2hbh questions

[ByeByePoly]

1) what is your definition of left-hand (non-dom) 2hbh?

Mine has been any 2hbh that ends up more left arm/hand by contact.

2) which hand/grip controls the the racquet face at contact?

For me, it's my right (dom) hand ... left hand seems to have zero impact.

3) where in the 2hbh does the left arm/hand fire? Doesn't that depend on 2hbh type, circular vs lag?

 

[IowaGuy]

For me, it's my right (dom) hand ... left hand seems to have zero impact.

BBP - time to leave the Dark Side (2HBH) and come back to the Force (1HBH). Sounds like your 2nd hand isn't doing anything anyway hahaha

 

[user92626]

You're approaching this all wrong. This akins to thinking about which foot does what as you're walking.

Just think about the racket configurations in the ready, windup and swing positions and do them very powerfully and reliably whatever your hands and body have to do.

 

[Dartagnan64]

1) what is your definition of left-hand (non-dom) 2hbh?

Mine has been any 2hbh that ends up more left arm/hand by contact.

2) which hand/grip controls the the racquet face at contact?

For me, it's my right (dom) hand ... left hand seems to have zero impact.

3) where in the 2hbh does the left arm/hand fire? Doesn't that depend on 2hbh type, circular vs lag?

I just never understand these discussions as a life long 2HBH person. It's like trying to figure out what hand is doing what in a golf swing or batting swing. They work together and it's mostly shoulder rotation that generates power and the arms guide the racket through the hitting zone. I'm sure at certain points one arm is more dominant but I'm not sure focusing on it actually helps develop the stroke. I think getting into the slot and using the large muscles to generate power and being loose with the arms is still the best way to improve the stroke.

 

[ByeByePoly]

I just never understand these discussions as a life long 2HBH person. It's like trying to figure out what hand is doing what in a golf swing or batting swing. They work together and it's mostly shoulder rotation that generates power and the arms guide the racket through the hitting zone. I'm sure at certain points one arm is more dominant but I'm not sure focusing on it actually helps develop the stroke. I think getting into the slot and using the large muscles to generate power and being loose with the arms is still the best way to improve the stroke.

Well, someone else came up with the term left hand dominant, not me. Might have been Yandle. I hear the term all the time, and was guessing we don’t all think of it as the same thing.


fyi ... questions because of “debating” if lh fh drills are helpful for 2hbh.

 

[ByeByePoly]

I just never understand these discussions as a life long 2HBH person. It's like trying to figure out what hand is doing what in a golf swing or batting swing. They work together and it's mostly shoulder rotation that generates power and the arms guide the racket through the hitting zone. I'm sure at certain points one arm is more dominant but I'm not sure focusing on it actually helps develop the stroke. I think getting into the slot and using the large muscles to generate power and being loose with the arms is still the best way to improve the stroke.

My left hand doing something right now ... middle finger extended toward Duke.

 

[ptuanminh]

BBP - time to leave the Dark Side (2HBH) and come back to the Force (1HBH). Sounds like your 2nd hand isn't doing anything anyway hahaha

When i meet my USTA opponent and realize he plays 1HBH, i lick my chops.

 

[user92626]

When i meet my USTA opponent and realize he plays 1HBH, i lick my chops.

What do you mean by "I lick my chops"?

In my circle whenever we have a ball for an easy putaway we call it "pork chop [rice]". You can never turn down (miss) but people still occasionally choke on the bone as the nature of greed and idiocy. LOL

 

[ByeByePoly]

I just never understand these discussions as a life long 2HBH person. It's like trying to figure out what hand is doing what in a golf swing or batting swing. They work together and it's mostly shoulder rotation that generates power and the arms guide the racket through the hitting zone. I'm sure at certain points one arm is more dominant but I'm not sure focusing on it actually helps develop the stroke. I think getting into the slot and using the large muscles to generate power and being loose with the arms is still the best way to improve the stroke.

You got nyta and hunter to both like the same post ... impressive ... the phrase crossing swords comes to mind.

 

[travlerajm]

I’ve never had to think much about my 2hb. But when I do focus on anything, it’s footwork.

In wide balls, getting my left foot planted in the right spot so I can step forward with my right foot to get momentum transfer.

When I want to really crush it, I make sure to take a couple of steps forward to get my entire body moving with forward momentum into the shot. This may require backing up first before moving forward for the final momentum-building steps in order to meet the ball in my optimal stroke zone.

 

[WesternCK]

I'm sure at certain points one arm is more dominant but I'm not sure focusing on it actually helps develop the stroke. I think getting into the slot and using the large muscles to generate power and being loose with the arms is still the best way to improve the stroke.

