Cue acceleration, the feeling

[Lightn1nG]

Pretty sure there is a thread similar to this somewhere once again, but I'd like to address this from a different angle.

So being a B/C level player, I started grasping the correct way of stroking and accelerating, but of course I'm nowhere near the consistency and this is probably along with straight cueing most important part of my game to improve.
I am trying to practice at home by doing the routine on my kitchen table with pre-strokes, pause and then smooth acceleration.
For me the feeling of acceleration can be compared metaphorically and physically to a needle piercing through a pillow/or a rapier of a musketeer piercing through body of an enemy. Joshua fillers stroke is a great example of that piercing through.
My question is following:
Do you guys have some other practice, which I could use in everyday life to practice this motion of cue acceleration/piercing through? Any simple gadget or item which I could carry around and make my brain get used to that motion of acceleration?
I hope you understand what I mean.
Best Regards,
N

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Do you guys have some other practice, which I could use in everyday life to practice this motion of cue acceleration/piercing through?

By "piercing through" do you mean what's commonly called "accelerating through the cue ball"? If not, what do you mean?

pj
chgo

 

[Lightn1nG]

By "piercing through" do you mean what's commonly called "accelerating through the cue ball"? If not, what do you mean?

pj
chgo

that's exactly what I mean. But in my "artistic" brain, I always try to think in terms of analogies so piercing through explains this better for me.

 

[FranCrimi]

Do you know the old expression, ' Stay down and follow through?' If you do both, it will promote good stroke timing. Many people have asked what following through does, since it occurs after impact. When you start your stroke with the intent to follow through, it will affect your stroke timing in a positive way. Also, the 'staying down' part is not just key to hitting the cue ball where you aimed. It's also key in your stroke timing.

Two simple concepts, yet so many players take them too lightly.

 

[Tennesseejoe]

A gadget to carry around? Yes, you have two but will only need one. Your arm.

When I do not feel like I am accelerating all the way to cue ball contact, I try this. Put a cue ball on your kitchen table. Get down with your cue in position to strike the cue ball. Now have someone move the cue ball to the side so you do not hit it when stroking through. You should still be in the ready to strike position. But instead of pulling back, stroke your cue forward about 4 to 6 inches. If this feels uncomfortable, you need to change something because this could keep your stroke from being straight. Moving your hand back further on the butt or standing more erect are a couple things to try. The lower you get to the cue, the more uncomfortable this gets when trying to follow through.

This is what helps me. As part of my PSR (Pre Shot Routine), when going down on my shot, my cue starts about 4 to 6 inches in front of the cue ball and when I am finally down my cue is about 1/2 inch behind the cue ball. This is just my little process.

 

[BilliardsAbout]

Pretty sure there is a thread similar to this somewhere once again, but I'd like to address this from a different angle.

So being a B/C level player, I started grasping the correct way of stroking and accelerating, but of course I'm nowhere near the consistency and this is probably along with straight cueing most important part of my game to improve.
I am trying to practice at home by doing the routine on my kitchen table with pre-strokes, pause and then smooth acceleration.
For me the feeling of acceleration can be compared metaphorically and physically to a needle piercing through a pillow/or a rapier of a musketeer piercing through body of an enemy. Joshua fillers stroke is a great example of that piercing through.
My question is following:
Do you guys have some other practice, which I could use in everyday life to practice this motion of cue acceleration/piercing through? Any simple gadget or item which I could carry around and make my brain get used to that motion of acceleration?
I hope you understand what I mean.
Best Regards,
N

Thank you for your note. The concept of continuous and conscious acceleration during the forward stroke has been disproven in previous discussions. You can achieve the smooth acceleration you're aiming for by applying a little force at the beginning of your forward stroke, then allowing the cue to coast through the impact with the cue ball. This should create a feeling of almost automated acceleration.

The longer your backstroke, the less conscious effort you need to exert to generate power, as the cue has more time and distance to accelerate from the end of the backstroke to the point of impact.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

The concept of continuous and conscious acceleration during the forward stroke has been disproven in previous discussions.

I don't recall that. Can you link (or paraphrase) one of those discussions?

And isn't this a contradiction?

The longer your backstroke, the less conscious effort you need to exert to generate power, as the cue has more time and distance to accelerate from the end of the backstroke to the point of impact.

pj
chgo

 

[xX-Wizard-Xx]

 

[BilliardsAbout]

I don't recall that. Can you link (or paraphrase) one of those discussions?

And isn't this a contradiction?


pj
chgo

Good questions. Bob mentioned in a recent thread that professional players have been measured to coast into impact with the cue ball at a steady rate rather than accelerating into it.

For example, if I have a 7-inch bridge and pause at the end of my backswing, I can consciously initiate the forward stroke by applying a slight thrust from my hand and stroke arm for the first inch or two. This approach tends to result in an acceleration to the necessary speed while far back from the cue ball. The result is also a gentle, smooth follow through about 7" past the cue ball.

I should have written "to before the point of impact" and not "to the point of impact" above.

 

[WobblyStroke]

One exercise you can try for smooth acceleration is to hit simple shots jacked up. The cue will want to fall with gravity and at first you just pull it back, stay still, and let it fall to stroke completion. I'm not saying collapse the arm and get wild, but just get in your setup, leave your elbow where it is for the most part and just let gravity accelerate the cue. This will give you a feel for a smoothly accelerating stroke. Then you get more and more level and try to keep that effortless, flowy feel. Generally, players work harder than they need to so starting out by taking the muscles out of it and leaning on gravity and then adding back as little effort as necessary as you get more level with the cue is a good exercise for building up some familiarity with the feel of a smoothly accelerating stroke.

The above works best for players with strokes on the longer side. For shorter strokes, a good exercise is to practice getting to your finish position. I like 'stroke completion' or 'finish position' more than 'follow-through' because different setups will want to finish at different points (the lower the stance, the shorter the follow through). But if you simply complete a regular stroke and see where your tip comes to rest, you can pull it back a bit (not your regular backstroke but well short of that) and just practice getting to your finish position quickly. This builds up that feeling of what snooker players refer to as a 'positive finish' where the cue feels like it is accelerating all the way up till it hits it's limit and slams to a hault. You get familiar with how that finish feels for you and try to get to your finish in the same manner in your full stroke. The benefit of this exercise is that it will naturally make you smoother in the transition and early part of the stroke because you won't be in such a rush to get up to speed so that you still have that accelerating feel at the end, which is next to impossible if you start out too quick.

All that said, these are FEELS and really what we are after with the accelerating through contact feel and into the finish is to avoid decelerating. As Matt pointed out above, Bob and Dr. Dave have measured pros and even the ones who claim to be accelerating through tend to level off tip speed before impact on most shots.

So no tools needed. Your kitchen table is fine. Just work on a smooth transition, not being in a hurry early, and having a nice crisp 'positive finish'.

edit: One other 'aid' of sorts I've used in the past, I lucked into as I couldn't resist taking one more stroke atop my lazyboy chair. It had a textured fabric on it and the sound of the tip finishing on that fabric gave me great feedback on acceleration. Whether the tip is speeding up, staying even, or slowing down, it sounds different. The feels can be very subtle at first, but the right sound is unmistakable. So ye, you can practice some strokes on a surface that will provide clear and obvious audio feedback for the couple of inches at the tail end of your stroke. An added benefit of this is that with enough reps, this will burnish the side of your tip to an unbelievable shine.