Site Products
USATT Hall of Famer Larry Hodges

Tip of The Week: The Feel of a Shot and a Checklist

The Feel of a Shot and a Checklist
By Larry Hodges

When learning new techniques, many players make the mistake of trying to remember the specifics of each shot. While this is important to know later as a checklist to go over when the shot is off, this is not the way to learn a new technique. Instead, your goal is to get the shot right one time, and then remember the feel of that shot – the stroke and contact – and then repeat. If you get the feel right, all the specifics will fall into place.

When your shots aren’t working and it doesn’t feel right, that’s when you might need to go through a short checklist for the new technique to find out what’s wrong. But again, the goal is to get the feel right, and then put the checklist aside.

So learn both the feel and the specifics of each new technique you learn, and write the latter down – that’s an assignment – and then forget about them and focus on the feel. When the feel is right, so will the technique. When the feel is wrong, and you can’t figure out why, that’s when you pull out your checklist to get back to the right feel.

Latest News

Racket Up All the Time

July 18, 2025
Robot will play RANDOM top spin balls to 2/3 of the table (Backhand), Forehand topspin from Forehand/ middle… Read More

Keep the Swing as Compact as Possible

July 16, 2025
Robot will play RANDOM top spin balls to 2/3 of the table (Backhand, only Forehand topspin from this… Read More

Reviewing Bugller with Logan Rietz

July 15, 2025
(by: Logan Rietz) I love pips.  I like chopping with them, hitting with them, anything I can do… Read More

Keep Your Elbow Closer to Your Body

July 14, 2025
WAIT FUNCTION: Serve long serve to elbow and Robot plays topspin to Forehand, Forehand spin block or counter… Read More

#3 High toss serve that disrupts the opponent’s rhythm and leads to a quick attack

July 14, 2025
[Feature] [Special feature] America’s star! Jha’s strong points #3 High toss serve that disrupts the opponent’s rhythm and… Read More

Ten Tips for Faster Footwork

July 14, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) Tie your shoes tight so there’s less give when you move. Grippy shoes on non-grippy… Read More

Rogelio Castro – Third Ball Attack

July 14, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Rogelio Castro is executing the “Third Ball Attack” using his… Read More

MLTT Featured Team: Chicago Wind

July 14, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo MLTT) The Chicago Wind plan to blow over competition in the upcoming Major League… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.