stroking straight question

need to resurrect this thread to ask:if the cue hits the edge of the cue ball when the cue ball comes back,does that count as a good hit?or do you only need to hit the center of the cue ball to count in this exercise?
Remember why you do drills in the first place --- and that is to improve your skills when you are playing an actual game. Some shots during a game allow for a slight margin for error, like pocketing a ball in a wide pocket with no obstructions, for example. That margin for error will also apply for bank and kick shots going into that same pocket. So your drill shot would probably be fine in those cases.

But you may have some issues with shots requiring precise tip placement and stroking, like for example, where you have very little room for the cb to pass an ob on it's way to the ball you want to pocket, or if you have to thread a needle with the cb to get position on the next shot.

Diagnosing the problem when you're almost perfect in that drill is a little tricky. When it's that close, I doubt that it's caused by unwanted sidespin. Even the slightest amount of sidespin can easily cause the cb to miss your tip completely on the way back, depending on speed. I think you should check your stance and angle. You may be shooting at your target at a very slight angle without realizing it.
 
Hitting the edge of the cue is good …means you are getting there
center cue it doesnt get better than that
jmho
i am not an instructor
one thing to watch out for
if you put a tiny bit of unintentional spin on the cue ball
the squirt will make you be off target on the far rail
but the spin will bring the cue ball back to the tip
this is not a successfull attempt to me
so using a cue ball that shows the spin on the ball
or a stripe with the stripe vertical to see if it wobbles
gives you good feedback
good observation,i will be looking out to see if that happens
 
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Remember why you do drills in the first place --- and that is to improve your skills when you are playing an actual game. Some shots during a game allow for a slight margin for error, like pocketing a ball in a wide pocket with no obstructions, for example. That margin for error will also apply for bank and kick shots going into that same pocket. So your drill shot would probably be fine in those cases.

But you may have some issues with shots requiring precise tip placement and stroking, like for example, where you have very little room for the cb to pass an ob on it's way to the ball you want to pocket, or if you have to thread a needle with the cb to get position on the next shot.

Diagnosing the problem when you're almost perfect in that drill is a little tricky. When it's that close, I doubt that it's caused by unwanted sidespin. Even the slightest amount of sidespin can easily cause the cb to miss your tip completely on the way back, depending on speed. I think you should check your stance and angle. You may be shooting at your target at a very slight angle without realizing it.
yes,i have thought about that possibility before because you need to be very careful when you set up the cue ball,so i will be setting up a chalk in the middle of the top rail as the target and will be double-checking if the cue ball and the chalk are exactly in a straight line.

anyway the good news is that i'm getting there,i feel my stroke being delivered cleaner and the sound of the stroke being more solid with less unintentional side and the results don't lie because they have improved.my score now is usually 7-8/10 with medium speed.
 
z0
you may find this usefull regarding how accurately you are hitting your target
 
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yes,i have thought about that possibility before because you need to be very careful when you set up the cue ball,so i will be setting up a chalk in the middle of the top rail as the target and will be double-checking if the cue ball and the chalk are exactly in a straight line.

anyway the good news is that i'm getting there,i feel my stroke being delivered cleaner and the sound of the stroke being more solid with less unintentional side and the results don't lie because they have improved.my score now is usually 7-8/10 with medium speed.
Good going.

I don’t know if you have your own table but I put donuts on the kitchen side of my table, another donut at the short rail, and use the rack spot to shoot from. The donuts tell me whether I’m hitting my “target”. As was mentioned, I can return to the tip but I’ve missed target but slight spin bring it back. So a successful drill stroke is only those that run over the far donut and return to the tip.

Another reason I like this drill so much is because after I line up, I can look down at my cue. If my cue is directly over the center Diamond on the short rail where I’m standing, I know the cue is pointed down the shot line. I was surprised when I first started using this drill how my cue could be the width of the diamond off in spite of me believing it was straight.

