Cue Power - What Factors Determine How Powerful Your Stroke Is??

deep

deep

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This is something I have been thinking about lately, what are the primary factors that dictate cue power?

Is it timing, back swing, follow through or something more mystical? I see people like SVB and De Luna who seem to have almost unlimited amounts of power on tap, what are they doing that other player don't or can't do? Do you think that cue power is something you can train and improve or is it some you just have?
 
I'm still working on my break. I lean towards practice, practice, practice. Stay down on the shot, same motion each time. When you find what works for you, reproduce the results until it becomes a habit. That being said, I still screw draw shots, not counting breaks, jumping, miscuing, etc., most of the time. Stopping the ball instead of drawing. It is getting better though.
 
The cue is mostly feedback, just the tip and the shaft makes a difference.
The most influential aspect is the stroke
 
IMO, everyone has a “max” cue speed that is directly tied to their physiology. Say you’re trying to hit 25 mph on the break. If your physical ceiling is 22 mph, there’s only so much you can do. But if you’re topping out at 22 mph and you’re capable of 30, there’s room to gain speed by making your stroke more efficient. [A more efficient stroke lets you get the cue speed you want with less effort.] You can definitely train to get closer to your "limit," but it's much harder (if it's possible at all) to exceed your body's max. Honestly, I see a lot of players whose power “leaks” because they tense muscles they don’t need for the stroke.

The same idea applies to regular shots.

-td
 
speed and weight of the cue determines its power, /speed of the cue ball.

all other factors or imaginary things to make your break or any shot more powerful are basically meaningless.
 
deep said:
This is something I have been thinking about lately, what are the primary factors that dictate cue power?

Is it timing, back swing, follow through or something more mystical? I see people like SVB and De Luna who seem to have almost unlimited amounts of power on tap, what are they doing that other player don't or can't do? Do you think that cue power is something you can train and improve or is it some you just have?
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I have no idea what everybody else has answered, and I’m even scared to look

Velocity acceleration mass. Increase any of those, and power must increase.

But I think when people are talking about powerful strokes, they aren’t talking about physics
 
Cornerman said:
I have no idea what everybody else has answered, and I’m even scared to look

Velocity acceleration mass. Increase any of those, and power must increase.

But I think when people are talking about powerful strokes, they aren’t talking about physics
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think it is how the player generates the physics. Which is interesting.

But why does one pitcher throw faster than another; why does one quarterback have a better arm, etc…. Despite working on my stroke, I haven’t figured out how to break like Hillbilly or Larry Nevel, even by buying new break cues.
 
My break power has improved a lot since the mid 2000s. I had a weak and unsteady break before. I have some substantial power now. Now what did I change between those years to this point? Well, I got heavy on the weights and hit the gym, doing mostly arm, shoulder, biceps exercises. I've grown from a lanky 144lb guy to a 220lb wide bodied guy. I do believe that getting serious on hitting the gym contributed to my break power.
 
I remember Billiards Digest (or some authority I can't recall) had an article on the 9 ball break and the big revelation was the rack acts like a solid before the balls go their way. My reasoning says it's a big stun/stop shot so harder will just get you more resistance.
 
harder opens the balls more, naturally so. but the harder you hit the less control over where the cue ball winds up.

you have to mange both for the conditions. according to your ability to run out, and your opponent's.
 
For normal shots (even seemingly powerful full table draw shots) it's enough to just learn good timing and technique. But once we start talking about extreme 6 rail draw shots (the types which are almost never the correct shot to play in the first place) or extreme power break shots (think SVB/De Luna), then you can start talking about physiological limits, but there's still a lot you can do to get closer to that than you might expect.

Utilizing the wrist, raising your body, doing a longer backswing+follow through etc. for that little extra power. For break shots those are quite standard tricks, but you almost never see players do those tricks in their extremes for normal draw shots, and that's for a good reason; the extra power gained outweights the slight loss in accuracy for some peoples break shots, but for any other shot where you actually have to pocket a ball it's almost never worth it.
 
I'll be reading this with interest as I wish I had more cue power. People saying it's timing and delivery may be technically correct, but it's not very helpful. Think the common things I see recommended are longer bridge, right hand (or left if your left handed) at the right point in the cue so your lower and upper arm are at 90 degrees when the cue is at the cue ball, follow through, loose right hand(again presuming you are using your right hand to hold the cue).

And the one that might cause controversy here as I think there might be a European/American divide here due to influence of snooker, but having a pause at the end of the backswing. I'm sure people will say snooker and pool are different games, and whilst a lot of shots in snooker the cue ball travels a short distance, all the top snooker pros can draw the ball the length of the table and their table is 12 foot. Though obviously there is more than one way to achieve the same effect, having snooker players as the first cue sport pros I'd seen, the first time I saw Effren play I thought his stroke looked horrendous, backhand was all over the place, but nobody could argue with the results.

Any other technique advice for good cue power in normal play (to me cue power is separate from break power as I'm more thinking of the spin you can impart on the ball rather than the speed).
 
7stud said:
You are smart enough to know that's not true. Mass and acceleration are not independent.
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Smartness has nothing to do with anything. Mass and Acceleration are independent.

You’re thinking about a fixed force. This is not a fixed force model. Even if we’re talking the same person, the stroke acceleration can be changed, and it’s definitely not a fixed force model. The power can be changed just by changing acceleration. Between different players, mass is different and therefore the power is different. Even within the same single-person model, a player can change the mass in the equation, but that does down a different rabbit hole.

That all said, power isn’t “important.” Velocity at impact (instantaneous velocity) and the mass involved in the impact is most important (mv=momentum). How the cue stick gets to that velocity seems to define layman “power” as opposed to physics power.
 
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