Just curious how many Penholders are on TTD?

[PenHoldSandro]

Summoning @greenbeanmachine and @PenHoldSandro.

Yo, you called?

My story is simple:

I started playing a little over a year ago when my friend introduced my to Table Tennis. After a little while of not playing much, I began truly playing. From ~March 2024 to July 2024, I played as a Shakehand, somewhat all-round.

In August, I was reading the Wikipedia of Table Tennis, when I came across a new thing: Penhold. I decided to use it for a bit, and I was astounded as to how effective it was. Of course, with learning a new grip came with some problems. My forearm hurt after a while of playing (I think it's normal for new Penholders) and backhand... oh backhand....

Once school started once again, I played with the friends who taught me how to play, quickly boosting my skill in the sport. In October, that's when my coaching began! By that point I had a Palio 8603 with Meteor 845 on my one sided Jpen. Eventually, I bought a Volant-Phoenix from my dealer (and now, coach) after some convincing.

In December, I was finally given the budget to buy a new setup. This is where I got my Yinhe T8s, Joola Rhyzen ZGR as my forehand and Loki T3 on the back. This setup vastly improved my skills in the game!

By the time I got my T8s, I started working on my RPB. This was by far the hardest skill to learn as the feeling whenever performing it is much, much different from when I played SH. I did get the hang of it, but until now I still make unforced errors 😂

On March, this is where I went to Hong Kong to celebrate my brother's birthday. I wanted to buy some souvenirs, and I decided to buy a rubber- and no I bought a whole new setup 🪄, which is: Butterfly Petr Korbel, Nittaku Hurricane Pro III Turbo on the forehand, and Tenergy 05 on the back.

My Table Tennis journey has been a wild one, with huge ups and downs. Unlike my other thread 'why do I suck at Table Tennis?', I don't feel that way anymore. I feel I have developed as a player, and as a person!

 

[SFF_lib]

@olive-nguyen @PenHoldSandro

Keep improving. Penhold is very hard but not impossible.

I trained too hard on third ball attack which doesn't work well in ABS ball anymore. Going all in with FH doesn't work that well anymore. The magic lies in numerous tricks in the spin games due to the flexibility of the wrist. Your surprises in short and long pushes create opportunity for attack.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

@olive-nguyen @PenHoldSandro

Keep improving. Penhold is very hard but not impossible.

I trained too hard on third ball attack which doesn't work well in ABS ball anymore. Going all in with FH doesn't work that well anymore. The magic lies in numerous tricks in the spin games due to the flexibility of the wrist. Your surprises in short and long pushes create opportunity for attack.

I see, thank you for the ideas! My favorite player is Ryu Seung Min and Xu Xin, so I copy their styles 😅

 

[olive-nguyen]

Thank you @SFF_lib

@olive-nguyen @PenHoldSandro

Keep improving. Penhold is very hard but not impossible.

I trained too hard on third ball attack which doesn't work well in ABS ball anymore. Going all in with FH doesn't work that well anymore. The magic lies in numerous tricks in the spin games due to the flexibility of the wrist. Your surprises in short and long pushes create opportunity for attack.

Will have to put effort to improve.

 

[olive-nguyen]

I see, thank you for the ideas! My favorite player is Ryu Seung Min and Xu Xin, so I copy their styles 😅

Same, but I'll have Kim Taek Soo and Chiang Peng-Lung on the list too.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

Same, but I'll have Kim Taek Soo and Chiang Peng-Lung on the list too.

I see..

 

[BlotOnPaper]

@SFF_lib you writed about trying to revive this thread, so here i am.
I first tried penhold last summer and it was quite fun experience. I played shakehand for about 3 years on and off. Always had good backhand but never could play forehand topspin at all, only smashes. So I ordered Jpen to try what it is to play penhold. And I quickly found that it was really comfortable. Now I understand that it is because wrist position in shakehand forehand, I have unusual wrist structure, so for me shakehand grip causes lose of sensitivity and slight numbing if I want to align racket with my forearm to play powerful and spiny shots.

With penhold grip wrist rotates in different dimensions that are much more comfortable for me. So now I’m proud Cpen player with RPB. I do not understand how people play TPB, for me it is really difficult, RPB feels natural to play and I learned it qucikly. I play Wang Hao’s grip, for me it is really comfortable and I can play both wings. My only problem for now is that my setup is 200 gr so it is a bit hard to play back to back RPB with power, so I ordered DHS N301 national. My new setup would look like this: N301, Skyline 3 neo national 40,5, Dignics 05 CNT. So it would be closer to 190 gr and require a bit less effort on RPB.

I have strong wrist and fingers because my main sport is rock climbing, so I found cpen the ideal grip for my strengths and needs.

Also about Dynasty Carbon. It’s really good blade, but it is heavy and on backhand it can be uncomfortable to play because it requires a big swing or really fast wrist flick. And for me both of this things at the same time brings problems and instability.

 

[jbvttcc]

Tradition Chinese Pen-hold here,I only play one side

The most challenging and satisfying way to play!

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Same, but I'll have Kim Taek Soo and Chiang Peng-Lung on the list too.

Chiang - with speed glue and 38mm day, his traditional punch was faster than his forehand shot and his forehand was incredible too.
you would never want to give the ball to his backhand side or rather, at the time, he was top 3 in the world and not many players enjoys playing him

 

[olive-nguyen]

Chiang - with speed glue and 38mm day, his traditional punch was faster than his forehand shot and his forehand was incredible too.
you would never want to give the ball to his backhand side or rather, at the time, he was top 3 in the world and not many players enjoys playing him

About his forehand tho, a road accident left him with a kinda weak forehand afterwards. His dominant years weren't the longest, but he is definitely up there.

