a powerful stroke

[Deadon]

Power is all about the momentum and speed of the cue. The longer the bridge the more speed you can create. At same time however, the longer the bridge the more difficult it is to control it. A straight stroke will help you develop power because there will be no wasted motion.

I disagree, in part. Longer bridge is not important, it doesn't create speed, its the backswing and follow through that create the cue speed. As long as you can get a good backswing and then accelerate and follow through, you will be mechanically correct. Usually a 9 inch bridge is plenty, some players prefer longer bridges for aiming, helps see the line up of the cue and the shot.

The second most important thing is to cue low, level stroke of course. It will surpise you how low you can cue and not miscue if everything else is ok.

Don't think of it as cue power, more like cue speed. People have a tendency to tense up when ever they try and hit something hard. As though flexing your muscles intentionally will help. Keep your entire body relaxed. If you feel like your tensing up in your practice strokes, get back up and relax. The pendulum stroke will help too I think.

I agree with Cameron here. And the reason your jumping is probably not because of your cue tip hitting the table first, most likely, its because you are tense, as above, and dropping your shoulder and/or elbow as you follow through. This scoops the cue ball off the table and your cue tip ends up in the air. Perhaps your hand or the butt of your cue may even hit the table. Your cue tip should end up in contact with the table, about 6 inches past the cue balls original position. Think about it, as you follow through, your hand will pass the bottom of the "pendulum" and be moving forward and up toward your shoulder. Since the bridge is holding the cue, the tip of the cue will go in the opposite direction, going down into/through the ball and onto the cloth. When your shot is completed, thats where it should end up. Watch the pros, see where their cue ends after draw shots, its go right into the table.

Practice hint: Put a CB on the spot. Half way down the table put an OB directly in line with the corner pocket. Practice a smooth backswing and a level stroke with follow through. Cue extremely low, it will surprise you how low you can cue. And hold the shot after your follow through. You should end up with the cue crossing the spot and the tip in contact with the table about 6 inches past the spot, in the direction of the corner pocket. Making the ball is not that important. Have a friend watch from the side and help make sure you are level and hitting the cue ball as low as possible.

Draw comes from the spin you impart on the cue ball, (duh), you don't need to hit hard to do it well.

Cue low and go.............

Mike

 

[Cameron Smith]

I just want to clear something up. I didn't mean to say that you need a long bridge to create power, just that it helps. A longer bridge allows to pick up more speed. Its kinda of the difference between running 50 metres and 100, your top speed in the 100 will be faster than in the 50. But like I said, the long bridge is tough to control. Thus it is not necessarily the best way to go. Power isn't worth a thing if you can't pocket a ball.

I use a 6-8 inch bridge and that is all you need during regular play. It's easier to keep the cue straight which results in a more powerful stroke. But I can't stress keeping yourself relaxed enough. When I was working through power issues I could slam the balls with very little effort when I was messing around, but at crunch time I couldn't create any power. I later learned it was because I was simply trying too hard.

 

[Colin Colenso]

Another way to add considerable power (speed) to your stroke is by timing the wrist flick. Relax the wrist and even the grip a little longer than usual. You'll probably have to slow down the backswing and transition phase of the stroke to get the timing right.

If timed right, it brings the muscles of the wrist and hand into eccentric contraction, which allows them to exert much more force than they usually can.

Think of how you click your fingers, or flick a coin. You could not achieve this with concentric (non-resisted) contraction alone. So you allow the wrist and hand to be flexed back as the biceps pull the lower arm through, and then contract the wrist and hand muscles..they'll explode through just prior to the contact phase.

 

[lewdo26]

Three things:

1) Forget about hitting the CB 'hard'. Instead just gradually accelerate through the CB w/o muscular involvement, follow through, and don't get up until you actually see the cueball drawing back;

2) All the "power" (I prefer 'acceleration') needed is to maintain the spin against the friction of the cloth until the CB contacts the OB. Too much power actually kills the draw (friction with the cloth);

3) The peak acceleration of your stroke should be at contact with the CB (forearm should be perpendicular to the floor or a tad past it);

Disabuse yourself of the notion that "power" is the same as muscleing the CB or hitting it hard.

Also, practice in stages. Don't try to draw two table lengths if you are having trouble drawing two feet.

Really, all of us have trouble with draw from time to time, even Efren. That's because the idea that you get more power with less muscle is so counterintuitive.

 

[CaptainJR]

Some good stuff here. I'll mention a couple.

On a power draw stroke you normally don't need the cue tip as low as you think you do. For example on my break shot sometimes I draw the ball back to me with enough speed to go clear to the other end of the table if it doesn't hit something on the way. I know on these break shots I'm at most a half tip below center. So you don't have to go to far below center on a power draw shot.

What you need to do on a power draw shot is find that happy medium between speed and tip position. You don't want your power draw shot to be near the speed of your break, but you need to get a lot of spin on the ball so you don't want under hit it either. Then once you have found that optimal power hit, then decide how much to hit below center remembering that on a power shot (at least for me) it is usually a little less than I think it should be.

