Hey Dlff, I feel this is a good one for me to answer as when I was younger I actually tried out short pimples on my backhand for a short time s I had a good backhand punch and block and wasn’t that confident to topspin well! So what I found was firstly its of course hard to adapt and re-wire the brain for shots to become automatic and natural when changing to short pimples and this can be very frustrating. Also even though short pimples are good for punching etc, it does limit you in some ways in terms of spin and variation.
I would personally recommend staying with inverted on both sides and still trying to play your close to the table attacking game, this might mean going for a slightly more controlled rubber on the backhand for the blocking and punching shots and definitely a rubber which isn’t too soft. I play a similar style by staying close and taking the ball early when possible. I don’t think this would limit you in the ability to active block and drive at all and offers you the ability to still improve and add a topspin to your game. Again from experience my backhand spin is now probably my best shot and that was after having the same thought process as you and struggling with it, but after going back to the inverted it developed over time and I also still use my blocking and punching game a lot.
I can totally understand your thinking as I went through the same process when I was younger but I do feel a harder and controlled inverted rubber would be your best bet rather than a big adjustment of going to short pimples and offers you more going forward too. I used stiga genesis M rubber on the backhand until recently and this has brilliant control and a hard sponge which is perfect for the blocking and punching, but also has a very grippy top sheet to help improve topspin shots, What are you using currently?
Hope that helps and let me know any questions or thoughts you have 🙂 Cheers!
