Sardius asks > Should you switch to penhold grip ?

[dwtruck]

Sardius wrote :- Considering a radical change to Korean style penhold. My rating (recently updated) 1300. Any advice? How long will it /would it take me to get to 1600? Keep in mind, I’m just considering. Current grip is a modified Seemiller. Thank you!


One sided grips are the best grips for tabletennis because you have almost total control of which side to use and when and against what incoming ball (This is always hard but the more you train yourself the more you are in command).

But the problem is that shakhanders are cursed with what they are given by what they can handle naturally. Most shakehanders cannot play penhold at all but most penholders can also play shakehand to a decent level if not as good 100% as penholders.

Why penhold or American grip (you call Seemiller which is not fair to Boggan, so I call it the American grip) is better than shakehand ?

As you may or may not know, Dan Seemiller in his prime had one of the fastest forehand loop in the world along with Hasegawa , the 1967 World Champion (who was one of those rare cases who went from penhold to sort of one-sided shakehander, with index finger right up the backhand and even more strange is the fact that he was also considered one of the best lobbers in the world with that grip …..but yet as I said this goes to show most penholders can play shakehand very well as well by vice-versa is not true)

The penhold forehand loops are more devastating than shakehand loops at any level. Most great pips out block & smash hitters (with rare exception of the likes of Johnny Huang) were (are) also penholders such as Zhuang Zedong, Jiang Ji Liang , He Zhewen etc

The blocks with penhold grips are also far more dead(ly) than inverted blocks. Of course Eric Boggan is most famous for his never miss backhand block

BTW Seemller’s grip is more forehand oriented & power dominant while Eric Boggan’s grip is more backhand oriented and touch dominant. I am not sure what yours is and if it is neither of the above, because I have seen some bizarre variations of American grip more so than shakehand or penhold.
I have also seen Dan Seemiller more than occasionally (if not quite often) step away from the table and play shakehand chops. Goes to prove my point again that one-sided grip players can also play some backhand but opposite is less true.

And of course after Liu Guoliang pioneered the RPH (reverse penhold) , you know about Wang Hao , Xu Xin etc.

I have seem quite a few short pips out forehand hitters with KPen or JPen with excellent RPH inverted backhand loops as well as a few forehand inverted Jpen or KPen loopers with chopping long pips backhand. All these players can play some in traditional penhold as well as RPH and switch as needed.

So the bottom-line, yes you can switch but if you are not a natural born penholder, it is going to be difficult if not impossible.
You can always try and get back to American grip which it seems is your natural grip. If it is , anything else is ok as long as you don’t go shakehand with psychotic fantasies of being a Ma Long or Waldner , which lost of amateurs do for many other reasons as well (not knowing about primary & secondary sides of a rackets for a player) but that is a different story altogether

But in any case lose your anti and move to OX long pips. (if you prefer a heavier blade it is easier to find one than a lighter one….the OX will make your blade liter) It is harder to learn to use but also harder for opponents to deal with.
There are many other reasons I propose this but don’t want to write book.

[Gauda 2]

Interestingly only very few countries have more penholders than shakehanders, like China, Japan & Korea.