A plateau, unlearning bad habits and learning "better"

Benward452

Benward452

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I want to start off by saying I love watching pool perfectionists such as Irving Crane and Ralf Souquet. I know, robots, but it's a thing of beauty. In my opinion, at least.

My game on the other hand, on most occasions, is a mockery. I have been playing for approximately 3 years now and I feel that I have hit a major plateau in my pool playing career. I guess people would classify me as a C to C+ player, if that really means anything.

My fundamentals, the anchor, are inconsistent at best. At times, I feel I have no solid base to stand on. However, without the money to spend on a qualified instructor, I have to unlearn and relearn on my own, this is why I am here.

I know you guys would like a video of me playing to analyze, but unfortunately I don't have access, at this time, to a recorder.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqMKKLFZbLQ
Crappy video quality... Let me know what you think...

So right now, I will ask this question to get started.

What is the proper way to line your body up with the shot?


Thanks in advance for your help and guidance.

Ben
 
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This is not going to answer your question on body alignment, but it sounds to me as though you could use some instruction (I'm not selling anything as I don't instruct). Instruction is not majic, but it has certainly helped my game. Find a good teacher/instructor, and I think you will be surprised what it will do for you game if you are willing to put in the work (drills, and other things that will enable you to measure progress, not just hitting balls).
JMHO. Good luck on improving your game.
 
The alignment of the body for your particular physiology may very well be the most important of all the fundamentals to being able to play the game at some level of proficiency.

I tend to disagree that you start with the cue first due to the fact that you can have the cue online and your stance offline which will cause you to come thru the cueball cutting across the plane of the shot. Don't get me wrong, You have to have the cue on the proper line to start the shot but that is the easy part of the equation.

In order of what you need to work on as far as fundamentals.

1) Aim, English and Speed.. Ghostball, CTE, Hit it there, Spot on the table, Parallel Contacts, I really don't care what you use but before anything else happens you have to figure out where to hit the object ball. This is done prior to ever getting down on the shot and HAS to include what english you will use and how hard you have to hit it. Some players break this into three separate items. I tend to think if you are visualizing the whole shot all 3 of these variables are part of this equation so I group them together.

2) Stance.. Cue online and the body lined up to deliver the cue along the line of the shot. Also puts the eyes over the cue in the correct orientation so you always see the ball the same way. Otherwise every shot you shoot will look and act "brand new"

3) Bridge.. You have to have a bridge that eliminates slop. Open or closed is fine but most players have a hard time hitting balls at the higher end of the speed scale with an open bridge accurately.

4) Bridge Length... Every cue has a sweet spot where at a certain bridge length the pivot to apply english will counteract the deflection caused by an off center hit. This is usually somewhere in the 6" to 8" range. Using a wooden shaft vs a LD shaft means you may have to have 3 separate bridge lengths for soft medium and hard. If you dealt with speed in step 1 you will already know what length is going to be the most accurate.

5) Proper preshot routine... Getting into your stance, using the right bridge at the proper bridge length and THEN taking the proper amount of time and practice strokes required to feed your brain what it needs to execute. I have seen lots of players benefit just from the process of backstroke look at the object ball and forestroke look at the cueball contact point.

6) Your actual stroke itself. Yes it's actually number 6 in order of what matters. Pendulum, Piston, Slip, Reverse Slip, Punch... Elbow drop, wrist action, wrist twist... No 2 players will ever stroke the ball exactly the same way due to the fact that we are all built differently. Allen Hopkins is the epitome of "it doesn't matter how you hit it as long as you always do it the same way. The only thing that matters in the stroke is attack angle. That is the angle you come thru the cueball. Downstroke, Level, or Upstroke.. Most players tend to start hitting down on the ball and work towards level. Advanced cueing leads to learning the upstroke usually discovered when learning kill and stuns. Starting out try and stay a little more than level no more than 5 degrees. Every degree of elevation adds that much as a percent to missing until you learn to control it.

Without an Instructor you have to have a place to start on your own. Other AZers may disagree with my order and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their own hierarchy of what is important and all I have done is to give mine..
 
Contact RandyG to buy the DVD that he and Scott made. I forget what it sells for but it is worth the money. I bought one at one of his classes. It is not as good as going to their classes but it is a place to start with the SPF school

For unlearning old bad habits see this link that will show you how to do it.

http://www.sunburstselect.com/PBReview/ChangingBadHabits.htm
 
Thanks Joe. It's called Play Better Pool, Vol. 1; Mastering the Fundamentals. We're very proud of the way it turned out. It's available from amazon.com, poolndarts.com, bebop.com, and a few other places, along with getting it directly from either Randy or myself.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

JoeW said:
Contact RandyG to buy the DVD that he and Scott made. I forget what it sells for but it is worth the money. I bought one at one of his classes. It is not as good as going to their classes but it is a place to start with the SPF school

For unlearning old bad habits see this link that will show you how to do it.

http://www.sunburstselect.com/PBReview/ChangingBadHabits.htm
Click to expand...
 
