Easy way to determine the sweet spot of a badminton racquet

Since the country is on stay home situation, I will not be able to review any shuttlecock(s) for a while.

Thus am taking this opportunity to inform on other methods which can assist with shuttle flight.

The follow vid presents a quick and easy way to determine the sweet spot of your badminton racquet.

Hitting the shuttle at the sweet spot enables the optimum transfer of energy from your racquet to the shuttle with a nice sound - it's like comparing the sound from a rifle shot vs a pistol, it's very distinctive.

Another tip is to use a darker coloured string. You can then see the residue white marking(s) on the darker string after hitting the white head of the shuttlecock.

Found the following on the net when Googling for a detail explaination of why you try to hit the shuttlecock at the sweetspot.

How to watch Blocked BWF games - live streaming or recent recordings

Enjoy!!!

or 

Youtube instructions with sample

In the news .... BWF announcement for new tournament approved synthetic shuttles

Finally ...

https://corporate.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2020/01/20/bwf-begins-adoption-of-synthetic-feather-shuttlecock-for-long-term-sustainability

Orafone 70 shuttlecock

Bought this to try as there was good feedback from one of my regulars.

Could not find much information for this brand of shuttles online. Stated as product from PRC, with the agent in Hong Kong. The cork has a 2-layer structure.

Tube and sample of the shuttle

Logo on back of shuttle

Condition of the tube after usage

How does it fare? Overall:-

Cost: RM60 or approximately SGD20 (compared to the SGD24 for the Indocock on Carousell)

Performance: Good flight characteristics. Nice feedback upon contact with shuttle. You will definitely see the degradation prompting the need for replacement. QA is good as flight characteristics for the entire tube is atleast consistent.

Durability: Single shuttle can last about 50% of a casual game with moderate smashing (not hard smashes). Thus reasonable durability for the price vs it's competitors.

In summary, atleast 2 shuttles will be required for a casual game with moderate smashing. For the price it has acceptable characteristics with a good balance of the 3 requirements but NOT suitable for any intensive game.

If compared to the Indocock model reviewed last month, the Orafone 70 is much better deal!

Indocock shuttlecock with Purple-ish tube

Join a group using the following Indocock shuttles (Indonesian brand) recently.

The company seem to rank their shuttle models by colour, with the Black model at the high end. The model reviewed is the purple-ish tube.

Here's the overall impression(s).

Cost: Checking the local Craig's List, found a few sellers for this particular Indocock model at SGD24. Googling the internet, you can see the cost in the country of origin.

Performance: It's fast as the shuttle is light. Has tendency to nose-dive towards the end of the flight path after the first few points.

When I was gathering feedback from other player(s), the consensus was that this Indocock is a shuttle with unbalanced properties and that it's not spinnable (aka not very controllable).

In addition, QA of the shuttles in the tube could be better as the shuttles do not "perform in a similar manner",  with some new shuttles "twitching" during flight while others more aerodynamic (speedwise).

Durability: Single new shuttle can only last about 2-3points with average smashes before deforming with shattered feather ends. Hence NOT suitable for any intensive games.

In summary, I would consider this Indocock shuttlecock model as suited for beginners or training purposes only. For the cost of SGD24 or roughly RM72 (or if you just pay a SGD1 more), there are other much better products out there.

If in-doubt of the above review, please purchase a tube to try out for yourself

Keepro brand shuttles

Was informed of this newish shuttlecock brand and had written an email to the distributor in Malaysia, requesting for samples (email from their website).

No receive any reply(s) yet.

Ling-Mei Green

Found this sample in one of the halls I frequent.

Not tried before but have been told this shuttle is quite lasting.

Ling-Mei Green found in one of the halls I frequent

Ling-Mei Green with 3-layer cork structure

Shuttlecock without cork attached

Found this in one of the badminton halls I frequent, am now wondering how often this occurs eg cork cames-off during play?

Personally I have only came across (not caused by myself) such a phenomenon on only a few occasions over many years of playing badminton. 

Usually caused by a extremely hard mis-hit when the edge of the racquet just happens to hit the corner end of the shuttlecock - from during a smash. 

Anyone else seen this resultant from a different stroke??

Cork came off during game