So far I am happy with the racquet that I purchased at Winning Badminton last August. The Woven-11 lives up to all the hype it has garnered at Badminton Central. Shots, even mis-hits, go straight to where I want (that is, when I’m not hitting the net or when I’m not hitting them out-of-bounds). The control and forgiveness of the racquet is unparallelled to anything I’ve ever used, and when everything is right with the world (e.g., the planets are in alignment, I feel relaxed, and time is all but at a stand-still) I can really drop a bomb of a smash.

The Woven-11 is a physically demanding racquet. I literally “get tired” playing with it. At 91 grams (unstrung), it definitely helps with digging smashes and clearing, but over the course of a night, I wish I had something lighter. The shaft is incredibly stiff (there is very little “flex” in the shaft to help me out). While this helps with control, generating power is difficult if you are of poor fitness and don’t swing the racquet very fast (like me), or if you are mechanically unsound. My smashes are there. They are accurate, but they are not explosive.

The defense, as written before, is a little slow but very good for a head-heavy racquet. Just choke up on the handle when defending and keep your racquet up.

Overall, a great buy. I am considering getting a second racquet, something like a Yonex Armortec 500 or Sotx Woven 7.