Klopek, thanks for the encouragement and kiind words!

JoeW, that was an awesome article thank you for your reply!

Softshot, do you really think that video shows a good way to line up for a stance? Think about if someone was a complete beginner? Thorsten, to me, didn't even make sense in his words or movements. (I appreciate your help, I just thought I would ask you that question!)

TheRenfro, do you feel you can elaborate on the idea of different bridge lengths for different shot hardness? I have heard this before but never quite understood the whole pivot point conversation when it comes to this subject.

Thank you guys for helping out. I am going to the pool hall today to practice, maybe I can get some video with my cellphone, I just didn't think anyone would really be able to see it.

Ben
 
Klopek,

I agree that you that being online is important. You cannot make a single shot without being online I just wanted to point out that the stance was the important part of properly getting the cue online. John's video shows him dropping the cue online and locking it in. He even says he drops it in and sights his body around the cue. I would bet money that he starts from a consistent starting stance drops the cue online and aligns his body around the cue into a consistent shooting stance. Almost a ritualistic dance after all of the hours John has invested into the game.

If you are working on mechanics like Ben is you need to learn the dance steps and work on them until you have them ingrained to the point that they are second nature. Once he gets to that point he can focus on just dropping the cue online and trusting that is body gets his eyes over the cue the same way every time, that his entire arm ends up on the same plane with the wrist neutral, and that his legs and back are in a stable comfortable position that lend itself to playing long sessions without causing unneeded tension that will tire himself out too quickly.

If you watch even the newest APA league players you will notice that for the most part all of them will have the cue online for straight in shots. It doesn't mean they are going to make many of them. what makes John or you different from them is that you have a solid preshot routine that lets you flow from your starting stance to your shooting stance while dropping the cue into the proper slot and aligning your body properly to actually make the ball.

This is why I placed stance so high on my list of fundamentals. Ben can take a long straight in shot, down the rail but not frozen, and mark it on the table and set about the task of shooting it over and over again knowing the cue line and adjusting his feet and body until he finds the one that lends itself to being the most accurate, comfortable and geometrically correct as to getting everything on plane. Once he has finds that he can work on finding a starting stance that lets him drop the cue online and move into his shooting stance consistently.

Ben,

I'll try and elaborate on bridge lengths and and shot speeds as to how they can be used to compensate for squirt/deflection when you are using english when I have more time. For now just try and start with a consistent length and work on it. I marked my shaft at 8" with a sharpie when I was working on consistency in my setup. I picked 8" because somewhere I read that Mosconi said he always used an 8" bridge and if it was good enough for him I had to start somewhere.
 
your stance

Just like an archer except your down on the table and your shooting arm moves like a pendulum. :grin:
 
Okay, sorry for the terrible video but I had to use my cellphone and it didn't turn out too great.

It's just a minute long but I took a stop, follow, and draw shot. I missed the draw shot, I really seemed to jerk...

Let me know if you have any suggestions or criticisms...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqMKKLFZbLQ

Thanks!
 
You seem to have very different strokes for the different shots. Consistency is what you want to achieve, which means doing the same thing the same way every time.

From that angle, it seems that you are ok with your cue alignment, but the motion of your arm, particularly with your finish position is inconsistent.

The old saying "different strokes for different folks" does NOT apply. You want the SAME stroke as your own standard.

I agree that some one on one instruction with a qualified instructor will get you on track more quickly than trying to do it on your own. If you think that is the direction you would like to go, let us know where you live, and we can help you find someone who can work with you.

Good Luck!

Steve
 
You should practice drills, not just throw balls out on the table and run out. Try the down the rail drill. Shoot follow, stop, and draw shots until you can do it 30 times in a row.

Before you do any other drills or ingrain anything deeply into your game, go and find one pro player you can emulate and watch over and over. Find one guy who's style you like and analyze the way he sets up.

Confirm the set up with a local instructor, or someone in the pool hall whom you respect and can trust. Make sure you are setting up the way you need to be setting up. When you have those things confirmed, practice those things until you have it mastered. You will know when you master it, because it will feel like a part of you that can't be shaken off!

I could go into the way I learned how to set up properly from some local players and even Buddy Hall's teaching methods if you want me to, but so far, you seem to already have a lot of good advice here in this thread.
 
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