How To Choose A Badminton Racket

We’ve all been in this situation. Perhaps you’ve significantly developed your game and it’s time for your first high-end racket. Or maybe your faithful old racket has been damaged, or maybe you just fancy an upgrade! Whatever the reason you might be wondering how to choose a badminton racket.

One approach that I’ve seen employed by many players is buying the latest racket that has been launched thinking it’s must be the best racket available. In the UK this is typically a Yonex racket launched around the All England. Well, there’s nothing wrong with picking a racket this way! It’s completely up to you which racket you want to go for whatever your reasons. However, buying a racket like this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be buying the right racket for you, even though you might adjust to it over time.

The Problem With Choosing A Racket

The biggest problem faced by players is that it’s difficult to test rackets. In most cases, you discover rackets you like by borrowing your friend’s rackets to try them out. Otherwise, if you like a racket, but do not have an option to test it, you can only go off the specifications. This is broadly accurate most of the time, but rackets also have a certain feel about them. I don’t know if it’s psychological, but two different rackets with similar specs somehow play differently. This is more of a personal preference. The only way you’ll get that feeling is by playing with it, so the best way to buy a racket is to test out as you can (or as many as your friends will allow you to).

However, we can narrow the choice of racket down based on some attributes of your game and the racket itself. So let’s go through them. It’s important to note that you cannot decide on a badminton racket based on one attribute. You have to weigh up the pros and cons of the racket and decide it’s right for you. There is no one size fits all.

The second problem is that some players do not weigh up the relative attributes of the racket. Their sole criterion is, “does this racket give me a better smash?” Of course, this is an individuals prerogative. But they might not consider how it impacts other areas of their game.

What’s Your Favourite Brand?

Yes, this is important! Not so much for the playability of the racket but more so that you feel right with a certain racket and branding. For example, I started out playing with Yonex rackets, later tried Li-Ning, Apacs and Babolat before settling on Victor as my brand of choice. Like I mentioned above, it just seemed to feel right. I could play with any other brand and probably play at the same standard, but I just feel right with Victor. But this is just me. You might feel like you’re not restricted by the brand, in which case the specifications of a racket are what you’ll be looking into. However, you might still find that you prefer one brand over another.

Price Point

Unfortunately, we’re not all lucky enough to receive sponsorships from big badminton brands and have to buy our rackets! Sometimes the question of how to choose a badminton racket is slightly limited by affordability. But don’t worry, there’s a racket out there to fit pretty much all budgets. More expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better. The manufacturing materials and process might be slightly different but is that going to make a massive difference to your game? Probably not. Especially if you’re not competitive or playing at a certain level.

I suspect that the bigger brands also have a large mark up on their high-end rackets due to brand loyalty of customers and clever marketing. Don’t forget, as much as we love certain brands, they are companies that exist to make money. As I said, find the racket that’s right for you. If that happens to be a £15 racket, so be it.

Weight Of Badminton Racket

Many rackets are so lightweight in the modern era, especially compared to the days of the wooden or steel rackets! However, you would be surprised at the difference in weight between what is considered a lightweight racket and a heavy racket nowadays.

Lighter rackets can weigh as little as 58 grams unstrung. Lighter weight means a greater speed of racket movement and manoeuvrability. Of course, the downside here is that these rackets generate less power all else being equal. They simply do not have the weight behind them to thump the shuttle in the same way as the heavier rackets. This does not make them inferior, however.

Heavier rackets as we can infer from the above create more power because there’s more weight behind the stroke. And the inverse of the above indicates that the trade-off is less manoeuvrability of the racket. Heavier rackets also require greater strength and can cause fatigue earlier than light rackets due to the additional weight.

The weight of the racket is really a personal preference depending on your skill level, playing style and physical capabilities. For example, if you’ve suffered shoulder injuries in the past, then a lighter racket may be more beneficial to you.

Most rackets weights are denoted by a number followed by the letter U. 2U-6U are typically either end of the spectrum with 2U being the heaviest and 6U is the lightest. Most rackets come at a weight range of 3U – 4U (80-90 grams).

How The Weight Of The Racket Is Distributed

Remember earlier I said that you can’t make a judgement based on one attribute? This is why. You might assume you want a heavier racket because you can smash harder, but what’s actually important is the weight distribution. In general, a racket can be head heavy, head light or evenly balanced. Most racket manufacturers will have a specific product line that identifies with universal specs. For example, the Astrox range of Yonex generally comprises all head heavy rackets.

This distribution can compensate for some of the shortcomings of the racket. For example, a light weight racket might have a head heavy distribution of weight, thereby improving its ability to create power. Some rackets are compensatory such as in this example, while others are geared towards either end of the spectrum.

A head heavy racket means there’s more weight in the head (makes sense)! Therefore there’s more weight behind the shuttle when playing your strokes, and therefore more power. However, a head-light racket means the weight is distributed closer to the handle. This makes the speed of the racket head faster.

