If you have that kind of a stroke, remember, there are always adjustments. You would have the tip dip downward on a shot taken over a rail or interfering ball, for example, and can feel it coming down, but it wouldn't typically meet the cloth...
When a player finds their "sweet spot" this is how a pendulum stroke works.
At contact with the cue ball the cue stick is traveling linear or level to the table. After that 1/1000 of contact the cue ball is gone on it's path. As the back hand continues to swing up the tip starts down. All after contact with the cue ball.
randyg
I still can't see how that wold be possible with a stroke that results in a good shot. Sounds like the arm just goes up after contact instead of following straight though. Maybe if the guy is over 6' tall and is standing up a foot over the cue where he HAS to shoot down. From what I can see, the shot would result in the ferrule scraping over the top of the cueball after the hit, unless the shot is totally perfect, which is a bad thing to count on in this game. I'll have to poke around the videos I have of matches and instructional videos and see if this happens anywhere.
The pool/billiard stroke has fairly simple mechanics from a simple linkage/motion perspective. Here is an explanation that may clear things up for you:I still can't see how that would be possible with a stroke that results in a good shot. ...
The pool/billiard stroke has fairly simple mechanics from a simple linkage/motion perspective. Here is an explanation that may clear things up for you:
http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/2004-02.pdf
and here is a follow-up article with observations about real strokes of real players:
http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/2004-03.pdf
I am not a sports kinesiologist but I suspect that the J develops naturally on power strokes because the biceps complains a lot if it is not relieved by a little rotation at the shoulder.Nice articles. Sounds like "orthodox simple stroke" = "pure pendulum stroke" and "standard power stroke" = "J stroke" ?
Similar to what you said in your article, I see most experienced players use pure pendulum on soft shots and J on harder shots.
For myself, starting with my forearm 90 degrees perpendicular to the shaft, pure pendulum on soft shots and J on harder shots feels very natural. Seems to be a result of the stroke length and acceleration.