And finally, setting up my phone at the far rail to record my stroke was extremely revealing, if not disheartening (it had been pretty bad). It is taking a LOT of time at the table for me to learn how to stroke straight consistently.
 
z0
you may find this usefull regarding how accurately you are hitting your target
Not bad but if I am going to invest money in this I'm going to buy a laser with a vertical line capability. No guessing about when you are on line and stroking straight
 
I realize this is an older thread (I've been away for a while) but I wanted to offer up how I fixed my stroke in case it is useful for someone else.

After quitting pool a couple times I came back to it and was having pocketing problems, mainly with long shots. A league team mate pointed out that I was jerking my shooting arm at the end of the stroke and chicken winging. He suggested video recording to find out what was going on.

My video setup might be considered a little extravagant but it was stuff I already had and it worked quite well compared to a phone or tablet.

Sony hand held digital video cam on tripod placed behind me -> 25 ft HDMI extension cable -> 32 inch TV at eye level so that I have a rear view of my shooting arm when down shooting.

While I did some recording with this, the most informative part was watching the TV while the camera was on pause (live view). I was able to quickly see that 1) my shooting arm was not vertical (camera alignment is crucial for seeing this), 2) i was jerking my arm because I was arresting the forward movement of the cue instead of following through, and 3) changing my grip during the shot was causing the chicken winging.

The live view was far more useful than the recording because I could make changes in real time and figure it out in a very short time.
 
If you have only a laser dot, stance and stroke with your cue pointed at a vertical border along a wall, for example, a thick border of artwork, try to keep the dot within the border laterally, horizontal movement unimportant (by and large).

EVERYONE wavers off laser straight through the stroke including pros, but you can gauge far more accurately with a laser dot or line than using your eyes along the rail or diamonds. A laser is good to help see and test, for example, if a tighter or looser grip or wrist extension or abduction, etc. straightens your stroke.

And if you only use the diamonds or rail edge, stroke with the side of cue aligned adjacent and not the center atop them--even despite any cue shaft taper, this is more accurate for straightness assessment.
 
I realize this is an older thread (I've been away for a while) but I wanted to offer up how I fixed my stroke in case it is useful for someone else.

After quitting pool a couple times I came back to it and was having pocketing problems, mainly with long shots. A league team mate pointed out that I was jerking my shooting arm at the end of the stroke and chicken winging. He suggested video recording to find out what was going on.

My video setup might be considered a little extravagant but it was stuff I already had and it worked quite well compared to a phone or tablet.

Sony hand held digital video cam on tripod placed behind me -> 25 ft HDMI extension cable -> 32 inch TV at eye level so that I have a rear view of my shooting arm when down shooting.

While I did some recording with this, the most informative part was watching the TV while the camera was on pause (live view). I was able to quickly see that 1) my shooting arm was not vertical (camera alignment is crucial for seeing this), 2) i was jerking my arm because I was arresting the forward movement of the cue instead of following through, and 3) changing my grip during the shot was causing the chicken winging.

The live view was far more useful than the recording because I could make changes in real time and figure it out in a very short time.
This is a great idea for players who have their own tables. But all hope isn't lost for those who don't have the luxury of seeing themselves live. In the end, it all comes down to what it feels like to be doing something correctly since the player can only act by feel in actual play --- so having someone spot you is great also, as long as the spotter is knowlegable and knows how to help the player make the correct stance adjustments, because as we know, it's all interconnected.
 
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This is a great idea for players who have their own tables. But all hope isn't lost for those who don't have the luxury of seeing themselves live. In the end, it all comes down to what it feels like to be doing something correctly since the player can only act by feel in actual play --- so having someone spot you is great also, as long as the spotter is knowlegable and knows how to help the player make the correct stance adjustments, because as we know, it's all interconnected.
Yes, and that was part of the discovery. Adjusting my stroke mechanics to where it looked right and worked right made it feel different. I am now tuned in to how it feels when it is right. Old habits die hard, especially when they've been in play for too long, but now I am able to quickly correct when they try to creep back in, by going for the feel.
 
