Your stroking hand position.. Is it under your shoulder?

Ralph Kramden

BOOM!.. ZOOM!.. MOON!
Silver Member
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To align to the shot line, the butt of your cue must align with the OB... with the cue tip and CB on that same line... between the butt and OB.

I always check to see that my stroking hand is aligned to the object ball. Your stroking hand and chin should always be aligned with the cue, cue ball, and object ball. To STAY ON THAT LINE the stroke hand MUST be below your shoulder. Your elbow only allows your forearm to bend toward your shoulder. If the HAND isn't under the shoulder, the forearm moves to either the inside or outside of the shot line and the butt moves sideways and will change the cue angle.

Your original aim point may be correct.. but your cue tip, although aimed correctly, travels off of your shot line and may not hit the correct CB contact point.
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born2push

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
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To align to the shot line, the butt of your cue must align with the OB... with the cue tip and CB on that same line... between the butt and OB.

I always check to see that my stroking hand is aligned to the object ball. Your stroking hand and chin should always be aligned with the cue, cue ball, and object ball. To STAY ON THAT LINE the stroke hand MUST be below your shoulder. Your elbow only allows your forearm to bend toward your shoulder. If the elbow isn't under the shoulder, the forearm moves to either the inside or outside of the shot line and the butt moves sideways and will change the cue angle.

Your original aim point may be correct.. but your cue tip, although aimed correctly, travels off of your shot line and may not hit the correct CB contact point.
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Thanks for your teaching on the stroke. You said your elbow should be below your shoulder. Did you mean in line with your shouler? When i bend over my elbow is above my shoulder. But i do sometimes struggle with an accurate stroke.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Thanks for your teaching on the stroke. You said your elbow should be below your shoulder. Did you mean in line with your shouler? When i bend over my elbow is above my shoulder. But i do sometimes struggle with an accurate stroke.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using Tapatalk
I visualize it as my stick, elbow, rear shoulder and head all being in the same vertical plane over the shot line.

pj
chgo
 

One Pocket John

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
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To align to the shot line, the butt of your cue must align with the OB... with the cue tip and CB on that same line... between the butt and OB.

I always check to see that my stroking hand is aligned to the object ball. Your stroking hand and chin should always be aligned with the cue, cue ball, and object ball. To STAY ON THAT LINE the stroke hand MUST be below your shoulder. Your elbow only allows your forearm to bend toward your shoulder. If the elbow isn't under the shoulder, the forearm moves to either the inside or outside of the shot line and the butt moves sideways and will change the cue angle.

Your original aim point may be correct.. but your cue tip, although aimed correctly, travels off of your shot line and may not hit the correct CB contact point.
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Nice post.

Face a mirror, now close your arm fully. Pay attention to where your hand meets your shoulder. My hand points at my shoulder socket as I look into the mirror.

While your in this position looking into the mirror pay attention to your relaxed hand position, is your thumb pointing straight up, is your thumb pointing toward your head, is your thumb pointing away from your head. Now notice your wrist, is it straight with your forearm, is it bent in toward your body, is it bent out slightly away from your body.

All of this information will allow for a neutral use of the shooting arm and grip.

To take this a step further go to the table, line up a long straight in shot. With out a stick in your hand, close your arm. Now slowly begin to turn your body (move your feet) until you feel that your closed arm is on the shot line. Now just bend straight down onto the shot line. I know that if I line up my shoulder socket on the shot line, everything else (elbow and grip hand) will end up on the shot line.

What ever yo do, do not try to force your grip hand into a position that is not neutral.(natural).

Keep everything as relaxed as possible.

Have a good day.

John
 
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Ralph Kramden

BOOM!.. ZOOM!.. MOON!
Silver Member
Thanks for your teaching on the stroke. You said your elbow should be below your shoulder. Did you mean in line with your shouler? When i bend over my elbow is above my shoulder. But i do sometimes struggle with an accurate stroke.

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Your stroking hand should be below your shoulder.
My proofreader didn't catch my phrase your elbow.

The original post was edited to read... If the HAND.

