How do I train myself to avoid dropping my elbow

L

lvlss42190

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A handful of years ago now I paid for a private lesson from Scott Lee who has since passed away unfortunately otherwise I would ask him this question.
During the lesson and in the months afterwards I had no issue with this, Scott even mentioned it in the recording of my lesson.

However somewhere during my hiatus due to work and the covid shut downs I've developed an issue where I drop my elbow pretty near always and it is throwing a lot of my shots off and almost doubling the distance of my follow through. I've practiced focused solely on keeping it where it belongs but to no avail so far.

Is there a trick anyone knows of to help me retrain myself to keep my elbow up? Or is it just a matter of dedicating more time and focus to that aspect of my stroke mechanics?
 
lvlss42190 said:
A handful of years ago now I paid for a private lesson from Scott Lee who has since passed away unfortunately otherwise I would ask him this question.
During the lesson and in the months afterwards I had no issue with this, Scott even mentioned it in the recording of my lesson.

However somewhere during my hiatus due to work and the covid shut downs I've developed an issue where I drop my elbow pretty near always and it is throwing a lot of my shots off and almost doubling the distance of my follow through. I've practiced focused solely on keeping it where it belongs but to no avail so far.

Is there a trick anyone knows of to help me retrain myself to keep my elbow up? Or is it just a matter of dedicating more time and focus to that aspect of my stroke mechanics?
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I think Scott probably taught you to finish your stroke follow through with your grip hand at a certain position against your chest/shoulder. If so, do you still do that?

I don't know any other "trick" - I think dedicating time and focus on keeping your elbow fixed is probably the answer.

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I think Scott probably taught you to finish your stroke follow through with your grip hand at a certain position against your chest/shoulder. If so, do you still do that?

I don't know any other "trick" - I think dedicating time and focus on keeping your elbow fixed is probably the answer.

pj
chgo
Click to expand...
I do, my hand isn't the issue which is part of why I think I'm having a difficult time remedying it.
 
Not an instructor. I have a similar problem. Sometimes it’s more effective for me, rather than focusing on keeping my elbow up, I focus on my shoulder position instead.
 
Definitely use follow through a ton of practice strokes in a mirror making sure you don't drop that elbow. You need to develop the muscle memory.
 
I would suggest that instead of thinking about your elbow think about your hand. Work on hitting your chest to finish the stroke. This is what spf instructors call the home position. Hitting your chest prevents you from going forward. Your stroke ends here. You don’t try to stop at your chest. You just this happen naturally
 
Here are two suggestions that might help:

1) Think of the stroke you want as and open and closed motion of your arm below your elbow. Backstroke --open. Forward stroke and follow through --- closed.

2.) Another way to look at it is the follow through of a fixed elbow stroke is a pulling motion as opposed to a pushing motion of an elbow-drop stroke. So, pull, and don't push.
 
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kaznj said:
I would suggest that instead of thinking about your elbow think about your hand. Work on hitting your chest to finish the stroke. This is what spf instructors call the home position. Hitting your chest prevents you from going forward. Your stroke ends here. You don’t try to stop at your chest. You just this happen naturally
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I never hit my chest in my follow through position, however the bottom part of my arm does hit against the top part of my arm.
 
lvlss42190 said:
A handful of years ago now I paid for a private lesson from Scott Lee who has since passed away unfortunately otherwise I would ask him this question.
During the lesson and in the months afterwards I had no issue with this, Scott even mentioned it in the recording of my lesson.

However somewhere during my hiatus due to work and the covid shut downs I've developed an issue where I drop my elbow pretty near always and it is throwing a lot of my shots off and almost doubling the distance of my follow through. I've practiced focused solely on keeping it where it belongs but to no avail so far.

Is there a trick anyone knows of to help me retrain myself to keep my elbow up? Or is it just a matter of dedicating more time and focus to that aspect of my stroke mechanics?
Click to expand...
When addressing the cueball while aiming your tip should be as close to the cueball as possible. At that point your grip arm should be straight up and down. If you follow throw a perfect pendulum will leave your tip on the felt. You would have to drop your elbow for it not to. Leave the tip on the felt until the object ball is in the pocket.
 
lvlss42190 said:
A handful of years ago now I paid for a private lesson from Scott Lee who has since passed away unfortunately otherwise I would ask him this question.
During the lesson and in the months afterwards I had no issue with this, Scott even mentioned it in the recording of my lesson.

However somewhere during my hiatus due to work and the covid shut downs I've developed an issue where I drop my elbow pretty near always and it is throwing a lot of my shots off and almost doubling the distance of my follow through. I've practiced focused solely on keeping it where it belongs but to no avail so far.

Is there a trick anyone knows of to help me retrain myself to keep my elbow up? Or is it just a matter of dedicating more time and focus to that aspect of my stroke mechanics?
Click to expand...
First make sure your stroke is dead linear. If it isn't, stop and work on it.
Then, confine yourself to center ball; going through the ball only a few inches. 2 to 6 inches depending on speed of shot should be fine. If you are still missing, lose the object ball and learn to hit the cue ball only.
 
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straightline said:
I was brushing up my contact geometry and a funny thing happened. I found myself stroking from the shoulder with no ill effects. I gotta spend a few more hours sussing that out.
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Does “stroking from the shoulder” make something possible that isn’t otherwise?

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Does “stroking from the shoulder” make something possible that isn’t otherwise?

pj
chgo
Click to expand...
I haven't figured cause or effect but this is what happened: CG with the ellipse works so well I was able to hit everything right in the heart of the cue ball line and stroke fearlessly like I would, firing off a break shot. Everything worked because the pre-shot alignment was spot on. That's when I noticed my stroke had lost most of its superfluous tension and was pivoting at the shoulder with greatly reduced forearm travel and hand snap. I theorize it was just going along with the now true cue alignment.
 
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