It’s sometimes mentioned that a head light racket means more control and a head heavy racket is more powerful. Likewise, an even balanced racket sits between the two and offers the player a bit of both. But when we consider the weight of a racket and the distribution of that weight, there are some grey areas.

For example, we determine that we can swing a lighter racket faster than a heavier racket. Even if that racket is head light, you might be able to produce more power than a heavier, head-heavy racket. This is because you’re able to accelerate the racket faster in the swing. Remember:

Force = Mass X Acceleration

Because heavier rackets require more acceleration, you need to be technically better in order to generate the same speed of shot. You would only be able to gain more power out of a heavier racket if you could swing it as fast or faster as the head light one. This comes down to your technique and ability to get the best out of the racket.

Badminton Racket Grip Size

Grip size is probably one of those things you weren’t really aware of. Either because you can only get certain sizes in your particular country, or you can simply change the grip size when you grip your rackets with over or under grips. You can read here how this might affect the playability of your racket. This probably won’t impact your decision too much simply because the grip can be adjusted.

Officially there are a number of grip sizes which are denoted as “G1 up to G5” for Yonex rackets. G1 being a larger grip and G5 being smaller. And just to be more confusing this is not standardised across the brands and some brands may have G1 as their smallest grip size. If you’re concerned about this, don’t be! Most rackets nowadays come in standard grip size which on Yonex rackets tends to be a G4/5 grip. Which are the smaller sizes but again are adjustable to suit you.

Side note – Alien Pros do some cool overgrip designs which are much more eyecatching than the usual plain grips offered by the bigger badminton brands. Check them out here and get 15% off when you use the discount code “shuttlesmash” at checkout.

Badminton Racket Shaft

The shaft at the two extremes can be very flexible or very stiff. Most rackets fall somewhere in between with a bias towards either end of the spectrum. Flexible rackets bend more easily, during your swing. Whereas stiffer rackets do not flex as much during a swing. I always like to bring in some science, so if you’re interested – this is why flexibility is important in deciding how to choose a badminton racket.

Hooke’s Law

Hooke’s Law states “the force needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance is proportional to that distance.” However, once an object reaches its elastic limit, this law no longer applied. Basically, until the object breaks or is stretched to such an extent that it does not return to its original shape.

Fs = ke (F= Force, K= Spring Constant, e = extension)

So if we now apply this to the flexibility of the racket. The more flexible the racket the lower its spring constant and therefore the easier it is to extend (or flex). The more you can flex it, the greater power you can generate in your shot (up to its elastic limit).

With a stiff racket, the spring constant is higher, and therefore more force is required to flex the racket. A high spring constant means there’s more potential elastic energy. So if you could flex a stiff racket to the same extent as a more flexible racket, you would be able to produce more power.

Flexible rackets, therefore, are more suited to beginners and players who might not have the technique quite yet to get the benefits out of a stiffer shaft. But they are not exclusive to beginners! They also suit players who are perhaps not heavy hitters naturally, and the additional flex might help generate some more power.

A stiffer shaft offers better control of shot. For example, when playing short sharp shots, the racket will not flex as much and therefore respond much quicker than a flexible racket. In the hands of a skilled player, they are still able to derive power from their technique and utilise the greater control of the stiff shaft. Generally, the professionals play with stiffer rackets, however many play with mid-flex shafts too.

Racket Head Shape

There are two different head shapes for badminton rackets. Again this is not something widely considered since pretty much all rackets nowadays are isometric. While this will most probably not be a factor in how to choose your racket we’ll just briefly cover the difference.

Isometric heads are designed to provide a much larger sweet spot on the string bed resulting in greater control of shot and consistency. There is slightly less power output than an oval shape racket but many players feel that the enlarged sweet spot is much more beneficial overall than the additional power that the oval shape offers.

Oval head rackets were the conventional rackets back in the day and have a smaller sweet spot and therefore more concentrated power if you can hit it consistently. In fact, I’m not sure that oval head rackets are still produced but maybe one of you can correct me if I’m wrong!

Other Factors To Consider

Ok so now you know the basic anatomy of the racket, what else do you need to consider? Let’s talk about your actual badminton game, how good you are, your style of play, which disciplines. Now, remember, there’s no such thing as a singles or a doubles racket, it is a personal preference. However, depending on what you play and how you play might influence your racket choice.

How Good Are You And What’s Your Style Of Play?

This is an important question and you need to be really honest with yourself and put your ego aside. You might want something like a stiff racket because it has more potential to generate more power, but are you skilled enough to actually benefit from it? You might just end up injuring yourself if you overestimate your abilities.

Generally, the more advanced players have stiffer shafts but have the technique and ability to get the best out of these rackets. A beginner or anyone without good technique would be better off with a more flexible racket at first. Over time as your technique improves you can start to try out the stiffer shafts. However, you might find you still prefer flexible ones anyway!