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Boxcar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
On the AZB Homepage, there is a picture of Wu Jia-Qing recognizing his SECOND straight win in the China Open. Would anybody care to offer a critical analysis of the position of his left elbow and left forearm?
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
On the AZB Homepage, there is a picture of Wu Jia-Qing recognizing his SECOND straight win in the China Open. Would anybody care to offer a critical analysis of the position of his left elbow and left forearm?
He's strongly cross-dominant - in order to get his right eye over the cue he has to move the butt/grip/elbow to his right, "inside" his rear shoulder. Because his elbow isn't over the cue his grip hand can't move naturally toward his shoulder and straight along the shot line at the same time, so he probably has to compensate somehow - maybe by "muscling" a straight stroke, or learning to "see" it as straight.

He sure makes the best of it.

pj
chgo

P.S. I think he might benefit from snookerizing his stance a little, with his bridge hand moved to his left, more in line with his rear elbow, shoulder and right eye - as if the 5 in the pic was the CB. (He might also have to adopt snooker's cocked hip to keep it out of the way.)

wu.JPG
 
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Boxcar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Possibly the triumph of talent, discipline, and persistence over liturgy.

"In the midst of winter, I found within myself an invincible summer." -Camus
 

Low500

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The egos of some 'experts' are astounding

He's strongly cross-dominant - in order to get his right eye over the cue he has to move the butt/grip/elbow to his right, "inside" his rear shoulder. Because his elbow isn't over the cue his grip hand can't move naturally toward his shoulder and straight along the shot line at the same time, so he probably has to compensate somehow - maybe by "muscling" a straight stroke, or learning to "see" it as straight.
He sure makes the best of it.
pj
chgo
P.S. I think he might benefit from snookerizing his stance a little, with his bridge hand moved to his left, more in line with his rear elbow, shoulder and right eye - as if the 5 in the pic was the CB. (He might also have to adopt snooker's cocked hip to keep it out of the way.)
View attachment 529994
Absolutely astounding that a mere amateur like you has the gall to post advice about stance or anything else pool related concerning a real professional big money hitter like Wu.
The size of your ego is something to behold.
How many money tournaments have you won lately?
Man oh man.......:shakehead:
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
Possibly the triumph of talent, discipline, and persistence over liturgy.

"In the midst of winter, I found within myself an invincible summer." -Camus

A lot of pros have funky stance or stroke because they started young when they could barely reach the table.
Efen and Bustamante have cocked-in elbows.
You can tell Efren compensates for it with a limp wrist and he lets the cue slide .
Bustamante, you can see he drops the elbow majorly even on soft shots.

It's like Pete Rose with his funky crouch.

But somehow, in snooker, they almost all have dead-on mechanics and stance . They get taught early on proper stance and mechanics.
Pool is different. It's like more a street taught .
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
Absolutely astounding that a mere amateur like you has the gall to post advice about stance or anything else pool related concerning a real professional big money hitter like Wu.
The size of your ego is something to behold.
How many money tournaments have you won lately?
Man oh man.......:shakehead:

Neils Feijen had a funky setup.
Bert Kinnister changed it and he won a world title.
Old dogs can learn new tricks .

That coming from you who thinks pros should learn aiming systems and claims pros use CTE but not know it ? Pfft!
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Absolutely astounding that a mere amateur like you has the gall to post advice about stance or anything else pool related concerning a real professional big money hitter like Wu.
The size of your ego is something to behold.
How many money tournaments have you won lately?
Man oh man.......:shakehead:
lol

Maybe a little more fiber in your diet...

pj
chgo
 

Ralph Kramden

BOOM!.. ZOOM!.. MOON!
Silver Member
At CB address your stroking hand should be directly below your elbow - and both hand and elbow should be in the same vertical plane as your shoulder.

I think we probably mean the same thing.

pj
chgo

pj...
I think the stroking hand should be close to under your shoulder when the cue tip is near the CB.
Where your cue is before stroking at the CB is when (as you said) your hand is below the elbow.
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Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Oh yes the pivot. That imaginary movement for those inclined to come up with a quick fix for their inability to see the contact point. Bahahahahahaha.
 
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