Penholder's Chops

Jorge Sanchez Asked 15 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 15 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.