Gradual Acceleration

Pidge

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I remember as a kid watching Hendry play in the World Champs and one shot stuck in my mind. He hit a deep deepened screw shot and it looked like he hardly hit it. The cue ball paused, then took off like Usain Bolt. I couldn't get that much action hitting it as hard as I could let alone by tapping the white. My dad had the match taped and I would watch this shot over and over. I noticed how slowly he started the delivery towards the cue ball. The first inch was very slow and it gradually picked up pace. I played around with it and couldn't get the hang of it. Persistence paid off and eventually I had the timing down. I couldn't quite recreate the shot... I was just a kid, not on super fast cloth and I wasn't Hendry. But I did notice how easy deep screw shots were with very little effort. My accuracy on the white sky rocketed especially on screw shots. I was hitting the shot with perfect timing.

I see a lot of players rushing the transition and beginning of the delivery. This causes a few issues that limits how much juice you can give the white. When you think about hitting the white hard you naturally tense and it kills the cues acceleration. You move, drop the elbow too soon and this makes you hit the shot not where you intend. How many times have you seen players lined up close to miscueing because they're so low but end up putting topspin on the cue ball.

For anyone wanting to give this a try it does take time to practice it and get your own timing and rhythm. It will feel like you can't hit the ball hard enough if 1 inch of the delivery is wasted going slow... It isn't the case. I had to lengthen my bridge a couple of inches to combat this as a kid, so a slightly longer bridge might help. It will feel jerky, but chances are if you watch it back it will look very smooth. You do need to follow through to your full potential too, but don't exaggerate it. If you naturally follow through 6 inches, don't try following through 10 inches.

That's about it. Now, my deep screw allows me to screw back on a snooker table with an object ball about a ft from a corner and the white in baulk, right back into baulk and back out to roughly between the baulk line and blue spot. My max screw is more than I've ever had to use in a game. Better to have too much than not enough.
 

ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Actually the draw shot is supposed to be shot that way. If you fire the cue ball at warp speed, you don't have enough back spin on the cue ball, to overcome the forward velocity. Even short distance Draw is done the sane way. Focus on accuracy & spin is the key.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
If you fire the cue ball at warp speed, you don't have enough back spin on the cue ball, to overcome the forward velocity.
Actually, the OB absorbs most of the CB's momentum, especially for straighter shots, so the extra RPMs of a hard shot produce extra draw. Same is true for follow.

pj
chgo
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
I see a lot of players rushing the transition and beginning of the delivery.
...
a slightly longer bridge might help
A distinct pause at the back of the stroke and adding a couple of inches to my bridge (to ~10") helps me smooth out my acceleration too. A work in progress...

pj
chgo
 

ENGLISH!

Banned
Silver Member
CJ Wiley spoke here about 'maximum' acceleration at just the right time.

Pidge, You spoke of 'timing' & that could be applied to a few aspects.

I'm not looking for an argument, but it comes down to spin to speed ratio.

Science guys know what they know & don't know what they don't know.

Momentum can be a killer. I know, the cue ball only knows the mass x acceleration.

Well, the end result for force can be equal but with totally different 'entries' for the mass & acceleration components.

Then comes TIME applied.

There is very much going on during contact from beginning to end even IF it is just a very short time frame.

Anyway...

I agree with you, Pidge
 

mantis99

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I couldn't agree more with this post. I think this is one one of the main areas of stroke fault in my game. If I can keep my transition calm with a gradual acceleration to the ball, my cuein and action are greatly improved. Otherwise, I end up gripping too hard causing a slight movement to the side and a raising of my tip.

Great post!!
 

Neil

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've talked about this a number of times on here. By starting slower, you prevent the jerking motion of starting fast which throws the cue off line. Much easier to keep the cue on the proper line when starting the forward stroke slow for the first inch or two and then picking up speed.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
CJ Wiley spoke here about 'maximum' acceleration at just the right time.

Pidge, You spoke of 'timing' & that could be applied to a few aspects.

I'm not looking for an argument, but it comes down to spin to speed ratio.

Science guys know what they know & don't know what they don't know.

Momentum can be a killer. I know, the cue ball only knows the mass x acceleration.

Well, the end result for force can be equal but with totally different 'entries' for the mass & acceleration components.

Then comes TIME applied.

There is very much going on during contact from beginning to end even IF it is just a very short time frame.

Anyway...

I agree with you, Pidge
You know Pidge's post is about not jerking your stroke, right?

pj <- kinda hard to tell
chgo
 

SilverCue

Sir Raksalot
Silver Member
I remember as a kid watching Hendry play in the World Champs and one shot stuck in my mind. He hit a deep deepened screw shot and it looked like he hardly hit it. The cue ball paused, then took off like Usain Bolt. I couldn't get that much action hitting it as hard as I could let alone by tapping the white. My dad had the match taped and I would watch this shot over and over. I noticed how slowly he started the delivery towards the cue ball. The first inch was very slow and it gradually picked up pace. I played around with it and couldn't get the hang of it. Persistence paid off and eventually I had the timing down. I couldn't quite recreate the shot... I was just a kid, not on super fast cloth and I wasn't Hendry. But I did notice how easy deep screw shots were with very little effort. My accuracy on the white sky rocketed especially on screw shots. I was hitting the shot with perfect timing.

