High Powered Racquet to Low Powered Racquet

Maybe a lot of people will disagree, but I want to share my own personal experience with you all. To start off, I am a cheap mo fo, I do a lot of wall work and I didn't want to put a lot of wear and tear on my "player's racquets" (Head LM radical and a Volkl DNX 10), so I went to Walmart and bought a powerful, larger headed Wilson Impact, because of it's weight and balance, it actually feels similar to my other racquets.

I use the Wilson Impact to practice against the wall and rally with players who are at a lower level than me. Here's what I noticed, in order to keep the ball in play and under control with the powerful racquet, it has actually helped my game with the less powerful player's racquets! Having to compensate for the power of the Wilson Impact, led me to change my swing path a little bit and that has helped my control with the less powerful racquets.

It only takes me approximately 2 to 3 minutes to adjust to the change of racquets (from the powerful to the less powerful), but the effects are still there. I think this will help people who tend to hit through the ball more (flat/flat topspin trajectory). The balls that sailed long before , will now go in with excellent pace and spin.

Has anyone else tried this? What are your thoughts on this?

do rackets make so much of a difference? i've played around with friends' rackets, they just feel heavier but seem to make little difference for me...

ubermeyer said:

do rackets make so much of a difference? i've played around with friends' rackets, they just feel heavier but seem to make little difference for me...

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I think that I should have made the thread title; "Using a high Powered raquet as a Training Aid" or something to that effect. Some people will say that there is a big difference between different racquets and different racquet types.
Here's an example from my workout today. I practiced against the wall for an hour, then one of my tennis friends came to the courts. I was using the Wilson Impact against the wall and then I used it to rally with my friend. This guy is 69 years old and plays in tournaments all over the United States, he's in GREAT condition and can outlast many younger players, I make him run and he doesn't get out of breath and he can get to shots that the younger guys don't get.

Sorry to deviate from the conversation. Anyway, I hit with him with the Wilson Impact, then midway I switched to the Head Radical LM. The Head felt muted, while the Wilson feels like a trampoline. But, I could hit out more with the Head and keep the ball in and with a good amount of spin. Thus giving me better control and consistency.

Makes sense I guess.

A hefty flexible racquet demands that I swing a lot harder to make a little more pace, while a lighter, livelier racquet can furnish lots more zip with relatively small extra effort. I like to think that it has a more touchy gas pedal. That lighter racquet would probably tend to magnify some significant errors, especially a swing that's too fast as well as too flat to turn the ball over and keep it down on the court.

The heavier, more mellow racquet can be really good for forcing a player to use their legs and core to swing well with proper timing - been there done that. While a fly swatter can let a hitter get away with arming the ball, it will definitely make you pay for swinging it wrong... and send you after those balls you knocked over the fence!

No, because nearly every players racquet made is going to be more powerful in the sweetspot than a walmart Wilson Impact.

It is a big misconception that players racquets are under powered, in the sweetspot they are the most powerful racquets you can buy, oversized and tweeners just have more power over a larger area of the frame not more power in the sweetspot.

Go here http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/cgi-bin/trajectory_maker.cgi#output and compare shot speeds between a Wilson K90 or the players racquet of choice, versus any oversized or beginners racquet on the list and you will see that the players racquet hits a more powerful shot in comparison, everything being equal.

What you are experiencing is a racquet with less control not more power.

Well, I once read an article, which I don't remember where it is, that explained that sometimes using a lighter and/or HH racquet for their game might help some people, and sometimes using a heavier and/or HL frame helped other people, (notice that the opposite could happen) because you need to swing a bit differently with a more powerful racquet than with a heavier one to produce a same approximate result, and thus helping, which happened in this case, or worsening your game.

My advice is that if you feel comfortable with it and don't have any troubles, you can keep switching on for a surprise. But bear in mind that you might not adapt to a racquet in a tournament situation and that may cost you the match... Nonetheless, you should do what helps your game, so, it's basically your choice.

ubermeyer said:

do rackets make so much of a difference? i've played around with friends' rackets, they just feel heavier but seem to make little difference for me...

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The difference between a Walmart racquet and a quality one is massive. When you compare quality frames it makes a lot less of a difference.

fuzz nation said:

Makes sense I guess.

A hefty flexible racquet demands that I swing a lot harder to make a little more pace, while a lighter, livelier racquet can furnish lots more zip with relatively small extra effort. I like to think that it has a more touchy gas pedal. That lighter racquet would probably tend to magnify some significant errors, especially a swing that's too fast as well as too flat to turn the ball over and keep it down on the court.

The heavier, more mellow racquet can be really good for forcing a player to use their legs and core to swing well with proper timing - been there done that. While a fly swatter can let a hitter get away with arming the ball, it will definitely make you pay for swinging it wrong... and send you after those balls you knocked over the fence!

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That makes a lot of sense to me. I feel that the lighter livelier racquet forced me to correct my swing path so I can keep it in the court. It's actually pretty fun to play with, though I do see it breaking down internally only after a few weeks.

Lsmkenpo said:

No, because nearly every players racquet made is going to be more powerful in the sweetspot than a walmart Wilson Impact.

It is a big misconception that players racquets are under powered, in the sweetspot they are the most powerful racquets you can buy, oversized and tweeners just have more power over a larger area of the frame not more power in the sweetspot.

Go here http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/cgi-bin/trajectory_maker.cgi#output and compare shot speeds between a Wilson K90 or the players racquet of choice, versus any oversized or beginners racquet on the list and you will see that the players racquet hits a more powerful shot in comparison, everything being equal.

What you are experiencing is a racquet with less control not more power.

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Ok, I can go for that. But having to adapt to the racquet with less control, helped me become more proficient with my regular racquet.

Ballsboy said:

Well, I once read an article, which I don't remember where it is, that explained that sometimes using a lighter and/or HH racquet for their game might help some people, and sometimes using a heavier and/or HL frame helped other people, (notice that the opposite could happen) because you need to swing a bit differently with a more powerful racquet than with a heavier one to produce a same approximate result, and thus helping, which happened in this case, or worsening your game.

My advice is that if you feel comfortable with it and don't have any troubles, you can keep switching on for a surprise. But bear in mind that you might not adapt to a racquet in a tournament situation and that may cost you the match... Nonetheless, you should do what helps your game, so, it's basically your choice.

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Like i said originally, I did this because I am cheap and don't like to destroy my racquets when practicing against the wall. I was very happily surprised at the results when I switched back to my "player's racquet".

I can relate to what you are saying in this thread. I have some rackets that seem to be good for grooving my strokes.

VaBeachTennis said:

That makes a lot of sense to me. I feel that the lighter livelier racquet forced me to correct my swing path so I can keep it in the court. It's actually pretty fun to play with, though I do see it breaking down internally only after a few weeks.

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Hence the problem. If you have to buy a new one every 6 weeks, the value proposition is not really there. I practiced with a Wilson RF/USOpen racquet from wally world for about 2 months (till it broke in my hand) and I liked it fine for practice except that my arm almost fell off.