Common Badminton Mistakes Beginners Make (and How to Fix Them)

Almost everyone who picks up a badminton racket runs into the same handful of habits in their first months of play. The good news is that they are easy to spot, and most can be fixed without a coach or any special drills. Here are the most common ones, with a simple fix for each.

1. Squeezing the grip too tight

A tight, white-knuckle grip held all the way through a rally is probably the most common fault of all. It slows the racket head down, tires your forearm and makes every shot feel like hard work. Hold the handle loosely, roughly as firmly as you would hold a pen rather than a hammer, and only squeeze at the instant you strike the shuttle. Then relax again. If the handle feels slippery or a touch too thin to hold comfortably, a thin overgrip such as Yonex Super Grap (£5.49 for a pack of three) gives you a tackier, more confident hold so you are not tempted to clench.

2. Using one grip for every shot

Beginners often hold the racket like a frying pan and keep that same grip for forehands, backhands and net shots alike. Learn two basic grips instead. For the forehand, hold the racket as if you are shaking hands with the handle, with the strings on edge. For the backhand, turn the racket slightly and rest your thumb flat along the wider back of the handle for support. Switching between the two is a small adjustment that makes backhands far less awkward and adds power you did not know you had.

3. Standing flat with no ready position

Standing upright with the racket hanging by your side leaves you slow to everything. Between shots, settle into a ready position: feet a little wider than your shoulders, knees softly bent, weight on the balls of your feet and the racket held up in front of your body. From there you can push off towards any corner the moment you read the shuttle.

4. Forgetting to move back to the middle

It is tempting to play a good shot and then stand still to watch it. The problem is that you have left most of the court open. After each shot, recover towards a central base position so you are a roughly even distance from the corners your opponent can aim at. Recovering rather than ball-watching is what lets you reach the next reply in balance.

5. Running to the shuttle instead of using footwork

Charging flat out at the shuttle usually means arriving cramped, off balance and too close to hit cleanly. Good footwork buys you time. As your opponent strikes, make a small split step, a little jump that lands with your feet loaded and ready to move. Then travel with shuffle (chasse) steps or a lunge, finishing with your racket leg forward so you meet the shuttle balanced and with room to swing.

6. Swinging with a stiff arm

Many beginners swat at the shuttle with a rigid arm, as if hammering a nail. Power in badminton comes mostly from a fast rotation of the forearm as you make contact, not from a big muscular swing. Keep the arm relaxed, let the racket head accelerate late, and you will hit harder with far less effort. The loose grip from the first point is exactly what allows that rotation to happen.

7. Taking the shuttle late and low

If you let the shuttle drop before you hit it, you are always reaching down and defending. Get your racket up early and meet the shuttle as high and as far in front of you as you comfortably can. Taking it early opens up more shot choices, lets you angle the shuttle down steeply, and gives your opponent less time to react.

8. Trying to smash everything

The smash is satisfying, so beginners reach for it from everywhere, including deep in the rear court and off balance. That hands easy points back when it goes wrong. Treat the smash as one option among several. Clears, drops and net shots move your opponent around and create the gap; save the smash for when you are balanced and the shuttle is high enough to hit steeply downward. A patient rally beats a wild winner more often than not.

9. A flat or predictable serve

The serve is the one shot you are always in full control of, yet it is often rushed. In singles, a high deep serve pushes your opponent to the back of the court and buys you time to set up. In doubles, a low serve that skims the net and falls near the front service line keeps your opponent from attacking straight away. Whatever you intend, keep your serving action the same each time so you are not telegraphing where it will go.

You do not need to fix all of these at once. Pick one or two to focus on each time you play, groove the better habit until it feels natural, then move on to the next. Small corrections, a looser grip or an earlier contact point, usually pay off faster than learning any single new shot.

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Related reading: How to Hit a Stronger Badminton Smash and How to Get the Right Badminton Grip Size