Did you know that the speed of a shuttlecock differs depending on the type or brand of shuttles you are using?
Are you getting frustrated when your perfect drop shots, go into the net every time you change venue? Or maybe your power smash beats everyone on Tuesday but can’t beat anyone on Thursday? Well, there is a simple answer to this!
The answer is: that the conditions (or the shuttles) have changed!
Shuttlecocks are (very) sensitive and can be hugely affected by the air and conditions you play in. On the other hand, if you change the shuttles, they might be at a different speed with a different trajectory!
How the conditions affect shuttlecock speed
As shuttlecocks are designed to be affected by air resistance any change to the air it travels through will affect the shuttle flight. This all comes down to air density which is affected by air pressure, humidity, and temperature. In low air density conditions, the shuttle will speed up as the air is thinner for the shuttle to fly through, high air density will make the shuttle fly slower.
- Low air density conditions: Hot air temperature, High humidity, and low air pressure (high altitudes).
- High air density conditions: Cold air temperature, low humidity, and high air pressure (low altitudes).
This is why there are different shuttle speeds so they counteract the air conditions so no matter where you play you get the same experience.
What does this mean for us, the players? It means that depending on your playing conditions the shuttle will fly differently and affect your shots. The solution? Choose the right speed of shuttle for the conditions or tip the shuttles… So you aren’t good one day and bad the next (most of the time) you just need to test your shuttles!
🧠 Did you know? at the start of every tournament, the referee will do shuttle testing on the courts to choose the right shuttle for the matches that day. This can change day to day depending on conditions. When the air is dense, the shuttles fly slower. In those cases, tournament officials choose a faster, or heavier, shuttle to compensate. By contrast, when the air is less dense, competition officials pick a slower, lighter shuttle.
What is your slang for shuttlecock? Is it badminton birdie, ball, featherball, shuttle, or something entirely different?
Let us know in the comments
How to test a shuttlecock before practice, a match, or a tournament
The BWF has official guidelines on how to test shuttles. The video below has all the details the BWF uses to test shuttles at the events they hold globally. This is our quick breakdown:
- On most badminton courts there are two notches painted at the rear of one side of the court, one on either side of the rear service line. These are the testing markers.
- Stand at the back of the court and hit towards the end with the notches.
- When standing behind the court hit the shuttle underarm to the end with the notches.
- The shuttle should land between the two notches to be the right speed (Do this with 3-4 shuttles).
- If the shuttles are short of the notches you need to get faster shuttles or tip the shuttles to be faster.
- If the shuttles go too far you need slower shuttles or tip them to be slower.
This video shows how to test a shuttlecock correctly
This table shows the different speeds and a good general rule of when to use them. Synthetic and Hybrid shuttles are different only having a slow, middle, or fast shuttle shown by the colour ring on the shuttle (Red = Fast, Blue = Average, Green = Slow).
| Shuttle Speed | Altitude | Temperature |
| 75 – Very slow | Above sea level | Very Hot (30+ Degress) |
| 76 – Slow | At Sea level | Hot (25 – 30C Degrees) |
| 77 – Average | At Sea Level | Average (15 – 25 Degrees) |
| 78 – Fast | Below Sea level | Cold (0 – 15 Degrees) |
| 79 – Very fast | Below Sea level | Very Cold (Below Zero Degrees) |
The secret tipping technique can help fix a wrong shuttle speed
This is a super secret old-school technique used by badminton players to change shuttle speed (and sometimes cheat). If you are at a match and the shuttles are not at the correct speed. What do you do then? You tip the shuttle to make it faster or slower.
How? You need to do this carefully! Take your feather shuttles and bend the tip of the feathers either inside to make it faster or outwards to make it slower. This will increase or decrease the air resistance of the shuttle. You only need a slight change for a big difference. You should only do it with every feather, every 2 feathers, or every 4 feathers to keep the shuttle balanced.
🧠 Players sometimes damage or tip feathers to change the shuttle flight to their advantage either before or during a match. They might also do this to get the shuttle changed when an opponent or umpire doesn’t want to change the shuttle. Watch out!
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