High English Thoughts

(Souquet, Feijen) Actually, they look at the object ball last, it's just done during their delivery stroke. Very dangerous for an amatuer to do this.
randyg

The *Observer* has spoken :thumbup:
 
Hate to bust your bubble, but the weight of the cue plays no role in the length of follow through.

The length of follow through is solely related to how far past impact with the CB you move your grip hand.

There is no such thing a a pendulum stroke in pool. The stroke movement may look like that of a pendulum, but that's the only thing in common between a pool stroke and a pendulum.

This is a definition of a pendulum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum

As far as I know, the bending of the elbow requires the expanding and contracting of muscles. There is no way to have the elbow be a frictionless point as in a pendulum.

Plus a pendulum works in a arc where as, in pool the goal is to stroke straight which can not be done with a pendulum swing.

See, all this time you are really using a piston stroke. The explanation given here, http://billiards.colostate.edu/high_speed_videos/new/HSVB-40.htm, is very similar to the movement a piston makes in a engine.

Stop thinking swing and start thinking stroke.

I love poking holes in things......

Duckie,

You haven't burst any bubble of mine. Actually, I'm having trouble seeing how what you say here relates to what I said. Also, I believe some of your statements are simply conjecture. For example, "the goal is to stroke straight which can not be done with a pendulum swing". Are you sure that is what you meant to say? Perhaps you meant to say that the goal is to stroke with a level cue? THAT can't to my knowledge be done with a pendulum stroke. However, MANY people would disagree with your opinion that this is in fact a goal at all. Certainly a real goal people have is to deliver the cue along the shot line *straight*. This can be done easily with either a pendulum or a piston stroke. Who cares, by the way, if there is friction in the elbow?

I will continue to think swing, since that is exactly what I do. In fact, more so as of tonight, my first time using an awesome new 4" cue extension I got which finally allows a tall guy like me to stroke without a big elbow drop.

I hope you keep enjoying posting things that contain a lot of conjecture, are unfocused and wander far from the topic, and appear to you to be insights...you will probably have a happy future!

Best of luck,

KMRUNOUT

edit: Damn! I didn't read ahead to see Neil's reply to Duckie. I was going to do the line by line thing, but I was too tired. Thankfully, Neil made every point I wanted to make, and did so very succinctly. Nice job Neil!!
 
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You don't need Mythbusters, just read post #78 to see how you can check it for yourself.

Neil, thanks for the reply...I had already read your post 78. I agree with it 100%. I don't need to check anything...I already know what the result would be. The need for Mythbusters isn't for the information that might come out of it, it was for the budget they might bring to my engineering project. I would love to see the device I described in action (so to speak). I bet you could do some crazy things with the cue ball. Also, it would certainly shed light on this topic for the whole community.

Best,

KMRUNOUT
 
The same thing can be said about Babe Cranfield's arrow.

It may look like an arrow but it is not really an arrow.

Sorry to burst your bubble.


Hate to bust your bubble, but the weight of the cue plays no role in the length of follow through.

The length of follow through is solely related to how far past impact with the CB you move your grip hand.

There is no such thing a a pendulum stroke in pool. The stroke movement may look like that of a pendulum, but that's the only thing in common between a pool stroke and a pendulum.

This is a definition of a pendulum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum

As far as I know, the bending of the elbow requires the expanding and contracting of muscles. There is no way to have the elbow be a frictionless point as in a pendulum.

Plus a pendulum works in a arc where as, in pool the goal is to stroke straight which can not be done with a pendulum swing.

See, all this time you are really using a piston stroke. The explanation given here, http://billiards.colostate.edu/high_speed_videos/new/HSVB-40.htm, is very similar to the movement a piston makes in a engine.

Stop thinking swing and start thinking stroke.

I love poking holes in things......
 
That's fine, but you should know what you are talking about first.

Quote:
Originally Posted by duckie
Hate to bust your bubble, but the weight of the cue plays no role in the length of follow through.

I agree, but the heavier the cue weight the harder to gain higher velocity again if using loose grip and loose wrist (using cue weight)


The length of follow through is solely related to how far past impact with the CB you move your grip hand.

I will agree here, but i would like to say it differently, (The length of follow through is solely related to what you need to do, if 2 rail shot speed or 1/2 table draw or follow shot you after, then you would have medium velocity long follow through, if lots of spin for a draw kill shot, you would have long follow through but with less velocity, for break shot you want max follow through and max velocity. I hope i am right.

One might argue, they are maybe correct, is you should have always same length follow through, but vary velocity only
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by duckie
Hate to bust your bubble, but the weight of the cue plays no role in the length of follow through.

I agree, but the heavier the cue weight the harder to gain higher velocity again if using loose grip and loose wrist (using cue weight)


The length of follow through is solely related to how far past impact with the CB you move your grip hand.

I will agree here, but i would like to say it differently, (The length of follow through is solely related to what you need to do, if 2 rail shot speed or 1/2 table draw or follow shot you after, then you would have medium velocity long follow through, if lots of spin for a draw kill shot, you would have long follow through but with less velocity, for break shot you want max follow through and max velocity. I hope i am right.

