Hello everyone here, I a new member of TTD and would like to add some input. I'm a sec 1 student who had interest in playing table tennis since as long as I can remember. I play jpen, having learnt table tennis from my father, who was a jpen holder. Alot of the older generation here in Singapore also uses penhold.
I do notice the backhand limitations with penhold, but the fact that there is no crossover point near the elbow which is difficult to hit means that I can compensate by staying closer to the left of the table. [having long arms helps with reach] I usually play TPB but when opportunity comes where it is good for RPB I will use it, but it's not my strong shot as it lacks power. I find it much more natural to angle my bat down on TPB for topspin. Plus my game finishers are usually the backhand smash, or heavy forehand topspin down the line.
In this forum I noticed a few who mentioned about the pain in the index finger. I have that problem too, but it can be solved by sanding down the edges and more importantly, what helped me improve my accuracy more, loosening up my grip. This allowed me to follow through the ball better to allow for more accurate shots in my opinion. This is especially true on the backhand side.
By the way, to any Jpenholders here, how do your other 3 fingers rest on the back of the bat? I place them flat and spread out on the forehand, and all 3 stacked up on the middle finger to rest on the back of the bat on backhand, whilst also moving my thumb to the vertical position on the raised block. Any guidance please 🙏