🏸 Badminton at my local club or the indoor academy in Gachibowli, cannot decide

I started playing badminton again in August after almost six years of doing nothing but office work. Right now I play at a small club near my house, three evenings a week, about 200 rupees a session. It has two courts, a wooden floor that is a bit worn, and a good group of regular players. Last week a colleague told me about an indoor academy in Gachibowli and now I cannot stop thinking about it. The academy charges 3,500 a month for unlimited court time, and they have a coach on weekends. The floor is proper synthetic with good lighting, and the shuttles are included, which my club does not offer. But it is almost forty minutes away from my house on a good day, and an hour in evening traffic. That means I would spend two hours on the road for every one hour of playing. At my club I pay about 2,400 a month if I play every other day, so the price is fairly close. What bothers me there is the lighting, because the shuttle disappears against the ceiling in the far corner. I have taken two hits on the forehead already, and last Thursday my glasses nearly flew off. The players there are friendly though, and the owner lets me leave my racket bag overnight. My knees are not what they were at twenty, and a better floor would probably help them. I also know that a coach could fix my backhand clear, which has been terrible since school. But I do not want to pay for an academy and then skip it half the month. Distance kills habits quickly, and I have seen that happen with the gym membership I bought last year. Maybe the answer is to try the academy for one month and keep the club on the side. Does anyone play at an academy in that area and can tell me how crowded it gets in the evenings? Or if you know a court on this side of town with better lighting, I would take that over both. I am leaning towards staying where I am, but the forehead is starting to vote the other way.

I would stay at the club, mostly because a group of regulars is hard to find again. When I moved to a bigger place, I paid more and nobody there knew my name. Forehead hits are bad, but ask the club owner about moving the lights or the net. Cheap fixes like that cost less than 3,500 a month, and your Thursday game stays the same.

Your glasses nearly flying off would worry me more than the price difference between the two places. I played at an academy near Madhapur for a year and the coach fixed my backhand in three weeks. The commute was the only thing that hurt, so I ended up going twice a week instead. Maybe try that split, club on weekdays and academy on Saturday, and see how your knees feel.

Two hours on the road for one hour of play would kill it for me within a month. I joined a gym across town once and stopped going by the third week. Maybe fix the lighting problem first, since a cheap anti glare cap or a different corner might help. Then try the academy for a single weekend session and see if the coach is worth the drive.