The Badminton Benchmarks That Separate Pros From Average Badminton Players

Pros miss about 1 shot in 18. The average GGAB player misses about 1 in 9. That one number is most of the difference between the two games: it's why pro rallies run 11 shots and the average GGAB player's run 6, and it adds up to about 7 extra errors in every game to 21.

The useful part is where those 7 errors come from. They aren't spread evenly. Almost two thirds come from three shots: the net shot, the drop and the block. Shots like the clear, and the power of the smash, are already close to pro level.

So getting closer to the pros isn't about doing everything better. It's about fixing the few shots that cost you the most. This guide shows which ones, from GGAB's hand-tracked matches of pros and GGAB players.

The benchmarks at a glance

Where the extra errors come from

Here is how many more errors the average GGAB player makes in a game to 21 than a pro would, shot by shot:

The net shot, the drop and the block add up to about 4.4 of the 6.8 extra errors a game. The clear accounts for 0.2. If your game looks like the average, time on your net play will pay back far more than time on your clears.

What to work on first

1. The net shot: meet it higher

The net shot costs the average GGAB player more points than any other shot, about 1.7 a game. The clearest pattern in the data is where the shuttle is taken.

Pros take 58% of their net shots from the top half of the net or higher; the average GGAB player takes 44%. Below the net, 1 in 4 of the average player's net shots is missed.

What to do: get to the front earlier, with the racket up, so you meet the shuttle near the tape instead of digging it out from below. The miss rate climbs most when the shuttle has dropped below the net, so the timing of your movement matters as much as the stroke.

2. The drop, and especially the backhand drop

The drop is the second-biggest leak, about 1.5 errors a game. The average GGAB player misses 1 drop in 6; pros miss 1 in 21.

The backhand drop is the single biggest gap in the game. For pros it's their most reliable drop; for the average GGAB player it's the least reliable, missed seven times as often. It's only about 2 shots a game, yet it costs about 0.4 errors every game.

What to do: if you're under pressure in the backhand corner, a safe backhand drop to the middle of the court beats a tight one that clips the tape. Practise it until it's boring.

3. The block

The block is the most-missed shot at every level: 1 in 10 for pros, 1 in 5 for the average GGAB player. It costs about 1.2 errors a game. Some of those misses are just good smashes doing their job, but pros facing the same smashes miss half as often.

What to do: shorten the swing and let the racket face do the work. A block that goes back to the middle of the net is a win; you don't need it tight.

4. The first three shots

Look at when in the rally the errors happen:

Shots that end in an error, by shot number

• Average GGAB player
• Pro men's singles

In the first three shots, the average GGAB player misses three times as often as a pro, and a third of their rallies are over by then. The serve is a big part of it:

• Pros serve short 91% of the time and miss a short serve about 1 time in 219.
• The average GGAB player serves short 64% of the time and misses about 1 in 29.
• 16% of the average player's winners come straight off a serve, against 4% for pros. A long serve that isn't high and deep enough gets smashed.

What to do: serve short and low by default, and make your return a safe, deep one. Free points in the first three shots are the cheapest points in badminton.

What you can worry about less

The clear. The average GGAB player misses 7.4% of clears; pros miss 5.9%. It's the closest gap of any shot, worth 0.2 errors a game.

The backhand clear. It has a reputation as the hardest shot for club players, but the average GGAB player misses it 6.9% of the time, no more than pros (8.0%). The real difference is that they play it less: 15% of their clears are backhands, against 20% for pros.

Smash power. The average GGAB player's smash wins the rally outright 16.6% of the time, at least as often as a pro's (15.0%). What separates them is the misses: 12.1% against 6.5%. A pro smash wins twice as often as it misses; the average player's only 1.4 times.

If your smash misses more than it wins, aim straight or at the body, and save the cross-court smash for when you're well balanced. It wins the most and misses the most at every level.

How pros build their winners

Pros don't just miss less; they set up their winners.

• 41% of pro winners come straight after the opponent lifts, and so do 71% of pro smash winners. For the average GGAB player it's 24% and 49%.
• 38% of pro winners come two shots after the winner's own net shot: a tight net shot forces a lift, and the lift gets put away. For the average GGAB player it's 19%.

That's the pattern to copy: a tight net shot, a weak lift back, and the attack. It's also another reason the net shot is the first thing to fix. It isn't only where points are lost; it's where pros start winning them.

Measure your own game

Your numbers will differ from the average. The quickest way to know where to start is to look at your own matches:

1. Your miss rate per shot. Count the shots that ended a rally in your error, divided by all your shots. The average GGAB player is at 11%, pros at 5.5%.
2. Your three biggest leaks. Look for the shots you play often and miss far more than a pro does. Those three are your training plan.
3. Your first three shots. If more than 8% of them end in your error, start there.

GGAB does this from your match video. Match Breakdown shows how often each of your shots ends in an error, by side and by how high you took it. Pro Comparisons puts your numbers next to any tracked pro, and Your game shows whether they're improving match by match.

About the data

These benchmarks come from GGAB's own tracking: pro men's singles matches from the BWF World Tour, and singles matches played by GGAB players, with every shot tagged by hand. "The average GGAB player" means a typical player across those matches. The numbers update as we track more matches. The extra-errors figures are estimates of what each gap costs, not a promise of points won.

GGAB numbers are totals across hundreds of matches; no player, match or account can be identified from them. See our Privacy Policy. Women's pro singles and doubles will be added as we track more matches.