Penholder's Chops
Strokes
Jorge Sanchez Asked 14 years ago
Hello, i'm a Penholder and have had some trouble with my chops. Forehand and even harder backhand chops for me a very difficult. What is your advice for Penholder's chop?
Jeff Plumb Answered 14 years ago
Hi Jorge,
The stroke we call a chop is a defensive stroke used away from the table against a topspin. The penhold grip is not at all suited to this type of stroke. If you really want to be a chopper, then you would be better off switching to the shakehand grip.
If you are referring to hitting back a backspin ball, then we call this a push and you can definitely do this with the penhold grip. Take a look at our lessons on the push strokes. Most of the principles we talk about can be applied to the penhold grip.
Recommended Video
Crossover Footwork
When you need to reach that really wide ball the regular shuffle step just won't get you there in time so you need to use the crossover step. This is essentially a running action to get you to the ball as fast as possible.
Watch NowThoughts on this question
Become a free member to post a comment about this question.
D K Posted 8 years ago
But forehand chop can be done quite well...
I found it harder to get consistent,but if I got it right, I managed to do a chop that was much spinnier than my normal shakehand forehand chop