Thoughts on players who seemingly take Zero practice strokes, before shooting / final follow through?

Jaden said:
Yeah, which means for the same amount of sidespin, you aren't going off of the original aimline as much. IOW, lower deflection...

I think you'll also notice with analysis of top players stroke that they use FAR less side spin than those in the past.
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It's a little bit of a catch 22. If your bridge is too short it's very difficult to make those micro adjustments that you do almost subconsciously before you last stroke. A little longer bridge you can kind of dial in so to speak, again almost subconsciously.
 
middleofnowhere said:
It's a little bit of a catch 22. If your bridge is too short it's very difficult to make those micro adjustments that you do almost subconsciously before you last stroke. A little longer bridge you can kind of dial in so to speak, again almost subconsciously.
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But if you try to do those micro adjustments with a shorter bridge on a LD shaft, the balls won't do what you expect and you'll be much more likely to miss the shot. It's important to either have a perfectly straight stroke, or to bridge at the cue's pivot point.
 
In snooker, Marco Fu is another player famous for one-stroking. I've noticed that lately he seems to do a few really short feathers, but it's mesmerizing to watch him in a run where he does the one stroke. Like Tony Drago - amazing to watch. (I think Drago has the record for a century in three minutes)
 
To the op. If you're body is in alignment and you get in shot alignment prior to getting down on the ball, there's no reason to have to do practice strokes. One stroking is all you need. If you don't feel in the right position stand up and reset, don't try to adjust down on the ball
 
try instead of any lining up just walk up to the shot from any angle put down your hand and shoot with just a straight stroke no back and forth.

no thinking or lining anything up. plop down and stroke.

do it for a little while and soon you will see you just naturally get to hit straight and can pocket almost as good as before. and maybe better as you dont tense up or over think things. its really a good thing to learn and helps your normal routine and game later.
 
Jaden said:
To the op. If you're body is in alignment and you get in shot alignment prior to getting down on the ball, there's no reason to have to do practice strokes. One stroking is all you need. If you don't feel in the right position stand up and reset, don't try to adjust down on the ball
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I tried one pumping stuff in the first couple years. Blame Keith McCready. I decided a few years back the practice strokes were actually functional - not so much for alignment but to gauge speed and touch. So I leave 'em in.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
Edit: Watching this kid, Austin Axe, for the 1st time today, made me wonder about this question.

Have you ever seen any really strong players who get down on the cue ball, and seemingly do not take any practice strokes, before their final follow through.

Either that, or their practice strokes are so short, that they can't even be seen, by the audience, or anyone else.

I find it pretty amazing, that players are able to play really good like that. Getting down on the cue ball super fast too, as if they already have everything lined up before they did so.

Is this a style that some instructors teach, or is that probably just naturally how the player learned to play, on their own? I mean, the part about the ultra short / undetected practice strokes.

Thanks for any thoughts.
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This is how I play. See the shot line, step in, drop and fire.
 
middleofnowhere said:
It's a little bit of a catch 22. If your bridge is too short it's very difficult to make those micro adjustments that you do almost subconsciously before you last stroke. A little longer bridge you can kind of dial in so to speak, again almost subconsciously.
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If you need a longer bridge to perform micro adjustments said adjustments are far from micro.
Jaden said:
But if you try to do those micro adjustments with a shorter bridge on a LD shaft, the balls won't do what you expect and you'll be much more likely to miss the shot. It's important to either have a perfectly straight stroke, or to bridge at the cue's pivot point.
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LD shafts or not, using an 18" bridge as default won't do squat for accuracy.
 
Mensabum said:
This is how I play. See the shot line, step in, drop and fire.
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Yeah, he takes very little time (guessing under 5 seconds, on average), after he gets down on the ball, and seemingly only takes 1 stroke, which is the 1 right before final follow through. He plays really good. Austin Axe. I just find it amazing, about his playing style. Oh, and yeah, he drops down like lightning fast.
 
sparkle84 said:
If you need a longer bridge to perform micro adjustments said adjustments are far from micro.

LD shafts or not, using an 18" bridge as default won't do squat for accuracy.
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Yeah, well then you are just limited on knowledge and don't understand BHE, and pivot points. If you did, you would know that what you stated above is just wrong. Now, it's potting accuracy, not overall accuracy, but it does help quite a bit although it's not something that you should rely on.

Not to mention, you still have to be lined up right initially.

I can easily create a video demonstrating it. I can show a shot with proper stroke and one with horrible stroke both bridging at the pivot point and not and showcase the benefit of bridging at the proper place.

Now I don't think I have any shafts with an 18" pivot point at the moment but I can show one with 15" if you'd like.
 
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Thoughts on players who seemingly take Zero practice strokes, before shooting / final follow through?​

Thoughts? If they are hitting great I’m jealous. Seriously… no thoughts if that is a successful shooting system. Different strokes for different folks
 
Jaden said:
That's because shafts have gotten so much lower in the CB deflection department. The reason that the old school teachings had the bridge 8-10 inches was because that's where the standard wood shafts had their natural pivot point. Bridging at the pivot point gives a higher margin for stroke error/deficiency.

Deflection has gotten so low that the pivot points are much farther back. I've seen them as far as 19". So players naturally now end up bridging farther back and if you play with a low deflection shaft, it would behoove you to find your cue's pivot point and bridge there. This is also independent of using bhe.

People may think that parallel english works on sld(super low deflection) shafts but it doesn't. The only way that works is on tables with big pockets. On my table I'd miss every shot without adjusting aim or stroke somehow (3.9" corners). BHE and fhe are the best methods, but holding the bridge near or at the pivot point is beyond adjusting for side spin. It allows for stroke errors like swiping. Your cue ball won't go anywhere near where you were expecting but you'll still make the shot.
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i’ll preface by saying you’re a good player and i am not, so these questions are genuine and not some kind of attack.

do you NOT adjust aim or stroke anyway?

i use LD, parallel english and i know i bridge further up than the pivot point on my shaft.

every single shot, before i even get down, i think i am adjusting my aim or stroke depending on what kind of ball i intend to hit.

deflection isnt much of a concern for the most part and really only seems to come up on long slow spin shots. i grew up on maple so these shots just kind of take me back and i seem to aim accordingly.

is there some kind of magical combination of mechanics and cues that allows you to just straight up not correct for squirt and swerve?
 
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