I know you like fishing so I assume you use the digging as fish bait, ha ha.
Pinky on or off during stroke.
- Thread starter trob
- Start date
It's a common "faction" - back two fingers. If you're familiar with Tommy Baker, he's probably where I picked it up.
Check out pics of Willie Hoppe and Jack Schaeffer Jr. Not only was the pinky not touching, but neither was the ring finger, and sometimes not even the middle finger. Grips were different back then.
Yep, the side arm strokes, as well as modern day Keith McCready. These guys started the game so early they couldn't stand up to the table unless they were using the side arm stroke. I can't think of anybody else that does that.
Bait and hoping to strike oil.
I think... one of the biggest mistakes instructors -- and self-imagined instructors -- make is believing that one size fits all.
So much depends on your individual body, what feels comfortable, how much time you have to play, and what your aspirations are that spouting absolutes is insanity. Personally, I would stay away from anyone who tried to tell you there was only one way, or a right way, to make an omelette.
Lou Figueroa
So much depends on your individual body, what feels comfortable, how much time you have to play, and what your aspirations are that spouting absolutes is insanity. Personally, I would stay away from anyone who tried to tell you there was only one way, or a right way, to make an omelette.
Lou Figueroa
Exception for high power strokes (like braking and massé), pinkie is never touching cue.
Forgot about that one...lol
What about the pinky toe?
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
I tend to cradle the butt of my cue as a general rule for whatever it's worth .
Looks like just the first two. Also looks like the only way to do it.
Whatever works for you. I watched two young guys playing nine ball several times, and the one, stood up pretty high,wore glasses, so probably had to adapt to looking past the rims, he also had a really weird pump stroke like Efren, with a dramatic pause at the end. Almost never missed a ball. The other guy was a real tall kid, you could tell he was the tallest kid even in grade school. really long arms and a wide torso. He played with a 60 inch cue and still had his whole hand wrapped around the butt!!! He held the butt with his fingers and thumb along the sides straight out, and the end of the butt was up against the palm of his hand.. He had a beautiful soft stroke that moved the ball like magic. He also almost never missed a ball. I am sure that if they had the resources to play and practice full time, both of them could have won matches on the pro tour.
They sure were!!
Only thing you gotta do consistently is break some eggs.
The flying Dutchman!!
Humans don't have problems holding sticks. That said, it's interesting to see that many (most?) top pros have their pinky ON. Perhaps that is really the key data point. One size doesn't fit all, but to be a top player, you might have to adopt the ON technique.
For example: watching the UK Open, some of the top players (pinky on or off cue)
Niels: On
Biado: On
Yapp: On
He: On
Little Kaci: On
Pecelj: On
Sky: On
Bijsterbosch: On
Georgiev: On
Others I quickly poked around to see:
Fedor: On
SVB: On
Pag: [mostly] On
Big Kaci: On
Oi: On
Krause: On
FSR: On
Souto: On
Alcaide: On
Filler: On
Zielenski: On
Little Ko: On
Dennis: Off
That's like 20:1. Actually, so many top players have it on the cue, I gave up looking for more that have it OFF -> but I'd be interested to see how many more don't have it on the cue.
Tom
For example: watching the UK Open, some of the top players (pinky on or off cue)
Niels: On
Biado: On
Yapp: On
He: On
Little Kaci: On
Pecelj: On
Sky: On
Bijsterbosch: On
Georgiev: On
Others I quickly poked around to see:
Fedor: On
SVB: On
Pag: [mostly] On
Big Kaci: On
Oi: On
Krause: On
FSR: On
Souto: On
Alcaide: On
Filler: On
Zielenski: On
Little Ko: On
Dennis: Off
That's like 20:1. Actually, so many top players have it on the cue, I gave up looking for more that have it OFF -> but I'd be interested to see how many more don't have it on the cue.
Tom
Me too.
I saw a top pro 3c player up close recently and his thumb didn't touch cue until impact stroke.
Guess I'm going to have to pay attention next time I play bcuz I've never really taken notice. You guys already have me trying to figure out which ball I look at last, how I hold my cue, what color my socks are and idk if I can pay much more attention to my game or I won't be able to make a ball.