Badminton is one of the cheapest sports in the world to start and one of the easiest to overspend on, because the equipment list looks short and every item has a $200 version. This guide covers what you actually need, in the order you actually need it.
The short version: a racket, shuttles and court shoes will get you playing properly for about $80. Everything else on this page is an upgrade, not a requirement.
What You Need on Day One
- A racket — $25 to $40 buys a genuinely playable one
- Shuttlecocks — a tube of nylon, $10 to $18
- Non-marking indoor shoes — most halls require them, and it is a real injury issue
- An overgrip — two dollars, and it fixes the slippery handle every cheap racket has
That is the whole list. Nets are provided at any club or leisure centre, and if you are playing in a garden the net comes with the garden set. Clothing is whatever you already own that you can sweat in.
The Racket: Flexible Beats Expensive
The single most useful thing to know about a beginner racket is that shaft flex matters more than price. A flexible shaft bends under an ordinary swing and snaps forward, doing part of the work for you. A stiff shaft only does that if you swing hard enough to bend it, which most new players cannot — so the expensive racket produces slower shots than the cheap one.
Buy flexible or medium flex, even balance, 4U weight class. Our beginner racket guide goes through the terminology in detail.
Yonex Nanoray 10F
The Hi-Flex shaft is the whole point: it loads at a normal club swing speed instead of demanding a professional one, so you get the whip that generates power rather than fighting a stiff frame. Head-light balance means it arrives early enough to block a smash. It is the racket that most often ends the search for people who keep asking what to buy first.
Check Price on Amazon All racket picksShuttles: Buy Nylon, Try Feather Once
This is where new players waste money in both directions. Some buy the cheapest nylon shuttles going, which fly flat and hard and teach nothing. Others buy feather because it is what the professionals use, then destroy a $25 tube in one session of mis-hits.
The right pattern is to train on good nylon — the Yonex Mavis range is the reference — and buy one tube of feather so you know what real badminton flight feels like. Once you have seen a feather drop shot brake over the net, you will understand what the sport is built around. Then go back to nylon for practice.
Yonex Mavis 350 Nylon Shuttlecocks
The default training shuttle in club halls worldwide, and the one you will be handed if you turn up somewhere new. The skirt is softer than budget nylon, so it deforms and brakes slightly on impact rather than sailing — noticeably closer to feather behaviour at a fraction of the running cost. Consistency tube to tube matters more than it sounds: practising drops against shuttles that all brake differently teaches you nothing.
Check Price on Amazon All shuttlecock picksShoes Are Not Optional, and Running Shoes Are Not Shoes
Badminton is a lateral sport played on a sprung wooden floor. Almost every movement is a push off the side of the foot, followed by a stop. Running shoes are built to roll forward and have soft, tall midsoles that let the ankle tip over sideways — which is precisely the injury badminton produces.
Court shoes have a flat, gum-rubber sole for grip on wood, a low profile so the ankle stays over the foot, and lateral reinforcement in the upper. Most sports halls also require non-marking soles as a condition of entry. This is the one item on the list where buying the wrong thing has a physical cost, and it is worth $50 to $70.
The Two-Dollar Upgrade Everyone Skips
Every racket under about $50 comes with a moulded synthetic base grip that becomes slippery the moment your hands warm up. An overgrip — a thin tape you wrap over the top — fixes it completely, costs a dollar or two, and lasts a few weeks.
There are two families. Tacky grips stick to your hand and suit dry hands and cool halls. Perforated or dry grips absorb sweat and suit hot halls and people whose hands sweat. Buy a multi-pack of either; buying them one at a time is how people end up playing on a worn grip for a year.
Yonex Super GRAP Overgrips (30-Pack)
Super GRAP is the reference point every other overgrip is measured against — tacky without being sticky, thin enough not to bulk out the handle, and consistent from roll to roll. Bought in a 30-pack it costs about the same per grip as the cheapest generics, which removes the only reason not to use it. Thirty is two or three years for one player.
Check Price on Amazon All strings and gripsRealistic Budgets
$60-$80 — Getting Started
A $27 aluminium racket, a $10 tube of nylon shuttles, a $2 overgrip and whatever trainers you own that are non-marking. This is enough to play at a club for a few months and find out whether you want to continue. Do not skip the overgrip.
$150-$180 — Playing Properly
A $40 graphite racket with a flexible shaft, $60 court shoes, a $16 tube of Mavis shuttles, a multi-pack of overgrips and a $30 sling bag. This covers everything and nothing here will need replacing for a couple of years except the consumables.
$250+ — Committed
Add a second racket so a broken string does not end your evening, a proper kit-bag with a shoe compartment, a tube of feather shuttles for matches, and a restring at your preferred tension. At this point the equipment stops being the limiting factor.
What to Skip
- A $150+ racket as your first — stiff shafts need a swing speed you do not have yet
- Feather shuttles for practice — you will destroy them and learn nothing extra
- Anti-vibration gadgets — badminton frames barely vibrate; this is a tennis product
- Wrist weights and 'power trainers' — badminton power comes from technique and rotation, not from strengthening the swing you already have wrong
- A four-racket garden set, if only one person plays — the money goes into three frames nobody uses
Spend $40 on a flexible-shaft racket, $16 on decent nylon shuttles, $60 on proper court shoes and $2 on an overgrip. That is a complete, genuinely good badminton setup for under $120, and the only thing on it you will replace this year is the shuttles. Buy the expensive racket after you know whether you attack from the back or defend at the net.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to start playing badminton?
About $60 to $80 for a workable setup — a $27 racket, $10 of nylon shuttles, a $2 overgrip and non-marking shoes you may already own. Around $150 buys a setup that will not need upgrading: a graphite racket, proper court shoes and better shuttles. Court hire at a leisure centre is usually the larger ongoing cost, not the equipment.
Do I need special shoes for badminton?
Yes, and this is the one item worth insisting on. Badminton is played with constant sideways push-off on a wooden floor, and running shoes have tall soft midsoles that let the ankle roll over. Court shoes are flat, grippy on wood and reinforced laterally. Most sports halls also require non-marking soles to use their floor at all.
What should I buy first for badminton?
A racket and a tube of nylon shuttles, then court shoes, then an overgrip. In practice most people get the first two immediately and put off shoes, which is the wrong order if you are playing on a wooden floor more than occasionally — the shoes are the injury item.
Do I need to buy a badminton net?
Only if you are playing at home. Every club, leisure centre and school hall provides nets and marked courts. A portable net is a garden purchase, and if that is what you want, our <a href="../../badminton/nets.html">nets and posts</a> page covers what makes one stay upright.
How long does badminton equipment last?
A graphite racket lasts years unless you clash it with a partner's. Strings go dead in months regardless of whether they break. Nylon shuttles last weeks; feather shuttles last a game or two. Court shoes lose their grip pattern after about a year of regular play, which is the point at which they stop being court shoes.