Penholder's Chops

Table Tennis Strokes and Technique

Last updated 7 years ago

Jorge Sanchez

Jorge Sanchez Asked 13 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

Jeff Plumb Answered 13 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. 


Notify me of updates
Add to Favourites
Back to Questions

Thoughts on this question

D K

D K Posted 7 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



Become a free member to post a comment about this question.