I watched an Irving Crane match a few days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k06-M12lQWE&feature=related
and observed an interesting idea that I later tried and found to be quite useful.
Crane’s bridge hand remained on the table until the cue ball made contact with the object ball for nearly all of his shots. I did not count the number of times he did this. A few minutes into the match I noticed that he seemed to be very consistent in never lifting his bridge hand until contact was made and so I was watching for it the rest of the match. It is / was certainly part of his “post shot routine.”
We often talk about pre-shot routines and how important they are. Other than techniques for keeping one’s head down following a shot we seldom discuss effective post shot routines. Crane has one and it appears to be useful.
It is common to hear people discuss the idea that the cue ball is contact for such a short period of time that post shot behavior does not have much meaning. None-the-less I found that using Crane’s idea improves the consistency of shot making.
Apparently when you know your bridge hand is not going to move until contact is made there is less chance of your body moving or coming up on a shot. It is an idea that you get in your head and this idea has an effect upon many of your other behaviors, including looking up and other movements that can wreck a shot.
I also found that it was easy to include his idea into my usual routine for making a shot. After about five shots I seemed to slip this idea into my shot making with little effort. Interestingly, I was less worried about doing stupid things following the shot.
A lesson from Crane has improved my game. Perhaps it is one of those secrets of pool.
Just for the heck of it I will call it
Crane's Rule
Your bridge hand must not leave the table until the cue ball strikes the object ball.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k06-M12lQWE&feature=related
and observed an interesting idea that I later tried and found to be quite useful.
Crane’s bridge hand remained on the table until the cue ball made contact with the object ball for nearly all of his shots. I did not count the number of times he did this. A few minutes into the match I noticed that he seemed to be very consistent in never lifting his bridge hand until contact was made and so I was watching for it the rest of the match. It is / was certainly part of his “post shot routine.”
We often talk about pre-shot routines and how important they are. Other than techniques for keeping one’s head down following a shot we seldom discuss effective post shot routines. Crane has one and it appears to be useful.
It is common to hear people discuss the idea that the cue ball is contact for such a short period of time that post shot behavior does not have much meaning. None-the-less I found that using Crane’s idea improves the consistency of shot making.
Apparently when you know your bridge hand is not going to move until contact is made there is less chance of your body moving or coming up on a shot. It is an idea that you get in your head and this idea has an effect upon many of your other behaviors, including looking up and other movements that can wreck a shot.
I also found that it was easy to include his idea into my usual routine for making a shot. After about five shots I seemed to slip this idea into my shot making with little effort. Interestingly, I was less worried about doing stupid things following the shot.
A lesson from Crane has improved my game. Perhaps it is one of those secrets of pool.
Just for the heck of it I will call it
Crane's Rule
Your bridge hand must not leave the table until the cue ball strikes the object ball.
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