How to Hold a Ping Pong Bat: Shakehand, Penhold and the Ready Position

How you hold the bat shapes everything else: what shots feel natural, which side of the table is easy to cover, and how quickly you can recover. Beginners often grip it like a frying pan, or like a tennis racket, or squeeze it until their forearm aches. This fifth post in the series covers the two main families of grip, shakehand and penhold, and then the ready position, the stance you return to between shots. It is built on a Table Tennis England coaching article and Wikipedia’s description of grips, and I’ll say where each claim comes from. The full list of posts is on the guide’s opening page.

Image: The shakehand grip shown from the backhand side (left) and the forehand side (right) by Leanmeangreenbeanmachine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The rules don’t pick a grip for you

Wikipedia’s article on grips and playing styles says that the ITTF’s rules do not prescribe the manner in which you must grip the racket, and that almost all competitive players use either a shakehand or a penhold grip, with numerous variations. I’d add my own note: the laws I read for this series say a lot about the racket’s makeup, but nothing about the hand that holds it. So you can experiment freely, as long as the racket and the way you serve stay within the laws.

The shakehand grip

Wikipedia says shakehand is possibly the oldest surviving grip since the racket took its current shape, and that it is named because you hold the racket as if shaking hands with it: thumb on one side of the racket, index finger on the other, and the other three fingers wrapped around the handle. The same article says that as of 2023 shakehand grips and attack-oriented styles are the most popular in high-level play, and that virtually all European players and roughly two thirds of Asian players use shakehand. It also says the grip is easier for a beginner to learn.

Table Tennis England’s coaching article, written by Paul Stimpson in 2010, gives the key points I’d start from:

• Thumb and first finger lie along the playing surface, roughly parallel with the straight edge of the rubber.
• The other three fingers are relaxed around the handle. The article warns that gripping too tightly will lock up the muscles in your arm and reduce your touch, the speed of your strokes and the spin you can put on the ball.
• The shoulder of the blade sits in the V between your first finger and thumb, so that a line extending from the top edge of the blade would roughly line up with your forearm.

The article says this grip gives good control of the bat angle and the feel of the ball, and lets you play strong forehands and backhands without changing your grip. That last point is the big advantage. The cost, Wikipedia says, is an awkward crossover point in the middle of your body, where you have to switch from forehand to backhand.

Wikipedia also describes two shakehand variations. In a shallow shakehand the thumb sits on the handle, which it says favours topspin attacks and loops. In a deep shakehand the thumb is on the rubber, which it says allows more precise shots and backspin. My own suggestion: try the basic grip from the coaching article first, then experiment with your thumb once your strokes feel steady.

Penhold: two families

The penhold grip is named for the way you’d hold a pen. Wikipedia says the thumb and index finger wrap around the front side of the handle, and the remaining three fingers rest on the back of the blade, and that the grip is said to have originated with how calligraphy pens were held in China, Japan and Korea. The same article lists its main advantage: no awkward crossover point, and a lot of wrist mobility, which makes sidespin and disguise easier. It also lists the cost, a weak backhand in the traditional version, and says penhold has become less popular in recent years, though penhold players still win at the top level.

Image: The Chinese penhold grip shown from both sides of the racket by Leanmeangreenbeanmachine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Wikipedia separates two types:

• Traditional (one-sided) penhold. Both forehands and backhands are hit with the same side of the racket, and often there is no rubber on the back. The article says the racket for the Japanese style is usually square, made from thick single-ply cypress, with a large piece of cork protruding from the handle, which the index finger hooks around. It claims the fastest shots in table tennis are made with this grip’s forehand, and that these players demand a lot of footwork.
• Modern (two-sided) penhold. Here the player uses the underside of the racket for backhands, a technique called the reverse penhold backhand. Wikipedia credits Liu Guoliang with inventing and promoting it and says Wang Hao was the first high-level player to master it.

Image: A hand holding a Japanese-style penhold racket with a square cork handle by S. Möller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Those are Wikipedia’s claims, and I did not verify the “fastest shots” statement against a measured source, so read it as an opinion in an encyclopedia article. Table Tennis England’s article is more modest. It says penhold grips are used predominantly in Asia and that its coaching series would focus mainly on the European style of play.

Should a beginner try penhold?

Wikipedia says the backhand weakness makes it much harder for penhold beginners to perform well against shakehand players, and that few stick with it. That matches the coaching article, which tells you to master the basics of shakehand before looking at variations. My own suggestion: if you’re learning with friends at home, shakehand is the easy choice. If you like the look of penhold, try it for a session or two with a penhold-style handle (see the bats post), and be honest about whether your backhand feels workable.

The ready position

Once the bat is in your hand, you need somewhere to stand. Table Tennis England’s article says a good ready position lets you move quickly and stay balanced while playing powerful strokes. Its key points are:

1. Feet slightly wider than shoulder width. Too close and you’re off balance, too far apart and sideways movement is limited.
2. Knees bent.
3. Upper body leaning forward from the waist, so that your head is slightly in front of your knees. This brings your weight onto the balls of your feet.
4. Body facing where the ball is coming from, with your bat and playing arm pointing along the line of the ball’s travel.

The article adds that novices should try to develop the habit of returning to the ready position after every stroke. It also says that in reality you only stand relatively still when you’re waiting to receive serve, because between strokes you’re constantly adjusting.

Where to stand

One mistake the article calls out is that many novices stand in line with the centre of the table. It says that where you should stand depends on the line of play, which means where the ball is coming from. At a basic level, you should stand so that your bat bisects the centre line of the range of angles your opponent could play. The article’s diagrams assume right-handers: your bat lines up with that centre line and your feet sit to its left (to the right for left-handers).

It then gives some adjustments for style. An all-out attacker with a strong forehand stands more biased to the backhand side so the forehand can cover more. An all-round attacker follows the diagram more closely, and a defensive player may take up a more central position. Those are the article’s claims. It points to video clips of professional matches to show them, which I did not watch.

A one-minute check. Here is a short routine, mine and not from a source, to try at the table:

• Hold the bat, loosen your last three fingers until you could almost slide the handle, then tighten just enough to keep it.
• Look down at the blade. Does the edge roughly line up with your forearm, as in the article’s description?
• Drop into the ready position and pretend to return a serve to each corner. Does your grip still feel relaxed?

Where to go next

With a grip and a stance, you can start the point. The serving post covers the rules for a legal serve, and the strokes post picks up the ready position again when it gets to footwork.

Sources

• Table Tennis England: Coaching: Grip & Ready Position (2010, news archive)
• Wikipedia: Table tennis grips and playing styles