Have you ever played with or against a top player? While you hopped and skipped to get at the shuttle as if you were carrying a bowling ball in your stomach, they'd zip around like Dash from The Incredibles. While your smashing sound seems like a wheeze from someone dying of emphysema, theirs would be thunderous like Thor slamming his Uru hammer. While your net shots float like sitting ducks ready to get slammed into your the back of your head, theirs are like flying fish barely skimming the net. If these top players were the father in that Enervon ad, you'd go, "What's your secret, dad?"
First off, let's put aside the factors that you can't really do anything about because of your age, time constraints, genetics, etc. such as, a) world class players or even the good ones at your club were just born with natural ability; and b) they have a coach, a training regimen, and the time to train. Okay, with that aside, let's concentrate on the things top players do that you can add to your game:
Body English
Good players, even if they've learned the proper strokes, the proper stance, footwork, etc., give themselves leeway to make slight changes with their body to make adjustments to game conditions. If you watch really good players, you'll see them contorting their bodies in weird forms to give the shuttle that little oomph or touch. Maybe they'll hit a stroke on tip-toes, or return a drive to their body by emulating what looks like a Spider-Man pose, or do a cross-court drop by stretching like the Elongated-Man.
Poor players, on the other hand, stay stiff. They can hit shots that they get at early where they can do the proper stance and form, but catch them off-guard and they don't make adjustments.
Before we learned to do the "proper" way to play badminton, we used to use our body english and adopt weird poses to get the shuttle to go to the other side. After we learned the rudiments of the game though, most of us gained this mind-set of no longer letting our body make adjustments. It's like we think, "That's not the proper way to hit the stroke!" so we don't try any other way. But good players are instinctively open to make whatever adjustments they need to execute the perfect shot. They're don't think it's weird or embarrassing to look like a ballerina during one shot and then a Quasimodo in the next. All they care about is adjusting to the moment and hitting the best shot possible.
So do what the good players do: don't be stiff, be like rubber. Make tweaks to your head angle, your shoulder, your back, your elbow, your arm, your knee, go on tip-toes, jump back, jump forward, hop-hop, etc., to control the shuttle and make it do your bidding.
Scramble, Scramble, Scramble!
When the opponent of a good player hits the shuttle to a gap in the good player's court that he/she probably won't be able to reach, the good player will still scramble like a madman to try to return it. And lo and behold, 70% of the time, they are able to! Contrast this to poor players who see the shot to the gap and just say to themselves, "Aww, rats!" and stay rooted where they are.
This is because good players know from experience that sometimes miracles happen and they're able to just get at the shuttle and return it. The opponent, thinking their shot was already winner, then gets caught off-guard by the return and would tend to flub it. Result: point to the good player.
So if you want to do what the great players do: scramble, scramble, scramble! Make it a habit to never give up trying to reach a shot, no matter if it looks like a lost cause. Always go for it!
