Badminton Grips Buying Guide
Badminton Grips – there's loads to choose from, what are the key things to look for when choosing?
Types of Grip:
a. Full grip / Replacement grip
b. Towel grip
c. Overgrip
- What size of badminton grips do you need?
- What style of player you are?
- What level of tackyness/dryness grip do you need?
Another aspect to look for is on all our Badminton Grip product pages, where we have 2 bars. 1 for durability, highlighting how long to expect the grip to last before needing replacement and stickyness, which is how much the grip itself holds to the skin of the hand when playing.
As a general guide see the grid below:
| Grip Type | Grip Size Wanted | Tackyness / Dryness |
| Full Grip | Medium to X-Large (G3-G1) | Suits Normal Sweat Level Players |
| Towel Grip | Medium to X-Large (G3-G1) | Suits Sweaty Players |
| Overgrip | X-Small to Small (G4-G5) | Suits Lower Level Sweat Players |
What Type of Grips are there:
a. Full Grip:
This is used by players who generally only want 1 major grip on their racket. It's usually fitted straight from the wood of the handle.
Typically this grip is made from PU or Polyurethane. This kind of grip actions as both a tacky high grip and with cushioning between your fingers on the handle, providing extra shock absorbion.
b. Towel Grip:
Like a full grip its usually used for players only wanting 1 major grip on their racket, it's also the thickest of the 3 types of badminton grip. Towel grip is designed for players who's hands get particularly sweaty during play and find the other styles of grip get loose because they're not designed to absorb the sweat.
Please note, if you intend to buy towel grip, you will want to also purchase grip powder.
Towel Grip is typically made of cotton
c. Overgrip:
Used in 2 ways by players. Firstly, its a much thinner grip than the other 2 versions. Some players prefer overgrip on it's own, to enable a small racket grip for racket manoeuvrability when playing, however most players use overgrip as it's original intention, which is to go over a traditional full grip and thicken the size of the racket handle.
Typically badminton overgrip is designed to be particularly tacky and sticky. It's also generally the cheapest grip available, and is used by many of the top players to tweak how they like to hold their badminton racket.
Usually an overgrip wrapped on a wood surface of the handle by itself is considered too thin for players.
What Style of Player you are?
Power Attacking – Usually suits a thicker grip, as players with this style generally hold their racket handles tighter to force powerful shots
Speed, Control & Deception – Players with this style will prefer a thinner grip to enhance control over the racket head for quick changes of racket head position. It also enables a quicker changing of grip from forehand to backhand.
For a further breakdown, see the table below:
Power Attacking Style
| Shots Played | Jump Smash, Drives, Attacking Overhead Shots, Net Push |
| Grip Size | Thicker Grips so you can hold the handle tightly for big smashes |
| Grip Weight | For more power you'll want the racket head to be heavier than racket handle, enabling more momentum in the swing |
| Suggested Setups | - Original Racket Grip + Towel Overgrip - Original Racket Grip + Full Racket Grip - For bigger hands – Original Racket Grip + Full Racket Grip + Overgrip |
Speed, Control & Deception Playing Style
| Shots Played | Drop Shots, Net Play, Deceptive Shots, Overhead Clears |
| Grip Size | Thinner Grips for finger flexibility & accuracy of technique |
| Grip Weight | For more control you'll want the racket handle to be heavier than racket head. |
| Suggested Setups | - Original Racket Grip + Overgrip - Towel Grip only - For bigger hands – Original Racket Grip + Full Racket Grip |
What size of Badminton Grip do you need?
A small badminton grip will provide greater control, whilst typically speaking a bigger grip will allow the player more power. This is obviously subjective according to the size of the players hand themselves.
It's important to remember you can layer up your handle to the desired grip size as much as you want. You can also purchase grip cushioning to layer up the whole grip or certain areas. For example a number of players tweak the end of their grips to be much wider for extra overhead shot power and control with the little finger.
Below are the various grip sizes used by players. Typically Racket grip sizes are G4 and G5, as grips can always be layered up to be bigger.
| Grip Size | Racket Grip Size | Player Size | Size in mm |
| Extra Small | G5 | Child / Teenager | 83mm |
| Small | G4 | Teenager / Smaller Player | 86mm |
| Medium | G3 | Average Sized Player | 89mm |
| Large | G2 | Large Player | 92mm |
| Extra Large | G1 | Very Larger Player | 95mm |
What level of tackyness/dryness grip do you need?
This is very subjective, and down to personal preference.
Other Tips and Advice
- Remember grips need regular replacement, try and get a grip setup in place, where you only have to replace the outer layer, otherwise it can become more costly
- Try multiple sizes of grips to see what's right for you
- Not all players are the same, there's even some top pros that grip right up to the middle of the racket stem!
- See video below demonstrating how to have the correct racket grip for badminton:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=2cnbHARo8nI
- See video below for how to grip your Badminton Grip properly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPVFuxSr6_o
