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May 09, 2023 3 min read

How To Choose The Right Badminton Racquet For Beginners

How To Choose The Right Badminton Bat for Beginners - Transcript

Okay so you’re here because: 

  1. You’re about to choose your first racket
  2. You’re about to choose your next racket
  3. You don’t want to choose the wrong racket

Just for a bit of background, if you don’t know the difference between Head Light Badminton Rackets,Head Heavy Badminton Rackets andEven Balance Badminton Rackets make sure you watch this video first - or check out this article on badminton racquet balance points.

As a quick recap of the general differences, a head light badminton racket is often better for speed and easier to manoeuvre but doesn’t generate as much power. A head heavy badminton racket is usually better for power but is a bit slower and harder to manoeuvre. And an even balanced badminton racket is somewhere in between and is often referred to as an 'all-rounder' badminton racket. 

So, let’s get started: 

There aretwo key considerationsto follow when selecting a racket: SKILL LEVEL & PLAYER TYPE.

Let’s start with skill level. What skill level would you put yourself into? Make sure you’re being honest! 

If you’re already intermediate or higher, you can check out this video... but you can watch this one too if you’re interested!

If you’re a newbie, keep watching!

While there are a number of additional factors to take into consideration when buying a racquet….

Total weight of the racquet, Stiffness, Shape of the Frame, Grip Size, Stringing pattern, stringing tension, Singles/Doubles players geared, attacking/rally/defending playing style, formation on court, how it looks)… let’s keep it simple for you! 

For beginners or newbies, we would generally recommend a 4U, G5 head-light or even-balanced racket that has a flexible shaft. Let’s break that down a bit…

Unless you're an angry guy/girl, we would avoid head heavy rackets because as beginners or newbies, it’s likely that your swinging technique isn’t perfect. Using incorrect technique often means that you’ll be more prone to injury especially if you’re carrying that extra weight in a head-heavy racket. 

Compared to this, a head-light or even-balanced racket would be much easier to manoeuvre and swing as you begin improving your skills, developing your game and understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are. 

Racket Weight

4U is the weight of the racket (roughly 82g give or take) and is the most commonly used badminton racket weight for everyday players. For comparison, many of the professional badminton players out there tend to use 3U (roughly 87g).

Grip Size

G5 means the grip size (show other grip sizes on screen). This is fairly standard and is relatively small, allowing you to layer on if you have a preference for bigger grip sizes later. To be honest, we always use G5 grips because it’s just easier that way.

Shaft Flexibility

Finally, a flexible shaft helps compensate for most beginners who generally can’t generate enough swing speed. A low swing speed means low racket flex and less power.

Rackets that are too stiff also can be quite unforgiving, meaning that they’re harder to use if you aren’t able to strike the shuttle in the centre of the racket head each time.

Where To Now?

Everything that we’ve said are just general recommendations so you know what to look for.

So, are you ready to get the right racket for you?

Well, we have a few choices for you! 

Here’s the Ignite X1 Ultimate beginners racket. It’s a head-light 4U racket that definitely isn’t going to break the budget. It comes already strung and in a racket bag that you can hang on your shoulder!

Here's where to the the right badminton racquet for beginners

Best beginner badminton racquet

Want something that you can still use all the way up until you’re an advanced player?

You got it! 

If a head-light badminton racquet is what you’re going for, check out the 4U (or 82g) Flight S1 racket!

Best head light badminton racquet

If an even balance badminton racquet is more your style - which is for all-round play, go for the 4U (or 82g) Rogue S1 racket! 

Here it is on the image below:

Best even balance badminton racquet

Both of the Flight S1 and Rogue S1 come with customisable stringing, a racket bag and free shipping.

STILL NOT SURE WHICH RACKET TO GET? Then do our 30-second badminton racquet quiz that will help you choose the badminton racquet that best suits you!

Badminton Racquet Choosing Quiz

Hope you enjoyed the read! If you did, show this to all of your badminton mates so that they can choose the right badminton racquet for them too!

We’ll see you on-court!

 
We'd love to hear your comments, suggestions, tips and tricks so please feel free to comment below. If you would like us to write about something in particular, please let us know!

Jeffrey Tho
Jeffrey Tho

Jeff is an ex-international badminton player who represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games (twice as a player & once as a coach), World Championships, All England Championships and multiple Thomas and Sudirman Cups. He was the Australian National Coach, Senior State Head Coach and is the co-founder of Volant badminton & The Badminton Podcast. Jeff is extremely passionate about building the worldwide badminton community & showing the world how incredible our sport really is.


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