a breakdown of the definition of throw angle by Greg Letts
One of the tenergy club member recently asked what is low, medium and high throw, so before I answer this question it is important to have a look at what google already has on offer to give us a definition of throw angle. OK I am searching now searching now and.....
Oh wow, the number 1 ranked explanation is by my mate Greg Letts, our About.com Guide! Great we are going to be in for a deep treat now.
(All in italics is Greg Letts work)
Definition: The throw angle of a rubber is whether the rubber tends to 'throw' the ball higher or lower when making the same stroke.
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Totally agree with this first sentence.
Given the same return from your opponent, and the same stroke by you, a rubber that puts the ball in the net is considered to have a 'lower throw' than a rubber than puts the ball on the table. For the same circumstances, a rubber that puts the ball off the end of the table is considered to have a 'high throw'.
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I'm not totally happy with this though. What lands on your opponent's side of the table depends on your skill level and what you are used to. A ball going into the net could mean your rubber is too tacky or slow and will not reach their side. It could also mean your blade is too slow for the rubber. The most incorrect part of the explanation is the part about going off the end of the table.
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A ball will often go off the end of the table no matter which throw you use. It all depends on stroke. Low throw rubbers go off the table more because Low throw is considered faster with less spin. They are faster since they go from A to B in a straight line. But because they have less spin and can only draw a straighter line, the choices of ball placement are much less, and are pretty much confined to near the base line. Low throw rubbers are usually not recommended for players wanting to learn to loop. Low Throw rubbers are hard to loop onto the table because the rubbers a harder and has less spin to arc the ball. Low throw rubbers also must be taken from the height of the bounce to be attacked.
You will sometimes hear players talk about 'degrees of throw' - basically a rubber than puts the ball low has a low degree of throw, and vice versa. Generally, low throw rubbers have degrees of throw in the 30s, while 40-44 degrees of throw is roughly a medium throw rubber, and higher than 44 degrees of throw is typically considered a high throw rubber. These numbers are not exact, and may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. This throw angle is not an exact science (contrary to what you might think from reading on the various forums!), but more of a comparative feel between different rubbers.
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What ever you do, don't make a mistake of reading the degrees listed above as the degrees you find on a table tennis rubber packet. Every time I have ever heard the word degree used in numbers it has never been about throw angle. For throw angles we just say low, medium-low, medium, medium-high, high. Something like that. Any numbers as listed above are ridiculously misleading. The softer the sponge or the lower degrees of sponge hardness - for example a 30 degree sponge usually gives a higher throw angle degree. So when it says 30 degrees on the packet the throw angle is higher. So when you read on the packet 45 degrees, this is a harder rubber with a higher degree of hardness but a much lower throw angle.
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If you are not sure of which hardness to buy always go the middle path and don't forget that your blade will also alter how it plays.
A rubber with a high throw is not better or worse than a rubber with a low throw, it is just different.
Generally, low throw rubbers are considered to be easier to play with against topspin, while high throw rubbers are supposed to be able to lift backspin over the net more easily.
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Not so well said. Tenergy 05 has an incredibly high throw angle and Tenergy 05 or 64 are the best counter topspinning rubbers on the market. Low throw rubbers are best know for their more hit or drive style of play and because they require the user to contact the ball at the top of the bounce, they are best suited to players very close to the table. Tenergy 25 is an example of that.
I would recommend a high throw rubber to a beginner before a low throw, especially if the beginner wants to learn to loop.
Comments
low throw angle rubbers
Could anyone list which they think are low throw angle rubbers? I think Bryce Speed and Bryce Hard is Low throw angle rubbers.
But what are other table tennis rubbers with high throw angles to contrast with? Apart from tenergy series what about donic or yasaka table tennis offerings?
