Head heavy blades... what a load of BS..

If you don't mind the feel, don't sweat it. Most people feel more comfortable with a balanced setup, but it comes down to personal preference.

thanks jt99sf, I'm still U21 :)

PS: I don't prefer head heavy, but I'm better at most people at dealing with it. I always play with heavy rubbers and head heavy setups, since, well, I started..

Edited by SmackDAT - 08/20/2013 at 5:16pm

It's just personal preference. You could always measure the center of gravity yourself to figure out what you like and don't like.

SmackDAT wrote: AgentHEX wrote: Blade "balance" is more of a function of how you hold the blade (ie some emphasize near the neck, some towards the end, and often differs for different strokes/styles), not the absolute minute differences in the bat itself. What does a function as to how I hold the blade mean? Sorry Agent, can you expand?

jt99sf wrote: SmackDAT wrote: AgentHEX wrote: Blade "balance" is more of a function of how you hold the blade (ie some emphasize near the neck, some towards the end, and often differs for different strokes/styles), not the absolute minute differences in the bat itself. What does a function as to how I hold the blade mean? Sorry Agent, can you expand? A 92 gm blade will NOT have the same balance as an 85 gm one.  If you put Tenergy on both sides (92 gms blade), no matter how you hold the blade, it'll be head heavy.

If you grip high up (which ST handles tend to encourage) vs w/pinky, the balance diff is FAR greater than any potential minor blade diff. This is easy to verify by comparing how much center of mass changes w/ 80 or 90g blade, vs the distances between diff grip fulcrum points, which I'm pretty sure none of these balance connoisseurs have ever done.

I mean, people play fine w/ both SH and PH grip, and the way the bat is balanced between the two is quite different.


Edited by AgentHEX - 08/20/2013 at 6:18pm

That's a problem, I hold my blade high by nature. so you're saying I'll feel a much bigger sensation of head heaviness? By the way, I use flared, should I switch to straight if I have a high grip?

SmackDAT wrote: That's a problem, I hold my blade high by nature. so you're saying I'll feel a much bigger sensation of head heaviness? By the way, I use flared, should I switch to straight if I have a high grip?

SmackDAT wrote: Jt99sf, can't I just stuck with flared?  Or does straight help with high grip SIGNIFICANTLY?

SmackDAT wrote: That's a problem, I hold my blade high by nature. so you're saying I'll feel a much bigger sensation of head heaviness? By the way, I use flared, should I switch to straight if I have a high grip?

You'll feel more head heaviness if you do pinky ("loose") grip since much more of the bat will be on head side of the fulcrum. Much less so w/ high grip.

Handle is just preference but FL encourages pinky grip (which is generally better for power shots where the bat is "flung"). As long it's comfortable to you it doesn't matter all that much.

SmackDAT wrote: Thanks Jr. Why are serves better? And St handle faster... sounds messed up to me explanation?

If you have a "modern" grip for serving, the blade should be pinched between thumb and index fairly high on the rubber, and hand isn't really gripping the handle anyway except for support.

The loose looping grip is "faster" because it relaxes the wrist and whatnot more, which allows more snap on the whip motion.

AgentHEX wrote: jt99sf wrote: SmackDAT wrote: Thanks Jr. Why are serves better? And St handle faster... sounds messed up to me explanation? The FL handle allows for more movement/ ball brushing during the serve. The ST handle is more rigid than the FL, therefore faster. Better BH. This guy is basically repeating the equivalent of old wives' tales for TT or is some kind of basement player. The standard SH serve grip these days doesn't even grip the handle....

I would say my reverse pendulum serve is getting super stable and lethal (it's amazing how many people my level do not deal well with those) and I barely touch the handle to do it: only the middle finger rests on top of it, the index is right above the middle finger and the thumb is on the rubber (fh side), on the right of the handle; the part of the palm that is at the base of the thumb rests on the right side of the handle. That grip allows the handle to go easier over my wrist during the stroke; anyway ST or FL is the same; I am trying now to do the same with the regular pendulum because I do not want to telegraph what kind of serve is coming; before, I had the middle finger pulling on the left side of the handle, the thumb was on top of the handle (fh side) and the index was on top of the handle (bh side).
The reverse pendulum is more recent for me and I can't do it another way or I do not want to spend too much time perfecting the grip for it because it works; so the regular pendulum had to adapt and that's easy.

I agree that ST gives me a better allround game and encourages me holding the blade closer to the neck and that's why I think head heavy setups will be better balanced with a ST handle.
That's also why I enjoy so mush the vase handle from Ross Leidy that literally forces your hand up to the neck.

The grip hell is a twisted one!!!

fatt wrote: I would say my reverse pendulum serve is getting super stable and lethal (it's amazing how many people my level do not deal well with those) and I barely touch the handle to do it: only the middle finger rests on top of it, the index is right above the middle finger and the thumb is on the rubber (fh side), on the right of the handle; the part of the palm that is at the base of the thumb rests on the right side of the handle. That grip allows the handle to go easier over my wrist during the stroke; anyway ST or FL is the same; I am trying now to do the same with the regular pendulum because I do not want to telegraph what kind of serve is coming; before, I had the middle finger pulling on the left side of the handle, the thumb was on top of the handle (fh side) and the index was on top of the handle (bh side). The reverse pendulum is more recent for me and I can't do it another way or I do not want to spend too much time perfecting the grip for it because it works; so the regular pendulum had to adapt and that's easy. I agree that ST gives me a better allround game and encourages me holding the blade closer to the neck and that's why I think head heavy setups will be better balanced with a ST handle. That's also why I enjoy so mush the vase handle from Ross Leidy that literally forces your hand up to the neck. The grip hell is a twisted one!!! So you do use some part of the handle.

ST handles most definitely give an easier and better transition to the backhand grip if you are someone that rotates the blade between forehand and back as most people do, me included. Not many people use the handle when serving, you can't serve well enough above a certain level without getting that extra amount of rotation and spin variation unless you rid yourself of the handle 

I prefer a balanced blade because it gives me better feedback (control) over the ball and play.
Probably the reason why I prefer my Virtuoso (balanced) over the slightly head heavy acoustic.