I see a lot of players rushing the transition and beginning of the delivery. This causes a few issues that limits how much juice you can give the white. When you think about hitting the white hard you naturally tense and it kills the cues acceleration. You move, drop the elbow too soon and this makes you hit the shot not where you intend. How many times have you seen players lined up close to miscueing because they're so low but end up putting topspin on the cue ball.

For anyone wanting to give this a try it does take time to practice it and get your own timing and rhythm. It will feel like you can't hit the ball hard enough if 1 inch of the delivery is wasted going slow... It isn't the case. I had to lengthen my bridge a couple of inches to combat this as a kid, so a slightly longer bridge might help. It will feel jerky, but chances are if you watch it back it will look very smooth. You do need to follow through to your full potential too, but don't exaggerate it. If you naturally follow through 6 inches, don't try following through 10 inches.

That's about it. Now, my deep screw allows me to screw back on a snooker table with an object ball about a ft from a corner and the white in baulk, right back into baulk and back out to roughly between the baulk line and blue spot. My max screw is more than I've ever had to use in a game. Better to have too much than not enough.

That's how I always try to do it and it looks and feels awesome.
But some times I rush and nothing happens :(
 

HurdyGurdy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been practicing the exact shot. I'm also taking visual cues from a snooker player, but I'm watching Stuart Pettman, specifically his 117 straight pool run on a 10 foot table (its on youtube).

My accuracy has increased, and not just on draw/screw shots, with the pause at the transition of the back-stroke and a slower release.

Snooker players seem to know what they're doing. Go figure.
 

rikdee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For an historical perspective on this topic, get a copy of "Daly's Billiard Book" written by the great U.S. billiards master, Maurice Daly. In the early part of the book, he describes in considerable detail, the mechanics of a good [draw] stroke as "crescendo". Additionally, the first 18 pages are a scintillating read of the late 19th century billiard scene in America and easily worth the price of the small paperback. What these early masters did was pure science fiction.
 

zpele

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
An accelerating stroke from the pause at the end of the backswing into contact with the cueball is almost always a good thing and it took me a long time to get it right. It isn't something that necessarily feels natural at first.
 

BasementDweller

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't know about you guys but...

While I tend to agree with just about everything Pidge writes, I can't for the life of me figure out how anybody can actually do what he is proposing here. I've tried this out and I just can't even come close to getting the timing of this down and I'm not sure that it would be worth it if I could.

Having a smooth transition from the backstroke to the forward stroke is one thing BUT actually trying to purposely slow down the beginning of the forward stroke just seems too complicated to me and if someone were to actually focus on trying to do this -- how would they not introduce a jerky motion into their stroke (for lack of a better term)?

Not sure about this one...
 

Neil

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't know about you guys but...

While I tend to agree with just about everything Pidge writes, I can't for the life of me figure out how anybody can actually do what he is proposing here. I've tried this out and I just can't even come close to getting the timing of this down and I'm not sure that it would be worth it if I could.

Having a smooth transition from the backstroke to the forward stroke is one thing BUT actually trying to purposely slow down the beginning of the forward stroke just seems too complicated to me and if someone were to actually focus on trying to do this -- how would they not introduce a jerky motion into their stroke (for lack of a better term)?

Not sure about this one...

It's not a matter of a smooth transition, but of a distinct pause at the back of the stroke. You bring the cue back slowly, pause, then slowly start forward and then increase to desired speed.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
It's not a matter of a smooth transition, but of a distinct pause at the back of the stroke. You bring the cue back slowly, pause, then slowly start forward and then increase to desired speed.
Yes, the "gradual increase" is just not jerking the stroke from a standstill to maximum all at once. It's less of a "slowdown" than you might think.

Still, it takes some practice to feel natural.

pj
chgo
 

bounoun

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i would argue 90% of all the top snooker players use this "acceleration motion". look up shaun murhpy, has one of the nicest cue actions there is.
 

Mkbtank

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
From what I heard from a guy I trust, the length of time that the tip contacts the cue ball has a ton to do with how effectively English is produced and maintained. This method seems like it would go hand in hand with this slower beginning of the stroke.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
From what I heard from a guy I trust, the length of time that the tip contacts the cue ball has a ton to do with how effectively English is produced and maintained. This method seems like it would go hand in hand with this slower beginning of the stroke.
You can't change tip/ball contact time with your stroke, and it wouldn't matter anyway. Longer contact time doesn't affect anything, or softer tips would already be known to do that (they're not)

Curious, what does "maintained" mean in this context?

pj
chgo
 

ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Actually, the OB absorbs most of the CB's momentum, especially for straighter shots, so the extra RPMs of a hard shot produce extra draw. Same is true for follow.

pj
chgo

Yes, that is true. The forward momentum is transferred to the object ball, just like in the stun shot, except the CB is spinning in reverse & causes it to back up.

I have better results when I don't overpower the shot.

Thanks for saying it better than I did.
 
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