Pick up the racket you played with last week and run your thumb along the handle. If it feels slick, shiny or slightly hard where your palm sits, you have found the cheapest performance problem in the bag and the easiest one to fix. A grip costs very little and takes five minutes to change, and yet most club rackets we see across the counter are still wearing whatever came on them.
Before you can fix it, you need to know which of the two things you are dealing with.
Overgrip or replacement grip?
A replacement grip is the original grip on the handle. It is thicker, usually made of a cushioned synthetic material with an adhesive backing, and it goes directly onto the bare wooden or composite handle. It provides the padding and shape you feel through the racket.
An overgrip is a thin, tacky wrap that goes over the top of the existing grip. It adds tack and absorbs sweat, adds barely any thickness, and is designed to be thrown away and replaced regularly. It is not a repair for a worn-out replacement grip, though a lot of people use it that way.
Most badminton players use both: a replacement grip that stays on for months or years, with an overgrip over it that gets changed every few weeks. Some players strip the original grip off entirely and build the handle from several layers of overgrip alone, which gives a very thin, very tacky feel that suits the fast finger work badminton asks for.
How grip choice changes the handle
Grip is not only about tack. It changes handle size, and handle size changes what your fingers can do. A thin handle lets you rotate the racket quickly for a backhand and gives fine control at the net. A thicker handle feels more secure and can be easier on the forearm if you are gripping too tightly, which many beginners do.
Each overgrip adds roughly a millimetre to the diameter. Two or three layers is a noticeable size change, not a small one. It also adds a few grams at the handle end, which shifts the racket balance very slightly towards head-light. If you are fussy about how a frame swings, that is worth knowing before you wrap four layers on.
When to change an overgrip
There is no schedule, only signals.
- The tack has gone and your hand slides on a smash.
- The surface looks shiny or greasy rather than matt.
- It has gone hard, or gritty, or has started to unwind at the top.
- You find yourself squeezing the handle harder than you used to, often without noticing.
A regular club player might change one every few weeks. Someone who sweats heavily might do it fortnightly. If you play in a warm hall and your hand slips even once in a session, change it before the next one.
What you need
An overgrip, which usually comes with a small piece of finishing tape in the packet. A pair of scissors. That is the whole list. If you are replacing a worn original grip rather than overwrapping, you will also want a cloth to wipe the handle down once the old grip comes off. It is worth keeping a couple of spares in the bag, since the ideal moment to change one is usually ten minutes before you play. Most grip tapes come in multipacks for exactly this reason.
Fitting an overgrip, step by step
- Unwrap the overgrip and find the tapered end. One end comes to a diagonal point, the other is square. The tapered end goes on first.
- Peel the small backing strip off the tapered end to expose the adhesive.
- Start at the butt of the handle. Lay the tapered end flat against the handle just below the butt cap, sticky side down, and press it firmly in place.
- Begin wrapping upwards towards the head, keeping steady tension. Firm and even, not stretched to its limit, or it will thin out and split.
- Overlap each turn by roughly two to three millimetres. More overlap gives a fatter grip and uses up the length faster. Less overlap leaves ridges you will feel through your palm.
- Check the direction as you go. Run your hand round the finished section the way you actually hold the racket. It should feel smooth, not catch on the overlapping edge. If it catches, unwrap and go the other way.
- Stop where the handle meets the shaft, or wherever your top hand sits. Cut the remaining grip at an angle so the end lies flat rather than leaving a step.
- Wrap the finishing tape over the cut edge, keeping it tight and flat, and press it down. Give the whole grip a firm squeeze along its length to settle it.
Fitting a replacement grip
The process is similar with three differences. First, take the old grip off completely and wipe the handle clean, removing any old adhesive residue. Second, replacement grips have adhesive along their full length, so peel the backing progressively as you wrap rather than all at once. Third, because the material is thicker, use a smaller overlap, often just a couple of millimetres, or you will run out of grip before you reach the top and end up with a handle that is fatter than you wanted.
Take your time on the first three turns at the butt. Every error there is repeated all the way up the handle.
Common mistakes
- Starting at the top. Wrapping downwards means the overlap faces the wrong way and the grip peels under your hand.
- Pulling too hard. A stretched overgrip is thinner, loses its cushioning and splits within a fortnight.
- Inconsistent overlap. The lumps do not settle. You will feel them for the life of the grip.
- Leaving a dead grip on out of habit. The old grip underneath goes hard and damp, and no amount of fresh overgrip on top disguises it.
Do this once and it takes ten minutes. Do it a few times and it takes five. It is the smallest thing you can change about a racket and one of the few that you will notice immediately, long before you need to think about the frame itself or the rest of the badminton accessories in the bag. If the handle still feels wrong once it is freshly wrapped, the handle size itself may be the issue, and that is a conversation to have with the racket in your hand rather than online, either to keep this one going or to look through the badminton racket range for the next.