Yes, and that was part of the discovery. Adjusting my stroke mechanics to where it looked right and worked right made it feel different. I am now tuned in to how it feels when it is right. Old habits die hard, especially when they've been in play for too long, but now I am able to quickly correct when they try to creep back in, by going for the feel.
I have found over time that the main culprit for me in screwing up my stroke is speed. When I slow everything way down it goes much better. I know others here I've said that, too.
 
Three things: You must sight the shot correctly while standing and get a very good mental picture of the spot on the object ball that needs to be contacted by the CB. Next, you need to align the cue tip directly along a straight line from the CB to the OB contact point. Third, you need to deliver the cue tip straight to the CB so that it travels along the chosen line.

Mark Wilson book " Play Great Pool" will explain this in all the detail that you will ever need. It must be read, understood and practiced in private with video footage from the rear of your stroke and the video needs to be reviewed in order to assess and correct any flaws in any part of this process.

This is just one phase of playing great pool, one aspect of great play, but until this part of a game is correct, the rest does not matter much. Every great pool player in history- no matter what their stroke looks like to others; the one common denominator is that they end up each stroke somehow delivering the cue tip straight and through the cue ball most consistently to the proper point of aim on the object ball.
 
Yes, and that was part of the discovery. Adjusting my stroke mechanics to where it looked right and worked right made it feel different. I am now tuned in to how it feels when it is right. Old habits die hard, especially when they've been in play for too long, but now I am able to quickly correct when they try to creep back in, by going for the feel.
It reminds me of the story of after playing golf for half a lifetime, I decided to take an actual lesson to help correct my 'fade' which had turned into a slice. The instructor straightened out my alignment and I thought, "Well, I'm going to have to quit golf now," because it felt so wrong to me that I thought I'd never adapt to such a stance. I did eventually, but it took a long time to get used to.
 
It reminds me of the story of after playing golf for half a lifetime, I decided to take an actual lesson to help correct my 'fade' which had turned into a slice. The instructor straightened out my alignment and I thought, "Well, I'm going to have to quit golf now," because it felt so wrong to me that I thought I'd never adapt to such a stance. I did eventually, but it took a long time to get used to.
is this true with a pool technique change that you make?do you play worse the first few weeks and then you get better?
 
I have found over time that the main culprit for me in screwing up my stroke is speed. When I slow everything way down it goes much better. I know others here I've said that, too.
Not sure if you are talking about speed of the stroking or pacing. If I try slowing the speed of my stroking 'swing' it gets wobbly. I have done that when my mindset gets tentative, which was happening after having lost confidence in my stroke and that made it a sort of circular problem where lack of success made it even less successful.

My stroke works best when my swing is fairly fast and it feels right. When I had first learned to play on 9ft tables my playing pace was quick. I had a jab stroke and single stroked all shots. I can still play like that but about all I get to play on are 7 ft bar boxes which often require a slower pace of play during 8 ball due to the inherent congestion factor. So I only use that mode for the occasional bout of 9 ball and it works quite well for that game.
 
is this true with a pool technique change that you make?do you play worse the first few weeks and then you get better?
Not a golfer but was already a pool player when I tried golf. Golf has a lot more moving parts than stroking a cue ball. If you are changing your aiming system I could see how that might cause you to miss more until you get used to it.

I am not an instructor so I'll defer to Fran for a professional answer but I can tell you that from my experience that correcting your stroke results in an immediate improvement, as long as you do it through structured practice. Stroking drills allow to you focus on just that aspect and give immediate feed back on progress. It is not nearly as complicated as a golf swing and you should quickly see steady improvement.

I would start with shooting balls one by one diagonally into the far corner pocket without using a cue ball. Orient the stripes vertically or horizontally to make sure you aren't imparting unwanted side spin. Don't get in a hurry and make every one center pocket. You are just trying to solidify the muscle memory of how it feels to do it correctly.