More throwing
"Definition: The throw angle of a rubber is whether the rubber tends to 'throw' the ball higher or lower when making the same stroke." I think this is a poor description. It applies to strokes that apply top spin strokes only, not side spin or backspin. A better description would be a the deviation a returned balls takes from the reflected path. A rubber with that imparts little no spin will simply return the ball back along the reflected path. Not downwards unless that is the reflected path. "Given the same return from your opponent, and the same stroke by you, a rubber that puts the ball in the net is considered to have a 'lower throw' than a rubber than puts the ball on the table. For the same circumstances, a rubber that puts the ball off the end of the table is considered to have a 'high throw'." I object and this is pure non sense. I read this on Greg's site. What force causes the ball to drop below the reflected path and into the net beside gravity? Greg appears to be saying that some property of the paddle, not gravity, is forcing the ball down into the net. "You will sometimes hear players talk about 'degrees of throw' - basically a rubber than puts the ball low has a low degree of throw, and vice versa. Generally, low throw rubbers have degrees of throw in the 30s, while 40-44 degrees of throw is roughly a medium throw rubber, and higher than 44 degrees of throw is typically considered a high throw rubber. These numbers are not exact, and may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. This throw angle is not an exact science (contrary to what you might think from reading on the various forums!), but more of a comparative feel between different rubbers." Where does he get this degrees of throw stuff? Are there any links to back up what Greg has said? I think is is confusing the degrees of throw with degrees of hardness. Next he says a soft rubber has a low degree of throw. That may be true but only if the soft rubber doesn't impart spin. What about Nimbus Soft? The amount of throw depends on how much force and the time the force is applied at right angles to the incoming path of the ball. The time, dwell time, is important because even if a lot of force is applied the accelerating ball will not have time do accelerate much if the dwell it low. The longer the ball can be accelerated the better faster it goes. "Generally, low throw rubbers are considered to be easier to play with against topspin". I agree with this if Greg's definition of a low throw rubber is really a neutral throw rubber. However, Greg's definition of low throw rubber is that it wants to go into the net and I don't see how that can be easy to play with. "while high throw rubbers are supposed to be able to lift backspin over the net more easily." I don't agree with that. I am having a great deal of difficulty returning chopped balls. From reading Barkj's comments he is having the same problems. Greg Letts may be a good TT player but he doesn't pass physics. "I would recommend a high throw rubber to a beginner before a low throw, especially if the beginner wants to learn to loop." I wouldn't. The same thing that makes the rubber have a high throw makes is susceptible to incoming spin. First the rookie needs to know how to read spin. During this time a Sriver may be best, not to spiny and not too fast. That is what I used years ago. Graduate to T05 after learning how to read spin and return chops. Why don't the manufacturers have a high,medium or low throw rating for the blades and rubbers? Perhaps they know this is all rubbish too. As I said on the other forum the same force that causes the ball to spin also diverts the ball from the reflected path. [quote]Testing, I just want to see if this forums allows the quote tags.[/quote]
hi throw angle rubber
hi throw angle rubber is better for taking the lower falling balls
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blades with low Throw Angle
There are blades with low Throw Angle just as there are rubbers with a low throw. Blades with a low throw angle are usually hard carbon blades that offer much less dwell time. The less the ball dwells on the ball the less it can spin the ball to go up. Think of a piece of glass which has almost no dwell, if you try return a topspin ball with it - with a more closed face the ball will fall down.
low throw table tennis rubber
Most players agree that the low throw table tennis rubber in the butterfly range is tenergy 25 but depending on power you hit into your shot a softer rubber like tenergy 05 fx flattens out the trajectory and gives a low throw. It is probably one of the most dynamic in variations depending on speed or should I say how deep you dig into the ball. It is still not as low as rubbers which are always low. A low spin rubber for example an old generation rubber or short pip will have a much lower throw.
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degree in table tennis
Some times I think you need to get a college degree in table tennis just to understand things like the term degree. Harder sponges usually mean a lower throw angle but tenergy 05 is medium hard and extremely high. Soft rubbers are higher than usual in softer play but once hit into bottom out to very low taking on the hardness of the blade.
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hi throw angle rubber is better for taking the lower falling bal
We agree here but it is the spin that generates the magnus effect that causes the ball to drop back on the table. That is caused by the tangential impulse between the ball and the paddle.
What bothers me is the way people say a rubber has high spin but low throw.
high spin low throw
Yeah that would match most the chinese rubbers and palio thors. It exists.
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