Grip Nuances
- Thread starter bbb
- Start date
Pivoting on the back of the hand allows a pool cue more linear travel before being forced into the cloth. Pivoting at the front requires the extreme taper of snooker cues to keep the tip up.
I use the former.
I use the former.
The difference in tip position at the CB is on the scale of 1/16-1/8” - real, but easily accommodated.
I think hitting your tip/ball target is easily (and automatically) accomplished with either grip and any taper.
There may be other reasons to prefer one or the other... for instance, the front finger grip gives me more of a feel for fine speed control. Probably subjective...
pj
chgo
Very subjective, but I find my best stroke is balanced on the middle finger. No idea why.
It's like turntable tracking. The longer the arm the less significant the error.
I'd be curious to hear more about what make your "best stroke"
but I smell what you're steppin in
just my instinct here, but outstretch your fingers-
because it's in the middle of the hand
the middle finger is the only one
not being pulled to one side or another
it's also long and flexible which allows for range of motion
you can go many places with the middle finger
and strength-wise, it also appears to be "balanced"
not too weak, not so strong to bully a cue
the central finger is a bad mf tho
I actually paid attention to this yestersday...
I press the cue into the webbing of my hand with my middle and ring fingers. The middle doing most of the work. Pinky and index do nothing.
So I guess I'm option #2
I really can't comment too much on what it does for my stroke. I also lay my chest on the cue and press with my chin, so there's a lot going on to keep things in line.
I press the cue into the webbing of my hand with my middle and ring fingers. The middle doing most of the work. Pinky and index do nothing.
So I guess I'm option #2
I really can't comment too much on what it does for my stroke. I also lay my chest on the cue and press with my chin, so there's a lot going on to keep things in line.
The middle finger leads and the ring finger follows during the forward motion of the stroke. It’s a very, very light holding of the cue. Allowing for the wrist to pivot straight forward.
Index and little finger do nothing.
John
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I have the pinky pretty much holding the cue up into my palm. It's a concession to throwing the cue which I can't do yet. IOW the grip is pre-released.
For myself I cradle with the middle, ring, and pinky finger. Very light with my middle finger and my pinky allows me to feel the speed of the shot. Not very speculative for me, using a traditional cradle with the cue resting on the index, middle and ring finger causes a few slight issues for myself.
thanks fran
I think the grip is highly complex and hasn't been done justice by instructors. Usually the recommendation is to just keep the hand relaxed. Maybe it is because the grip is such an individual thing that it is hard to recommend a "one size fits all" instruction. To me, the goal is to deliver the cue straight and without any twisting. I might achieve that differently than you.
I tried something recently that might interest you. I found that I wasn't able to play much on my home table due to "life" but I decided to force myself to hit 1 rack of straight pool break shots twice per day, no matter what. Of course that quickly became once per day... I hit a break shot from the left side then the right and back to the left until I hit all 15 balls successfully. I used different angles and speeds from medium to hard, and forced awkward positions like leaning over the table using a long bridge, and so on. Besides making me much more automatic on the all important break shot, it taught me some things. The primary thing I found is that if I did not maintain a thumb straight down (ie, straight wrist) throughout the shot I would curl the cue which, for me caused left spin on the cb and often a miss. This happened more on stretched out shots and harder hits. Finding that wrist problem was a small magic bullet that has helped, of course, with all shots. I realized that when I am playing really well that wrist is not cocked. (I know some players "pre cock" the wrist inwards because I guess it is easier to shoot that way under pressure but I don't care for that method, at least not right now). So maybe you can pick some exercise shots like I did and take note of what works and what doesn't. Finding the little things that really matter is not usually easy, more like trial and error. I found using the straight pool break shot was a reasonably difficult shot that resulted in a miss when everything was not done correctly, so it gave me opportunities to figure out what I was doing wrong.
I tried something recently that might interest you. I found that I wasn't able to play much on my home table due to "life" but I decided to force myself to hit 1 rack of straight pool break shots twice per day, no matter what. Of course that quickly became once per day... I hit a break shot from the left side then the right and back to the left until I hit all 15 balls successfully. I used different angles and speeds from medium to hard, and forced awkward positions like leaning over the table using a long bridge, and so on. Besides making me much more automatic on the all important break shot, it taught me some things. The primary thing I found is that if I did not maintain a thumb straight down (ie, straight wrist) throughout the shot I would curl the cue which, for me caused left spin on the cb and often a miss. This happened more on stretched out shots and harder hits. Finding that wrist problem was a small magic bullet that has helped, of course, with all shots. I realized that when I am playing really well that wrist is not cocked. (I know some players "pre cock" the wrist inwards because I guess it is easier to shoot that way under pressure but I don't care for that method, at least not right now). So maybe you can pick some exercise shots like I did and take note of what works and what doesn't. Finding the little things that really matter is not usually easy, more like trial and error. I found using the straight pool break shot was a reasonably difficult shot that resulted in a miss when everything was not done correctly, so it gave me opportunities to figure out what I was doing wrong.
Well that's interesting.... By pressure I'm assuming you mean the "weight of the moment"...?..., and not some physical thing...?
Yes, pressure of the moment.
hmmm... I've always made it a point to focus on hitting everything fundamentally the same regardless of the moment. I realize speaking as such does not make it 100% reality. However, the idea of purposely changing up your grip merely because of it being the money ball (for example) seems counter intuitive.
No, that's not what I mean. They cock their wrist inward on every shot, making it their normal thing so that when a pressure shot comes up they are already there and not changing something because of the pressure. Stan Shuffett talks about this. He's out to lunch on his silly CTE stuff but you have to admit he's a highly regarded instructor otherwise. I see other players shooting with the wrist cocked as well.
I do the same thing with grip pressure - use my "power shot" grip for every shot so I won't change the pressure ("clench") midstroke.
pj
chgo