Then go to short straight in shots where you are pocketing balls with stop shots, making sure that the CB stops and does not move to the right or left. If you can, use the little white donuts to make sure you are setting up exactly the same shot each time. Then make the shot longer and after you are cinching the stop shots try adding a little draw to make sure the CB comes back to your cue tip, not veering left or right. If you are seeing it veering, correct that before going on.

The 50 yard line drill I use to warm up starts with all object balls lined up between the side pockets. They will fit even on a 7 ft table, with just enough space. From the head string (between the middle diamonds) start at one side, line up straight in to the far corner and shoot it in with stun. Move across the table until you get to the middle and then shoot the rest into the other far corner. If the next ball is too close to an adjacent ball I just roll it a little to get more clearance before shooting it.
 
is this true with a pool technique change that you make?do you play worse the first few weeks and then you get better?
Not a golfer but was already a pool player when I tried golf. Golf has a lot more moving parts than stroking a cue ball. If you are changing your aiming system I could see how that might cause you to miss more until you get used to it.

I am not an instructor so I'll defer to Fran for a professional answer but I can tell you that from my experience that correcting your stroke results in an immediate improvement, as long as you do it through structured practice. Stroking drills allow to you focus on just that aspect and give immediate feed back on progress. It is not nearly as complicated as a golf swing and you should quickly see steady improvement.

I would start with shooting balls one by one diagonally into the far corner pocket without using a cue ball. Orient the stripes vertically or horizontally to make sure you aren't imparting unwanted side spin. Don't get in a hurry and make every one center pocket. You are just trying to solidify the muscle memory of how it feels to do it correctly.

Then go to short straight in shots where you are pocketing balls with stop shots, making sure that the CB stops and does not move to the right or left. If you can, use the little white donuts to make sure you are setting up exactly the same shot each time. Then make the shot longer and after you are cinching the stop shots try adding a little draw to make sure the CB comes back to your cue tip, not veering left or right. If you are seeing it veering, correct that before going on.

The 50 yard line drill I use to warm up starts with all object balls lined up between the side pockets. They will fit even on a 7 ft table, with just enough space. From the head string (between the middle diamonds) start at one side, line up straight in to the far corner and shoot it in with stun. Move across the table until you get to the middle and then shoot the rest into the other far corner. If the next ball is too close to an adjacent ball I just roll it a little to get more clearance before shooting it.
 
is this true with a pool technique change that you make?do you play worse the first few weeks and then you get better?
Yes. It's all about breaking out of your comfort zone --- regardless of the sport ---- and covering previous habits with new habits. At first, there's a lot of resistance. Some players will never accept change because they don't want to be out of their comfort zones. Other players will trust the process and believe that it will get better, and it always does, assuming it's a change for the better and not just an experiment.

What usually happens is when you first make the change, you show immediate improvement, which is encouraging. But then as you try to adapt the new style into your game, you start to subconsciously resist here and there, and your game will suffer a bit. It happens to everyone. The key is to keep plugging away and trying and you will power past the bad parts into an improved game as your subconscious start to cover up your previous style with your new style.
 
Yes. It's all about breaking out of your comfort zone --- regardless of the sport ---- and covering previous habits with new habits. At first, there's a lot of resistance. Some players will never accept change because they don't want to be out of their comfort zones. Other players will trust the process and believe that it will get better, and it always does, assuming it's a change for the better and not just an experiment.

What usually happens is when you first make the change, you show immediate improvement, which is encouraging. But then as you try to adapt the new style into your game, you start to subconsciously resist here and there, and your game will suffer a bit. It happens to everyone. The key is to keep plugging away and trying and you will power past the bad parts into an improved game as your subconscious start to cover up your previous style with your new style.
i guess this is why it's so difficult to tell what technique change works and what doesn't,and if you also consider the placebo effect,it's almost like impossible unless you stick with the change for months
 
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