Fast off the strings,
slow by the net.

THE SHORT ANSWER

Built to slow down,
and to turn around.

Three facts explain most of what a shuttle does.
Each comes from the Laws or from measurement.

THE LAWS

16 feathers, 5 grams

The Laws of Badminton say a feathered shuttle has 16 feathers 62 to 70 mm long, fixed in a base 25 to 28 mm across, and weighs 4.74 to 5.50 g.

Follow a smash

DRAG

It brakes hard

Radar measurements found a smashed shuttle drops to half its speed after about 0.05 s and to one-fifth after 0.25 s.

See the numbers

STABILITY

Cork first, every time

Its open cone makes the shuttle very stable: whichever way it starts, it turns to fly cork first.

How it is tested

FOLLOW A SMASH

Where is
the shuttle now?

Pick a moment in a shuttle's flight to see what the measurements and the Laws say. The bar shows roughly how fast it is still going.

Based on the BWF Laws of Badminton (version 5.0, April 2025), radar measurements by Phomsoupha and Laffaye (2014) and Guinness World Records.

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

The fastest start,
the steepest fade.

One figure on how fast a shuttle can leave the racket,
one on how quickly that speed disappears.

The study measured a drag coefficient of about 0.64 for the shuttle. Its authors say the pattern fits the theory of Cohen and colleagues at the École Polytechnique, who studied why shuttles slow and turn around.

FOUR THINGS PLAYERS DO

Check the shuttle
before the first rally.

Feather shuttles change with the air in the hall. These are the checks the Laws and reference guides describe.

1. Do the speed test

   Hit a full underhand stroke from over the back line, upward and straight down the court. A correct shuttle lands 530 to 990 mm short of the far back line.

2. Choose the speed for the hall

   Humidity and altitude change how far a shuttle flies, so different weights are used for local conditions. National associations may approve variations.

3. Keep feathers humid

   Reference guides say feather shuttles should be humidified for at least 4 hours before play: dry feathers break and wobble, soaked ones fly too far.

4. Swap a damaged shuttle

   A broken feather can send the shuttle off line. Guides suggest replacing feathers every three or four games, or sooner if one stops flying straight.

FEATHERS OR PLASTIC

Same rules,
different flight.

The Laws allow natural or synthetic shuttles, but say any shuttle should fly much like a feathered one with a cork base covered in thin leather. Synthetic skirts may vary by up to 10 per cent in measurements and weight.

Players notice the difference. Plastics come off the racket more slowly but slow down less at the end, and fall more on a diagonal, while feathers drop nearly straight down. Top tournaments use feathers; plastics last far longer.

Questions

Questions people ask

Sources

Where the facts come from

1. BWF Statutes Section 4.1: Laws of Badminton (version 5.0, in force 26 April 2025)
2. Phomsoupha and Laffaye (2014): Shuttlecock velocity during a smash stroke evolves linearly with skill level
3. Guinness World Records: Fastest badminton hit in competition (male)
4. Wikipedia: Shuttlecock
5. APS Division of Fluid Dynamics 2011: Physics of badminton shuttlecocks, aerodynamics (Cohen, Darbois Texier, Quéré, Clanet)