Conventional wisdom holds that the the body weight should be on the left foot (for a right handed player) with the right foot extended forward and the body slightly bent during the serve. Some prefer the weight of the body to be on the right foot, with the left knee bent and toes pointing downwards. My normal stance is for both feet to be placed parallel to (and just short of) the service line, with the body fully upright, since it offers more mobility and I personally find it easier to retrieve the service return in this manner and it gives me better vision of the opposite court.

Although I used to prefer the forehand low serve for many years before switching to the backhand serve, I still see some professionals such as Jwala Gutta of India using the forehand serve with great effectiveness. I do use the forehand low serve every once in a while, in mixed doubles and if I want pinpoint placement in the far box. My only problem is consistency, and playing games where I tend to make too many service errors is frustrating (invariably the serve would fall short or hit the net due to insufficient power). I still average about one or two service errors per game, but it used to be worse than that.

I find two things to be critical when doing a backhand serve: to hold the shuttle properly between the index finger and thumb (this sounds almost basic, but I have messed up too many serves where I didn’t hold the shuttle properly!); and to hold my breath after exhaling just before serving. It helps to relax the body as much as possible too.

Best backhand serve ever? Lee Chong Wei! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen him mess up his serve. For doubles, it has to be Christinna Pedersen, if only because of the peculiar way she performs her serve.

Matthew Seeley said:

– titling the shuttle when you hold it: if you hold the shuttle with the cork pointing down, the trajectory of your serve will be higher. If you hold the shuttle with the cork pointing towards the strings, then the trajectory of your serve will be flatter. This is due to the weight of the cork.

– using a pushing action: making sure you follow through and “feel” your stroke, so that you can help the shuttle over the net and into the court.

The pushing action is possibly the most important aspect from my point of view – it is the difference between an inconsistent serve, and a great serve.

I've not had time to post (although I was going to try to), but now I don't need to both as Matt has just said everything that I do and recommend down to the last word.

People seen to go for spin serves but they are so inconsistent! You will lose more points than you will ever gain from one eventually going over and winning a point. I've recommended to so many people about pushing and the positioning of the shuttle but they do not give it time for it to work. They try it and then give up, yet they know that I have one of the most consistent serves in the club!

You can practice this at home, close your curtains and hit the shuttle into the curtain. Net height is about 1.5m so if you can mark that some how then that helps. Practice for 5-10 minutes a day or every other day and you will see an improvement after a week or so.

The great thing about a consistent serve is that you know where it's going to go (and not randomly spin in a direction) but you can play these shots so much better under pressure. Whereas fancy serves can be messed up even more easily under pressure or if you are having an off night. If you are pumped up, you might think that you are tapping the shuttle over but you are pumped up and it goes too high but with the push method, you completely minimise that.

Good luck 

I've practiced in the home too.  I put masking tape between the door frame and serve from my kitchen to my dining room (we don't actually dine there as it's become the kids room).  I've measured the distance from the door to the imaginary T and conveniently, that's where my kitchen tiles join so I don't have to put a marker down there.  On the other side, I put one of my kids toy buckets at the right length.  My serve to the T is okay now after much practice.  But I need to think of a way to practice my serve to the wide areas.  I don't serve much to the wide areas but equally I don't want to get too predictable with the serve to the T either.