One might argue, they are maybe correct, is you should have always same length follow through, but vary velocity only



I don't know much about follow through or what you guys are talking about but get a very light cue and see if you can find a 3 or 4 inch diameter pool if not even a billiard ball will work for this example and hit it with a slow medium stroke. That ball will eat all of the inertia of that cue and be moving slower than the cue was moving, so a pool stick needs to be some factor heavier than than the ball to be effective most pool players are using a cue 3 times the weight of the cue ball use one that is one to one and things will act very differently use a cue lighter than a cue ball and you best have a stroke as that cue will no longer be doing the work for you.

I hit some with a 4 ball Jeanette Lee had it had to be 4 inch diameter very heavy made of phenolic felt very weird. I wish I had a 6 oz cue full length would be very interesting to stroke some 6 oz normal cue ball with thus the ball would be more stroke sensitive.

Here is a link to 4.33 inch 3lb 8 ball Giant 8 Ball
 
I've been wondering about this recently. Naji may have figured out something that has helped his game. I know that conventional wisdom says that you are supposed to look at the object ball last and that's what I do on most shots but I've been tinkering around with looking at the cue ball last on particular shots and that definitely has some merit.

When you consider that there are several great players that look at the cue ball last (Souquet, Feijen) it becomes obvious that it can be done. The question becomes why don't more players do it? I think I may know the answer.

I think this may be an advanced technique as opposed to a banger technique. When we start out playing and we don't know how to properly line up our shots (both while standing and in the addressed position) we really need to know where the object ball is at. So 99% of us end up looking at the object ball last. If we didn't we would miss so many balls because we really weren't lined up properly. Looking at the object ball last gives our subconscious one last chance to correct our alignment errors.

However, after you play for years and you have both a very straight stroke and you are lining up your shots properly the game becomes all about where you hit the cue ball. So in this sense, looking at the cue ball last makes since to me. If you trust your alignment and you want a very precise hit on the cue ball than maybe you should try looking at the cue ball last.

I could be completely wrong on this but I really don't think this has been studied much. Really all we have is conventional wisdom and in this case it may be worth rethinking.

***Sorry this is way off topic***

Rodney Morris looks at the cue ball last...
 
More precision • More speed • More accuracy

MAYBE, aiming extra high on the cue ball allows for the shooter to find the EXACT vertical axis of the cue ball and this allow them to hit the cue ball with more speed and more accuracy than most people, eliminating any unwanted swerve that might be caused by hitting the cue ball off the center of the vertical axis.
 
The cue ball can have "overspin" after an object ball kills half of it's directional inertia, but you cannot overspin it from the point it leaves your stroke. There is too much friction. Maybe on that really fast golf cloth...

Put a ball near a pocket and cue ball at a slight cut. Slam it with forward and inside and watch the cue ball dance. Playing big stroke shots with a spotted ball might further your understanding of the physics of the game. Or at least it will help you learn faster if you're somewhat new to the game.

All that being said... I guess true overspin is possible if you elevate and stroke forward/down, but the ball would catch up with the spin too quick to really be classified as "overspin."

Whether or not you play pool, in my opinion our natural intuition already knows how a spinning ball reacts with it's surroundings in relation to it's speed... Break the physics down to simply spinning a ball with a stick on cloth and it all comes clear! Or that's what helped me to further my game while I was learning...

I only read the first few pages of the thread... sorry if this is no longer relevant.
 
You post is relevant, and has been proven by high speed video.

The cue ball can have "overspin" after an object ball kills half of it's directional inertia, but you cannot overspin it from the point it leaves your stroke. There is too much friction. Maybe on that really fast golf cloth...

Put a ball near a pocket and cue ball at a slight cut. Slam it with forward and inside and watch the cue ball dance. Playing big stroke shots with a spotted ball might further your understanding of the physics of the game. Or at least it will help you learn faster if you're somewhat new to the game.

All that being said... I guess true overspin is possible if you elevate and stroke forward/down, but the ball would catch up with the spin too quick to really be classified as "overspin."

Whether or not you play pool, in my opinion our natural intuition already knows how a spinning ball reacts with it's surroundings in relation to it's speed... Break the physics down to simply spinning a ball with a stick on cloth and it all comes clear! Or that's what helped me to further my game while I was learning...

I only read the first few pages of the thread... sorry if this is no longer relevant.
 
MAYBE, aiming extra high on the cue ball allows for the shooter to find the EXACT vertical axis of the cue ball and this allow them to hit the cue ball with more speed and more accuracy than most people, eliminating any unwanted swerve that might be caused by hitting the cue ball off the center of the vertical axis.
Good point Joey. Follow shots can be more accurate for several reasons, all of which are listed with supporting resources here:

Also, shot speed/distance control can be better with follow shots, as described and illustrated in my October '11 BD article on this topic.

Regards,
Dave
 
The cue ball can have "overspin" after an object ball kills half of it's directional inertia, but you cannot overspin it from the point it leaves your stroke. There is too much friction. Maybe on that really fast golf cloth...
This is true regardless of the cloth speed or friction. FYI, numerous pertinent video demonstrations of the effect can be found here:

Regards,
Dave
 
MAYBE, aiming extra high on the cue ball allows for the shooter to find the EXACT vertical axis of the cue ball and this allow them to hit the cue ball with more speed and more accuracy than most people, eliminating any unwanted swerve that might be caused by hitting the cue ball off the center of the vertical axis.

Excellent point great input, i add, and if you have to put english, some shots swerve is not avoidable due to elevation whether rail or other OB obstruction to bridge, learn how swerve work and aim accordingly, especially in one pocket game where shooting slow is much more frequent.
 
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