You might also want to consider your strengths and weaknesses. For example, you might be a player who hits powerful smashes but is weaker around the net. You need to ask yourself if you want to enhance your strength or minimise your weakness. A head heavy racket would provide more power, but a head light racket would provide more racket head speed around the net. It’s up to you how you want to level your game. Or you can opt for an even balanced racket to maintain an equilibrium between your strengths and weaknesses.

There are also rackets out there which compensate for themselves! For example, a lighter, head-heavy racket would mean that you could still have some of that power in your smash, while the lightness of the racket improves your racket speed.

The average player would benefit most from a flexible, mostly even balanced racket. As mentioned, most rackets are 3U-4U in weight which so you have little choice here anyway. Obviously, you can buy whatever you want, but if you want the best racket for you, you need to be honest with yourself about your abilities.

Do You Play Primarily Singles Or Doubles?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you play both. There’s nothing in the rules about buying more than one racket! You can buy rackets to suit either discipline. The reason I mention this is because generally, certain rackets can be considered more geared towards singles and others suit doubles. Of course, whichever racket you choose to play singles or doubles with is up to you and it would be wrong to class rackets only in this way. But there are certain aspects of each game that might influence your choice and certain generalisations can be made.

The pace of singles is slower than in doubles. In particular, the shots per rally is also lower. Therefore, having a heavier racket provides greater power to singles players who can utilise it when they need to. In doubles, if you’re using a heavier racket you might become more fatigued as you’re playing more shots in a shorter amount of time. In addition, singles demands a little more accuracy so typically players would opt for a stiffer shaft.

Meanwhile in doubles, as we touched on earlier, one might choose a racket that suits their main role in the partnership. A technically strong attacking rear court player would possibly prefer a head heavy racket. Whereas a frontcourt player might like a head light racket. However, they must also consider other aspects of the game such as defence. Ultimately, it all comes down to preference.

What Do The Pros Choose?

How you choose a badminton racket should not be based on what the professionals use. The truth is that their technique is so good that they could literally play with a stick and still beat me! What is important is that they choose a racket which suits them! Every brand, whoever sponsors them will have rackets to suit every player. The only difference is really the name on the racket. Ok, I know you want to know anyway(!) so see the below video for the rackets of the top 10 men’s singles badminton players.

What you’ll probably notice is that there is a variety of different rackets that the pros are using because it suits them! Not because there is definitively the best racket.

You can be a frontcourt player and use a heady heavy racket. You can be a singles player who likes to control the rallies and use a flexible racket. It is entirely up to you and the pros are no different. For example, Fu Haifeng was considered the best rear court attacking player due to the power he could generate. Yet he used a mid-flex racket head heavy racket. Many might have assumed he would use a stiffer shaft.

Meanwhile, Mattias Boe, who usually played the role of a frontcourt player used a Voltric 80 (which is hard to find today!) Here’s a review by Paul Stewart for nostalgia sake anyway! This was a stiff, head-heavy racket. Going against the grain. Likewise, Lauren Smith plays with a Voltric Z Force 2, an extra stiff head heavy racket.

Badminton Rackets For Beginners

For beginners and those improving their technique, a flexible slightly head heavy racket would be a good choice. Both the flexibility and the head heavy nature of the racket will allow for greater power for the average beginner and improving players. This will allow them to focus on their technique more. A very headlight racket might result in players trying to force additional power out of their racket resulting in injury. Likewise, a racket that’s too head heavy might also result in injury as it might be a little too much to handle at first. Of course you the choice is yours! As a beginner, learning the technique is much more important than the racket.

Some beginner rackets you might consider are listed below:

1. Yonex Voltric Lite
2. Victor TI 7
3. Yonex Arcsaber Lite
4. Yonex Nanoray 6000I
5. Senston N80 (probably the best value for money on the list!)

As you improve your technique you can start to look into the mid-range to higher-end rackets. I do not really want to suggest rackets for this level of player as it gets more personalised in this territory. I might do a separate post later on about some of the high-end rackets you can purchase so stay tuned for that!

Conclusion

Don’t let your own misconceptions get in the way of what might be a better racket for you. Just because a racket is flexible doesn’t mean it’s exclusively for beginners. Similarly don’t gender the rackets. Just because one is heavier or head heavy doesn’t mean it’s more suited to a man. Or just because it’s a certain colour or lightweight doesn’t mean it’s better suited to women. Just be honest with yourself about your game and justify in your own mind what attributes would better suit you and your level.

You can narrow down your choices by specification but without testing the racket, you can never be 100% sure if it’s right for you. Likewise, you might be able to narrow down the racket choices but then test a racket outside of this which you love! It’s all trial and error. Until you find one you really like and suits you, you don’t really have a frame of reference. But if you find that one, you will have a guide as to what to look for in the future.

I hope this helped you in how to choose a badminton racket. What’s your favourite racket? Let me know in the comments below!

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