In order to determine whether or not it would be helpful advice, we’d have to see who the advice was given to.

There are a variety of reasons why I think it can be helpful to think of the non dominant arm during a backhand, just like we should think about the non dominant arm during a forehand, overhead, slice backhand, volley and on the serve. It would be ironic to me if we were to overlook the non dominant arm during the only stroke we actually use it to strike the ball.

There are many players, if not all of us, who tense up at contact and as a result sometimes don’t follow through as fluidly as well as we would like.

If someone is not following through, there are perhaps three or four different cues to get them to do so, one of which being “show the butt of the racket” to the far fence. Of course we could do that over and over with both hands on the racket but if I were to see someone let go with one arm after contact (as a practice method) in order to achieve the feeling of being more relaxed and in turn point the butt of the racket to the far fence, I would much prefer to see them practice following through with their non dominant arm than the dominant one.

I think there’s a reason that the finish of a one hand backhand is different than that of a two handed backhand. In addition, the two hand follow through is much more similar to a forehand than that of the one hand drive which is right hand (for right handers) dominant.

As for the topic, to simplify things, the type of grip we use on our two hand backhand will literally play a huge role in deciding which hand is actually dominant. The further your right hand is to the top bevel the more “important” or “dominant” it becomes. If one rotates more towards an eastern forehand grip or even semi-western (which is never advised) the right hand becomes weaker and therefore less important in generating (even) power.

With that being said, I’m on a continental grip on my two hand backhand (which is closer to right arm dominant) and still consciously use the left arm during my stroke.

 

[ByeByePoly]

Jeeze ... you guys failed this pop quiz.

 

[WesternCK]

I found that all the equations essentially have the same answer.

For me, my left hand takes over from contact on.

In general though, the grip determines which hand is more dominant during a two hander.

 

[WesternCK]

Here’s my two hander by the way

Alright fine...

 

[ByeByePoly]

In order to determine whether or not it would be helpful advice, we’d have to see who the advice was given to.

There are a variety of reasons why I think it can be helpful to think of the non dominant arm during a backhand, just like we should think about the non dominant arm during a forehand, overhead, slice backhand, volley and on the serve. It would be ironic to me if we were to overlook the non dominant arm during the only stroke we actually use it to strike the ball.

There are many players, if not all of us, who tense up at contact and as a result sometimes don’t follow through as fluidly as well as we would like.

If someone is not following through, there are perhaps three or four different cues to get them to do so, one of which being “show the butt of the racket” to the far fence. Of course we could do that over and over with both hands on the racket but if I were to see someone let go with one arm after contact (as a practice method) in order to achieve the feeling of being more relaxed and in turn point the butt of the racket to the far fence, I would much prefer to see them practice following through with their non dominant arm than the dominant one.

I think there’s a reason that the finish of a one hand backhand is different than that of a two handed backhand. In addition, the two hand follow through is much more similar to a forehand than that of the one hand drive which is right hand (for right handers) dominant.

As for the topic, to simplify things, the type of grip we use on our two hand backhand will literally play a huge role in deciding which hand is actually dominant. The further your right hand is to the top bevel the more “important” or “dominant” it becomes. If one rotates more towards an eastern forehand grip or even semi-western (which is never advised) the right hand becomes weaker and therefore less important in generating (even) power.

With that being said, I’m on a continental grip on my two hand backhand (which is closer to right arm dominant) and still consciously use the left arm during my stroke.

Elaborate on grips defining power dominance. In my limited grip experimentation, that is not what I found. I hit right cont, and left eastern. I have tried right bh eastern left sw, and right cont left sw. In fairness, just a couple hoppers during ball machine sessions.

I found that my racquet face orientation at contact was set by my right hand. When I kept right cont, and rolled left to sw ... no problem, hit consistent and same trajectory. Not so when I rolled right hand from cont to bh eastern. Hit ball after ball into the net. Obviously in short order you would adjust swing, and would adjust to that grip. But the big takeaway for me was my right hand grip was in charge of rf at contact.

Power ... or arm dominance for me was simply defined by how much I got after it with the left arm/hand ... and grip didn't define that.

The reason for the question #2 is I am wondering if some players feel they control their rf at contact with left arm. The lh fh drill would makes more sense to me if a player did control rf with lh. I hit lh fhs today for the first time today, and rf control was my biggest issue. Not strength, not timing, not swing plane ... but racquet face at contact.

