How Straight can a stroke be?

[Bank2Win]

I have been working on straightening my crooked ass stroke, and I was thinking to myself how straight can you get a stroke. So I came up with a test to see if I could do the following test.

I actually have not tried this yet, but i can tell you now I would have a hard time doing this.

 

[richiebalto]

I have been working on straightening my crooked ass stroke, and I was thinking to myself how straight can you get a stroke. So I came up with a test to see if I could do the following test.

I actually have not tried this yet, but i can tell you now I would have a hard time doing this.

I dont see this being very hARD to do ,if the A ball n qball are straight in with the pocket,but hell i been wrong lots before,i do think they have to be straight in line with the pocket in order for this to happen.

 

[richiebalto]

I have been working on straightening my crooked ass stroke, and I was thinking to myself how straight can you get a stroke. So I came up with a test to see if I could do the following test.

I actually have not tried this yet, but i can tell you now I would have a hard time doing this.

I know what u mean about a crooked stroke,my stroke is very straight when iam hitting the cue ball with high english,but my problem is when useing low ,i can feel the glich in my stroke when iam preparing to draw the ball and it doesnt happen all the time,about 2or3 times out of ten,just enough to not get out,but i can feel it in my last stroke(when it happens)just before hitting the qball and everytime it happens it makes me miss,i can just feel that little crookedness,rite at the end.

 

[lfigueroa]

I have been working on straightening my crooked ass stroke, and I was thinking to myself how straight can you get a stroke. So I came up with a test to see if I could do the following test.

I actually have not tried this yet, but i can tell you now I would have a hard time doing this.

Not trying to be sarcastic, but IMO, it might be more fruitful to just concentrate on making the balls do what you want them to do. Recently folks have posted links to videos of great players like Wille Hoppe and Ralph Greenleaf, to name just two, and both those guys and great big huge swarps in their strokes.

Straight, smate -- if you can consistently get the balls to do what you want them to do, isn't that good enough?

Lou Figueroa

 

[Bank2Win]

Not trying to be sarcastic, but IMO, it might be more fruitful to just concentrate on making the balls do what you want them to do. Recently folks have posted links to videos of great players like Wille Hoppe and Ralph Greenleaf, to name just two, and both those guys and great big huge swarps in their strokes.

Straight, smate -- if you can consistently get the balls to do what you want them to do, isn't that good enough?

Lou Figueroa

i guess you would have to define "consistently", if consistently is defined by never missing a ball then of course don't worry about it, but of consistently is defined by missing some shots every now and then, there is a reason, mechanics, setup, pre-shot, etc, etc. I believe if you start with something straight you will have less issues to to work out when something does error.

 

[Masayoshi]

If you make the ball and the cue ball doesn't pass, it probably means that you didn't set it up perfectly straight rather than that your stroke wasn't straight.

 

[JohnnyP]

I use a cue ball with a black stripe to test my stroke, but you could also use a striped ball as the cue ball:
http://www.billiards.com/training-material/practice-balls

Set it up so the stripe is vertical, then line up an object ball so it's a straight in shot. Shoot it, and try to keep the stripe vertical.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6912406045383460884

 

[Neil]

..............

 

[lfigueroa]

i guess you would have to define "consistently", if consistently is defined by never missing a ball then of course don't worry about it, but of consistently is defined by missing some shots every now and then, there is a reason, mechanics, setup, pre-shot, etc, etc. I believe if you start with something straight you will have less issues to to work out when something does error.

Well, the definition of "consistently" is a moving target for most players. What was "consistently" for me five years ago is not what "consistently" mean to me now.

Part of the issue is that the vast majority of us are not pros, nor will we ever approach anything vaguely resembling pro-like performance. So "consistently" needs to be put in the context of a player's ability, goals, and the amount of time they are willing to allot to the game, given more important priorities in their life.

Lou Figueroa

 

[Bank2Win]

Here is what i had in mind, pleas see photo's below.

 

[TheBook]

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A better test is to set a ball at the center of the table and the CB at the head spot. Shoot a stop shot so the object ball hits the end rail and then rebounds to hit the CB and drive the CB to the center of the head rail. :thumbup:



.

 

[Jaden]

you created a test with multiple variables to test one attribute...

I have been working on straightening my crooked ass stroke, and I was thinking to myself how straight can you get a stroke. So I came up with a test to see if I could do the following test.

I actually have not tried this yet, but i can tell you now I would have a hard time doing this.

This test does not do what you want it to.

You introduce multiple variables to try and test a single attribute, (the straightness of the stroke).

This does not do that.

You are testing aim, stroke and you're making it more difficult by introducing forced follow.

First thing, there is no such thing as a straight shot. There is close to a straight shot, but they usually aren't straight.

