyway). Who do you support then?

[Vorpulus]

7 grips? Someone obviously hit the shuttle with the handle of the racket...

[eddykid]

Barcelona Mike....

[Vorpulus]

How embarrassing Eddy.

Singles?

[Pjdann]

I have tried towel grips before and found that they feel as if the racket will slip out of my hand even though I grip the handle quite hard.
I much prefer to have a karrakal PU grip underneath and a Wilson cushion Aire traction grip over top. That’s about as comfortable as it gets and you cant loose your racket!!!
I personally don’t change my grip much at all that I am aware of other than to flick serve.

[PeteG]

Michael!

Like the response to Mr Kid!

Mr. Kid,
Yeah 7 grips and it was from a world class badminton player, so how you feel that you rate above them God only knows! As for believing everything I read, no, I don't believe everything I read, otherwise I'd probably take you a lot more seriously!