Any squash players, advice needed?

beachBOYken

beachBOYken

beachBOYken

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Hi

I used to play squash quite a bit as a teen, I have finally got back into playing squash at my local sports centre.

I just need a little help in which type of ball I should use, I remember the red dot and yellow dot balls, red I think being the faster with more bounce? and yellow a slower, less bounce?

Anyway is there any advice on which I should use on a cold court in the winter months and warm months in the summer?

Is there any over squash balls that will ease me back into the game as I'm very rusty!! , think I read up on a blue dot for novices???

any help much appreciated.
 
The colours/dots basically refers to the balls speed and bounce, see here: http://www.rdsa.org.uk/toptips/one-spot-or-two-squash-balls-explained.
Blue is the fastest and has the most bounce so is best for beginners, then red dot, then single yellow dot, then double yellow dot (which is currently competition standard ball).

I'd probably start with a red dot ball if you've played a fair bit before. Also depends if you want short or long rallies with lots of running around (blue if you do, double dot yellow if you don't :p)
 
Last edited:
alx said:
The colours/dots basically refers to the balls speed and bounce, see here: http://www.rdsa.org.uk/toptips/one-spot-or-two-squash-balls-explained

I'd probably start with a red dot ball if you've played a fair bit before. Also depends if you want short or long rallies with lots of running around (blue if you do, double dot yellow if you don't :p)
Click to expand...

hi

Yeah long rallies and lots of running around:D. So that would be blue dot or is the squash ball blue? , cant say Ive ever seen a blue dot bar the racquet ball type which are larger.
 
Can't imagine playing squash with anything other than a double yellow - once you can hit the ball half decent, it is all you need.
Just be sure to warm it up before starting the actual game
 
Single Yellow Dot here. Seems a good balance between bounce/speed/rallies/amount of running around like a spastic chicken.
 
As long as you can strike the ball regularly with enough power, double yellow should be fine. If you have lingering doubts about your ability to strike with enough regularity and force straight at the wall and back again (and again and again), then go for single yellow. Anything less will make the game descend into something of a farce with a ball that is WAY too fast to control for beginners trying to have a rally.
 
Cheers guys, I think I'm going to get some Dunlop progress and Dunlop competition, from what I gather the progress is quite fast with higher bounce and a little bigger in size. The competition is basically a yellow dot.
 
In my opinion, 90% of people that play with double yellow dots would be better off with single dots. Only play with a double dot if you can have sustained rallies and you're playing on heated courts.
 
I've only ever played with double yellows so not sure what any of the other ones are even like.
But even as a beginner I didn't find it to be an issue as long as the courts are warm.

At the local leisure centre this isn't the case so it really depends on where you play.
At a proper squash club the courts will be much better maintained and heated so you would certainly not want anything other than double yellow.

if courts are poorly maintained and not heated then you'd have to be both pretty decent to get good rallies going.

I consider myself to be average at best but can get plenty 15-20 shot rallies going in bad courts with double yellow.
I'm in league 5/10 of a below average club, in a below average part of the UK for squash but when I watch the players down in league 7-10 they really shouldn't be using double yellow. Ball sounds like a stone even after 40 minutes of play.


My main goal going forward is increasing my fitness though so think I'll order some bouncy ones to play til we drop and just increase stamina.
Half the long rallies I lose are purely down to tiredness and thus a loss of focus so probably good to keep a mix of ball types depending on whether it's a real game or a practice/fitness game.
 
go with double yellow...

you might as well learn with double yellow. you will find, fairly quickly the others just bounce way too much.
 
As above ^^ start as you mean to go on. Get yourself in the league/ladder and you'll re-learn the game in no time. The only time we use a single dot is when we're doing particular drop drills at the front on the court and there's no heat in the ball....
 
"Start as you mean to go on"... good advice but not in this context.

I want to be a great racing driver. Does that mean I should just buy an F1 car straight away? No.

The design temperature of a double dot squash ball is 45 degrees. That is very warm! If the ball is not very warm to the touch whilst you are playing then you would be better off with a single dot. Why? Longer rallies, more skill needed to properly kill the ball, less pressure on joints.

The double dot ball was NEVER intended to become the standard for amateurs/club level players. There is a reason the double dot is called "pro", and the single dot is called "competition". Unless you are a reasonably good player and are playing on a warm court, use a single dot. You will improve quicker and will have more fun doing so.
 
There appears to be a lot of crap about playing with the Yellow dot or double dot. My opinion is that a lot of players wont play with anything else but a Yellow dot because they are scared of being seeing to be playing with a faster ball as if there is some kind of stigma attached to playing with a faster ball. I am in my early 60's & now play with a Red dot ball & i have some great games with longer rallies due to the ball being much faster & bouncy. I did play for a lot of years with a Yellow spot but i would not go back to a Yellow dot for all the tea in China.
 
Such a great game, would love to start playing again. But courts and opponents are few and far between now.
 
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