 

[WesternCK]

Elaborate on grips defining power dominance. In my limited grip experimentation, that is not what I found. I hit right cont, and left eastern. I have tried right bh eastern left sw, and right cont left sw. In fairness, just a couple hoppers during ball machine sessions.

I found that my racquet face orientation at contact was set by my right hand. When I kept right cont, and rolled left to sw ... no problem, hit consistent and same trajectory. Not so when I rolled right hand from cont to bh eastern. Hit ball after ball into the net. Obviously in short order you would adjust swing, and would adjust to that grip. But the big takeaway for me was my right hand grip was in charge of rf at contact.

Power ... or arm dominance for me was simply defined by how much I got after it with the left arm/hand ... and grip didn't define that.

The reason for the question #2 is I am wondering if some players feel they control their rf at contact with left arm. The lh fh drill would makes more sense to me if a player did control rf with lh. I hit lh fhs today for the first time today, and rf control was my biggest issue. Not strength, not timing, not swing plane ... but racquet face at contact.

I honestly think that it turns out to be a subtle difference which many people may not even notice due to the fact that we have two hands on the grip.

However, if you were to take the racket in your hand with only your dominant hand and take a few one hand backhand swings with the various grips, you may notice how your wrist becomes a little more fixed and more importantly strong the closer it gets to an actual one hand backhand eastern grip. When it’s on an eastern forehand grip, the wrist breaks a lot easier and the left hand gains importance.

This is part of the reason that an eastern backhand grip is not a “legitimate” two hand backhand grip, because the right hand becomes too dominant. I’m sure there are people out there who successfully hit a two handed backhand on such a grip. It’s just extremely unconventional. Your left hand also plays a role in counteracting the dominance of the right arm and that’s why how dominant our arm feels becomes less noticeable once we add the other hand. With that being said, the non dominant hand would be less dominant on a continental grip versus an eastern or semi western grip.

The problem with the two hander is that there are so many variation of grips that it’s hard to measure the importance of this.

With that being said, out of all the options out there, compare and contrast right hand on an eastern backhand grip (top bevel 1) and left hand on an eastern forehand grip (bevel 7) with right hand on semi western grip (bevel 4) and left hand on a semi western grip (bevel 6).

None of these grips are actual two hand backhand combinations but you should notice how in the first scenario your right hand will feel more dominant during a full ghost swing whereas your left hand will feel more dominant during the second scenario. The same can be said for actual combinations (right hand continental and left hand eastern forehand) as well as right hand eastern forehand and left hand semi western. We just notice it less.

 

[Slicerman]

1) what is your definition of left-hand (non-dom) 2hbh?

Mine has been any 2hbh that ends up more left arm/hand by contact.

2) which hand/grip controls the the racquet face at contact?

For me, it's my right (dom) hand ... left hand seems to have zero impact.

3) where in the 2hbh does the left arm/hand fire? Doesn't that depend on 2hbh type, circular vs lag?

I switched from a 1hbh to 2hbh about a year ago. I find that the biggest adjustment is the location of the contact point, its more compact and closer to the body.

Regarding controlling the racquet face, you first need to establish the correct 2hbh grip position (eg. right hand on continental, left hand on eastern fh). When you swing forward, the point where the racquet face is perpendicular is where you should be making contact with the ball. If you happen to make the shot late and need to make a split second adjustment then you should be using both hands to adjust the racquet, together as one single unit.

IMO, I feel like both hands are fairly equal in dominance when hitting the 2hbh. If you properly engage the kinetic chain it feels like both arms are being used. On my 2hbh I feel the right arm engaging a lot to initiate the racquet drop and lag then both arms work together to pull it forward. However I think if you catch a ball late and you need to muscle it through, then the stroke will probably become right hand dominant.

 

[travlerajm]

I definitely control my racquetface by having eastern left hand, which places palm squarely behind the flat side of handle.

 

[WesternCK]

In terms of racket face orientation, the more you move your right hand towards eatern backhand, the more the face will close. This is what you experimented with and noticed. The left hand does play a role though. The racket will end up slightly less closed when the left hand is on eastern forehand (bevel 7 for left hand) rather than semi western (bevel 6 for left hand) even when the right hand is continental (bevel 2). The right hand may be sliiiiigghtly more dominant in deciding the racket face orientation for most of us though.

 

[ptuanminh]

What do you mean by "I lick my chops"?

In my circle whenever we have a ball for an easy putaway we call it "pork chop [rice]". You can never turn down (miss) but people still occasionally choke on the bone as the nature of greed and idiocy. LOL

lick my chops as in i can't wait to jam to his BH wings. Non-stop.