 

[netdriver]

Also about Dynasty Carbon. It’s really good blade, but it is heavy and on backhand it can be uncomfortable to play because it requires a big swing or really fast wrist flick. And for me both of this things at the same time brings problems and instability.

i brought a dynasty carbon two months ago and yeah, good forehand but RPB is a little unsatisfactory

weight is not what bothers me, my setup hovers around 195g. its more so the thickness, dynasty carbon is around 6.2mm thick.

to me thinner blades around 5.8mm is better for RPB

 

[BlotOnPaper]

i brought a dynasty carbon two months ago and yeah, good forehand but RPB is a little unsatisfactory

weight is not what bothers me, my setup hovers around 195g. its more so the thickness, dynasty carbon is around 6.2mm thick.

to me thinner blades around 5.8mm is better for RPB

My first cpen blade was Yinhe M201, i get it for 20$ second hand. For this money it was great purchase, and my backhand was quite strong with rakza xx.
My second penhold blade was YuanJian GanJiang Sword and i realy don't like it. In shakehand it is one of the best blades that i played with. But for penhold it is too stiff for my preference, dwell time is short, so it is hard to maintain good RPB. It gives little to none room for error. So 5.6 is probably too thin for me, especially on stiff blades.
So i agree that around 5.8 is best thickness for RPB.

 

[SFF_lib]

@SFF_lib you writed about trying to revive this thread, so here i am.
I first tried penhold last summer and it was quite fun experience. I played shakehand for about 3 years on and off. Always had good backhand but never could play forehand topspin at all, only smashes. So I ordered Jpen to try what it is to play penhold. And I quickly found that it was really comfortable. Now I understand that it is because wrist position in shakehand forehand, I have unusual wrist structure, so for me shakehand grip causes lose of sensitivity and slight numbing if I want to align racket with my forearm to play powerful and spiny shots.

With penhold grip wrist rotates in different dimensions that are much more comfortable for me. So now I’m proud Cpen player with RPB. I do not understand how people play TPB, for me it is really difficult, RPB feels natural to play and I learned it qucikly. I play Wang Hao’s grip, for me it is really comfortable and I can play both wings. My only problem for now is that my setup is 200 gr so it is a bit hard to play back to back RPB with power, so I ordered DHS N301 national. My new setup would look like this: N301, Skyline 3 neo national 40,5, Dignics 05 CNT. So it would be closer to 190 gr and require a bit less effort on RPB.

I have strong wrist and fingers because my main sport is rock climbing, so I found cpen the ideal grip for my strengths and needs.

Also about Dynasty Carbon. It’s really good blade, but it is heavy and on backhand it can be uncomfortable to play because it requires a big swing or really fast wrist flick. And for me both of this things at the same time brings problems and instability.

I played with that before, very great especially rally away from the table.

 

[SFF_lib]

i brought a dynasty carbon two months ago and yeah, good forehand but RPB is a little unsatisfactory

weight is not what bothers me, my setup hovers around 195g. its more so the thickness, dynasty carbon is around 6.2mm thick.

to me thinner blades around 5.8mm is better for RPB

Yes thinner blade is better. Some Chinese fans say FZD ZLC is great for penhold for 5.5mm, the BH side is linear with very good control.

 

[suds79]

So recently at club I feel like my game has certainly opened up with more options and I thought I'd share a helpful video for me. Hope it does you guys too.

Lefty penholder here but that doesn't matter for the sake of this exercise. Let me set the stage.

So we know the backhand banana flick style receive has been popular as an answer for over the table serves. It dominates today's game. Knowing this you've probably figured out that a short backspin serve to the forehand side so long as it doesn't go off the table is relatively safe. You'll most likely get a push back and boom your point is off to a good start. If the opponent wants to try to run around that and BH flick it, your next ball has them way out of position.

You've probably had this serve done to you and if you're like me, you're hunting to see if it goes long where you can loop or if nothing else you push which is fine but not dangerous and predictable. Me personally I've always thought that the FH flick motion with shakhand must be much more free with the more freedom in wrist movement. I think I've been under that impression that there is more wrist action in the shot. Then I saw this video where this guy, even though I can't understand a thing he says, clearly is a fan of just getting your blade under that ball and lifting it up just enough to clear the net. It's not a push. You're not adding backspin to it. You in a way let the ball roll off your blade giving them a weird skidding ball back at them.

It's really a KISS (keep it simple stupid just in case people are not familiar with that expression) type of shot. Easy to do. Don't overcomplicate it. Just get under it and lift it in a somewhat attacking motion, open face just enough to clear the net. From here you're into open topspin play assuming they handle this weird ball okay. Try it out next time you guys go to club. I had several opponents missing their 3rd ball off this.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

The most challenging and satisfying way to play!

Jpen is brodi, but Cpen 1 side is a close second!

 

[qylw]

Heh, I hope if you don't mind, that I use this thread instead of the one dedicated to welcome.

Old dog here, was playing for fun during school with SH grip, over 30 years back, returning to TT, this time with a coach. There are only SH coaches around, so I train with SH, but then training at home and playing leagues with penhold and I'm not going to give up. (Although, the coaches, rolling the eyes constantly when they see me playing PH)

 

[SFF_lib]

Heh, I hope if you don't mind, that I use this thread instead of the one dedicated to welcome.

Old dog here, was playing for fun during school with SH grip, over 30 years back, returning to TT, this time with a coach. There are only SH coaches around, so I train with SH, but then training at home and playing leagues with penhold and I'm not going to give up. (Although, the coaches, rolling the eyes constantly when they see me playing PH)

If you're playing socially and for fun and fitness, stick to it. You're not disavantaged.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

If you're playing socially and for fun and fitness, stick to it. You're not disavantaged.

Good answer. Only pros can take advantage of penhold's weakness, and even then, if youre good enough there will be practically no weakness to be spotted