Second thing, being able to successfully do this is not necessary. Even if it is possible (and it is) there's no need to shoot a ball that straight and it doesn't measure how straight your stroke is.

So, you can have a perfectly straight stroke, but if the balls aren't lined up perfectly straight in relation to both the balls it has to pass through AND the pocket, it's not going to happen.

Also, you can have a perfectly straight stroke and if your aim is slightly off, you aren't going to successfully complete the drill.

You don't need your aim to be absolutely perfect in this game to make the ball, in fact, almost no one has absolutely perfect aim.

If you want to train for a better stroke, use the bottle method or I believe that Joe tucker offers the stroke trainer, that will help you get a straighter stroke.

What I did was practice stroking in mid air imagining going through the CB and focused on only moving my forearm and only going straight through the OB.

Now with all of this in mind.....

Here you go....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1xd0k6cykI

Jaden

 

[GaryB]

My cue maker, JoeyInCali, does it too me with regularity. I go by to visit and check how my new cue and others are coming along and then we get on his table. He says "I''m hitting em pretty straight" and promptly makes several of these shots. I think he does it just to demoralize an old man before we start to play!

 

[victorl]

I'll try it later tonight and see how many tries it takes.
I agree with the other posters that this is more a test of how straight your aiming setup is, rather than a test of stroke straightness.

Vic

 

[LAMas]

What stroke? Shorter the better.

...All of the old greats of the game, who had all of the really high runs & records, had very short strokes. Ralph Greenleaf was very short, Mosconi was short. Don’t give me that bull Willie was a straight pool player and was shooting shorter softer shots. Willie once ran 12 straight racks of 9 ball with that short stroke and the run was unfinished. The guy he was playing never got to shoot a ball and ran out of money and called off the match. This was on a 9’ table and no player today has matched that run or his 526 balls at straight pool.

The experts agree the greatest 9 ball player of all time was Wimpy, the greatest tournament winner from the Johnston City, Illinois days in the mid 60’s. Luther Lassiter had the shortest stroke you could imagine. It is shorter than Allen Hopkins short jab; in fact, the two strokes are about the same. These two strokes, extremely short produced two of the greatest players of all time. That is my stroke today, a non stroke. Mike Sigel, one of the top 5 greatest players of all time, same stroke. In fact, you can play, with no stroke, just plant, line up, pull back and hit. Most get a rhythm going and it helps them feel the shot doing strokes. You want a short soft stroke for the short easy shot. I very hard fast long stroke for the big force follow that has to go 3 rails and down table and a medium stroke in between. It is a rehearsal of shot to be.

Willie Hoppe was the greatest cueist of all time. He played 3-cushion billiards on a 10’ table. He hit balls bigger and heavier than your smaller cue ball and the cloth he played on back then was twice as slow as the modern billiard cloths are today, Simonis #1 vs. 300. Given all of that, you would have thought Hoppe would some big lumbering long looping stroke like Earl or Busty. Hoppe had the shortest stroke of all of them, it was 5” long. Could that have been the reason, he was the greatest?
The majority of pool players I see are hitting their shots twice as hard as they need to; their strokes are twice as long as they should be.
Their follow through should be twice as long as they now are. They have it all backwards. The balls are round; they will roll and get to the pocket, if you give them a chance to.
Hoppe had this very short 5” stroke, then boom, out came this huge long follow through. This is what I teach, short stroke for accuracy, long follow through for power when you need it...

http://www.poolchat.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5084

 

[The Renfro]

Lots of players have ran more than 12 racks... I agree that it's rare but I would dare say most of the pros today have done so at one point or other in their careers... I think there was a post about Mike Davis running some obscene number of racks in a tournament last year... Was the same tourney that Sigel won a bunch of games in a row......

 

[the chicken]

I'm in complete agreement with LAMas (shorter the better, with a long follow through when power is needed).

 

[King T]

Shorter.., Longer.., dont know?

LAMas has some good points..., but arent Earl and Busty two of the most dominate players in 9 & 10 Ball ever..., Isnt Mr. Reyes the best ever, I mean he has more wins in a larger varity of games then anyone, right?

Not sure if his stroke is right down the line.., I'm sure its long and I'm sure no ome can beat him at any game..., well maybe banks, no one is prefect!

 

[mincho]

Earl once remarked that Van Boening shoots straighter than him (click here to see Earl's interview) and I was sort of surprised by that, being that Earl is/was known as one of the best shot makers ever.

I also remember reading in an article that Earl says he, like most pros, spin the ball in. I wonder if the way he strokes the ball is more conducive to pocketing balls (by adding a little side spin to eliminate collision induced throw). Just a thought.

 

[fan-tum]

Granted, a spectator can't really tell much, but I've always made it a point to study Efren's stroke whenever possible, and I believe there's no straighter stroke out there. I've seen a lot of pro's miscue at least once...Efren ..never.