Badminton shots, sorted by where the shuttle goes

Badminton shots come down to seven: the clear, drop, smash, drive, net shot, lift and push. Each sends the shuttle on a different trajectory, and the trajectory is what decides which one you play. Group them by flight path and choosing one mid-rally gets much easier.

The seven badminton shots at a glance

Sorted by trajectory rather than alphabetically, because that's how you pick one mid-rally. For unfamiliar terms, see the badminton terms glossary.

Shot	Trajectory	Lands	Play it when
Clear	High and deep, over the opponent's reach	Near the rear boundary	You need time, or want them off the net
Lift	High and deep, hit underarm	Near the rear boundary	You're at the net with nothing to attack
Smash	Steep and fast, downward	Mid-court, often at the body	You meet the shuttle high and in front
Drop	Steep and slow, downward	Forecourt, near the net	Same position as a smash; you want them running forward
Drive	Flat, just over the tape	Opponent's mid-court, at the racket shoulder	Net-height exchange in the mid-court
Push	Flat and gentle, angled down	Mid-court, behind the front defender	You're at the net, shuttle just above the tape
Net shot	Barely over the net, dropping steeply	Forecourt, tight to the net	You take the shuttle below tape height

High and deep: the clear and the lift

The clear

A badminton clear shot is an overhead from your mid or rear court that sends the shuttle over your opponent's reach to land near their back boundary line. It's the reset button: while the shuttle is in the air, you get back to base.

There are two versions, and confusing them costs points. A defensive clear goes as high as you can hit it and lands close to the back line; the longer the shuttle hangs, the more time you buy. An attacking clear is flatter and faster, aimed to skim just past the opponent's racket as they move forward. It rarely wins outright; it catches someone leaning in after a net exchange and forces a weak reply. Hit it too low and you've served up an overhead.

A doubles note: the long service line 0.76 m inside the rear boundary applies only to the serve. In a rally, the back boundary line is the line.

The lift

The lift has the clear's destination and a different origin: played underarm from the forecourt, usually off a net shot, it's how you escape the front court with nothing to attack. High lifts buy time. Flat lifts rush the opponent but hand them the attack sooner, so they belong mostly in doubles. Cross-court lifts travel the longest distance on court, which is why they're the ones that sail out.

Steeply down: the smash and the drop

The smash

The smash is the fastest shot in the game and the one everyone over-uses. Contact is at the highest point you can reach, well in front of your body, racket face angled down.

Angle matters more than raw pace at club level. A steep smash into the front half of the mid-court leaves a defender no time and a bad contact point; a flatter, harder one to the back gives them a comfortable block. Aim at the racket hip or the dominant shoulder — hardest to defend — or in doubles at the seam between the defenders. The half smash trades pace for a steeper angle and faster recovery. More in the guide to smash technique.

The drop

A drop shot is an overhead played from the same preparation as a smash or clear, struck softly so the shuttle falls steeply just past the net. Deception is half its value: if the swing looks like your clear, the opponent can't commit until the shuttle has already slowed. Beginners treat it as one shot. It's two.

• Slow (plain) drop — soft, flat racket face, short follow-through. It lands tightest to the net, the best answer to someone stuck at the back. Its weakness is flight time: a quick opponent gets under it and nets it back.
• Slice (cut) drop — the strings brush across the shuttle instead of hitting through it. The swing looks fast and the shuttle leaves quickly, then decelerates hard, landing nearer the front service line than the tape. It arrives sooner and is much harder to read.

A slice drop isn't a drop hit harder — that just produces a floaty mid-court shot that sits up. The slicing action takes the speed off.

Flat: the drive, the push and the net shot

The drive

A badminton drive shot is hit flat and hard so it passes just above the tape and stays low. It's the signature shot of doubles mid-court exchanges, where pairs trade drives at chest height until someone lifts. Take it early, in front of your body, with a short punchy swing — a full backswing is too slow. Target the racket shoulder or the space past the hip. Anything that rises above the tape hands them an overhead.

The push

The push is the drive's quieter cousin. From the forecourt or mid-court, with the shuttle just above tape height, you place it downward into their mid-court instead of striking through it. It isn't meant to be a winner — in doubles, a push behind the front defender forces an awkward underarm reply, and that reply is what you attack.

The net shot

A badminton net shot is played from the forecourt when you meet the shuttle below the tape: it just clears the net and drops steeply. The goal isn't the point, it's forcing a lift so you get the overhead.

Three variants matter. The plain net shot travels across and drops. The spinning, or tumbling, net shot is brushed across the base of the cork so it turns over the tape, forcing the opponent to wait for it to settle. The cross-court net shot passes closer to the posts, where the net is highest — 1.55 m at the posts against 1.524 m in the middle. On a tight cross-court that decides whether the shuttle clips the tape or drops over (net height).

Choosing between them: read your contact point

Mid-rally you're never choosing from seven. Your contact point has already eliminated most of them.

• High and in front — smash, drop or clear. They share one preparation, which is why deception lives here.
• Around tape height — drive or push.
• Below the tape at the net — net shot or lift, nothing else.
• Below the tape at the back — a defensive clear or a block, depending on time.

Then pick by what hurts this opponent: someone slow to the front sees drops and net shots; someone who reads drops early gets a clear first, then the drop.

Rallies built this way run long, and the score is the first thing to go when everyone's out of breath. Badminton Scoreboard is a badminton scoreboard app for iPhone and Apple Watch that tracks match scores, so nobody has to reconstruct the count between rallies.

FAQ

What is a clear in badminton?

A clear is hit high and deep to the opponent's rear court, over their reach. Defensive clears go as high as possible to buy recovery time; attacking clears are flatter and faster, to rush someone moving forward.

What is a drop shot in badminton?

An overhead hit softly from the same preparation as a smash or clear, so the shuttle falls steeply just past the net. A slow drop lands tight to the net; a sliced drop arrives faster and lands nearer the front service line.

How many types of shots in badminton are there?

Seven cover almost every rally: clear, drop, smash, drive, net shot, lift and push. Coaches count differently, but those seven trajectories are the base set.

What's the difference between a net shot and a drop shot?

Where you hit them from. A drop is an overhead from mid or rear court; a net shot is played in the forecourt off a shuttle already below the tape. They land in the same area, but the drop travels most of the court's length.