How much difference does a stroke make.

SilverCue

Sir Raksalot
Silver Member
I grew up in the mid-West in a small town where you could drive vehicles with farm plates with no licence.
One of the things we learned at an early age was how to push a car or pickup to get it started.
You had to approach the vehicles you were going to push very slowly so the bumpers wouldn't bounce, then accelerate slowly.
If you tied an old tire onto the bumper, it was much smoother and didn't bounce as much and you didn't have to be so careful with the approach speed.

I use a Tiger Jump Break Tip and when I'm stroking smooth and accelerating through the cue ball, the cue ball behaves differently than if I just jab.

The reason I use a very hard tip is to help control draw. I can still get as much draw as I need but less unwanted draw.

Try playing with a very hard tip sometime and see how your stroke holds up.

I may install a phenolic tip and try shooting with that. :D

Al
 
Depends on the severity of the stroke. Although, I know of a guy who had a major heart attack and could still draw the ball pretty sporty.
However, lighting your entire head on fire and then attempting to putting out the flames with a hammer is never good thing.
 
...when I'm stroking smooth and accelerating through the cue ball, the cue ball behaves differently than if I just jab.
It's easy (lazy, actually) to just stop there and assume that smooth acceleration is all there is to it, but what about the fact that "jabbing" tends to pull your stroke offline and makes it harder to hit the CB at the right speed? Identifying the real underlying reasons will get you farther faster.

pj
chgo
 
As long as a stroke can deliver the cue at the desired tip contact point on the CB with the desired speed and cue elevation, and do so in a consistent and repeatable way, nothing else really matters.

For more information, see:

"type" or "quality" of stroke
stroke acceleration effects
follow-through effects

Enjoy,
Dave
Having said this, stroke "best practices" can certainly help most people achieve an accurate and consistent stroke (with the least amount of practice time).

Regards,
Dave
 
It's easy (lazy, actually) to just stop there and assume that smooth acceleration is all there is to it, but what about the fact that "jabbing" tends to pull your stroke offline and makes it harder to hit the CB at the right speed? Identifying the real underlying reasons will get you farther faster.

pj
chgo
Wow pj, you'd complain if they hung you with a new rope

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Well you were actually criticizing which is a form of complaining.
You called me lazy and told me that I can't jab with a straight stroke.
You don't even know me and I'm sure you wouldn't say that to my face.
It wasn't about you - it was about the topic and players in general. So of course I'd say it to your face.

pj
chgo
 
It wasn't about you - it was about the topic and players in general. So of course I'd say it to your face.

pj
chgo

If it was about players in general, then why did you quote my post?
You are the worst kind of lair, you get called out and try to deny it with a lame excuse.
 
Well you were actually criticizing which is a form of complaining.
You called me lazy and told me that I can't jab with a straight stroke.
You don't even know me and I'm sure you wouldn't say that to my face.

Whoa, easy man. That escalated quickly.
 
I grew up in the mid-West in a small town where you could drive vehicles with farm plates with no licence.
One of the things we learned at an early age was how to push a car or pickup to get it started.
You had to approach the vehicles you were going to push very slowly so the bumpers wouldn't bounce, then accelerate slowly.
If you tied an old tire onto the bumper, it was much smoother and didn't bounce as much and you didn't have to be so careful with the approach speed.

I use a Tiger Jump Break Tip and when I'm stroking smooth and accelerating through the cue ball, the cue ball behaves differently than if I just jab.

The reason I use a very hard tip is to help control draw. I can still get as much draw as I need but less unwanted draw.

Try playing with a very hard tip sometime and see how your stroke holds up.

I may install a phenolic tip and try shooting with that. :D

Al

The most I can say about this is I am not so sure.
I used to play with Kamui softs on everything. One night I played a few racks with my Phenolic tipped break cue and found out that I had no problem using draw, left, right, and follow all without miscues. After that I started using hard tips on my player because I like the feedback better with those tips. Even though I can use my Phenolic tipped cue to play full racks without problems it still feels to me like my stroke needs a lot of work, I am certainly not going to call it good enough because I can play with a Phenolic tip.
 
Wow pj, you'd complain if they hung you with a new rope

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


Not quite sure where that came from, the man just offered some accurate insight, and rather than absorb it, you misconstrued it.
 
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