 

[Egg McDogit]

haven't read the other responses, so someone might've already said the same:

based on your post, it sounds like you might not be following through properly. If you don't do that, you can lose a lot of power - as well as accuracy e.g. hitting the ball off the table

I'd like to ask the AZB'ers on this forum for a suggestion on how to develop a powerful stroke....now I don't want the obvious answer of "practice, practice, practice..." As an example of what I mean, there have been so many instances when I would need to draw the cueball back to the side rail with english and have it travel to the other end of the table....but what I did was to stroke it really hard and as you might imagine, the cue ball jumps right off the table....in other words, instead of a powerful draw shot, I jumped the cueball....to everybody's laughter and my embarrassment......so obviously it's not about stroking hard, but at some optimum speed to get maximum power?

 

[cuetechasaurus]

Some good stuff here. I'll mention a couple.

On a power draw stroke you normally don't need the cue tip as low as you think you do. For example on my break shot sometimes I draw the ball back to me with enough speed to go clear to the other end of the table if it doesn't hit something on the way. I know on these break shots I'm at most a half tip below center. So you don't have to go to far below center on a power draw shot.

What you need to do on a power draw shot is find that happy medium between speed and tip position. You don't want your power draw shot to be near the speed of your break, but you need to get a lot of spin on the ball so you don't want under hit it either. Then once you have found that optimal power hit, then decide how much to hit below center remembering that on a power shot (at least for me) it is usually a little less than I think it should be.

That happens on the break shot because all the balls transfer energy back into the cueball, since they don't get the same force that is on the cueball. Basically the rack you hit serves like running into a wall, if you hit the head ball full. Even with a little draw, the cueball zips back like you super-stroked it. Put a single ball there, and you wouldn't get nearly as much action.

 

[Andrew Manning]

That happens on the break shot because all the balls transfer energy back into the cueball, since they don't get the same force that is on the cueball. Basically the rack you hit serves like running into a wall, if you hit the head ball full. Even with a little draw, the cueball zips back like you super-stroked it. Put a single ball there, and you wouldn't get nearly as much action.

Took the words out of my mouth. Hitting 9 or 15 balls frozen together is the same (as far as the cue ball is concerned) as hitting a single ball with 9 or 15 times the cue ball's mass. When the cue ball hits a singe ball full, it stops, and then spin takes over and can cause follow or draw. But if the object ball were 15 times as heavy, the cue ball would bounce back toward you, and then follow or draw takes over. When you hit your break shot with 1/2 tip of draw, you're seeing mostly bounce, augmented by your tiny bit of draw. If you used 1/2 tip of follow, you would see the CB bounce back toward you, and then freeze, since the follow counters the bounce. That's what I do to park the cue ball on a break shot.

-Andrew

 

[CaptainJR]

That happens on the break shot because all the balls transfer energy back into the cueball, since they don't get the same force that is on the cueball. Basically the rack you hit serves like running into a wall, if you hit the head ball full. Even with a little draw, the cueball zips back like you super-stroked it. Put a single ball there, and you wouldn't get nearly as much action.

Just using it as an example. When I hit just one ball at that speed just slightly below center it hesitates a little then comes back even faster.

 

[jsp]

Took the words out of my mouth. Hitting 9 or 15 balls frozen together is the same (as far as the cue ball is concerned) as hitting a single ball with 9 or 15 times the cue ball's mass....

Not exactly. This would be the case if the balls in the rack are fused together, but not so if the balls can freely move apart from each other.

If you line up 15 balls in a line (frozen) and hit the first ball head on with the CB, the CB will more or less stop dead and all it's momentum will be transferred to the last ball of the string (think of the toy that has the 6 metallic balls in a line hanging by strings...don't know the name of that toy).

If the balls in the rack are really fused together, then the CB will jump back a lot farther and faster than it does. The reason it does jump back a little bit (on a normal rack) instead of prefectly squatting in place right next to the first ball of the rack is because of cloth friction...I think.

 

[Andrew Manning]

Not exactly. This would be the case if the balls in the rack are fused together, but not so if the balls can freely move apart from each other.

If you line up 15 balls in a line (frozen) and hit the first ball head on with the CB, the CB will more or less stop dead and all it's momentum will be transferred to the last ball of the string (think of the toy that has the 6 metallic balls in a line hanging by strings...don't know the name of that toy).

If the balls in the rack are really fused together, then the CB will jump back a lot farther and faster than it does. The reason it does jump back a little bit (on a normal rack) instead of prefectly squatting in place right next to the first ball of the rack is because of cloth friction...I think.

You're right, jsp, in that you caught me in an over-simplification, but you also made one of your own.

If you freeze two balls together, and then place the cue ball so that it's directly lined up with the dead combo, then yes, hitting a stop shot on OB1 will send OB2 away and leave CB and OB1 in place, just like the Newton's balls (I think that's what that toy is called). No bounce, no amplified effects of draw.

If you freeze three balls together, though, and hit into the front ball, the two back balls move away, meaning the CB is moving two balls' worth of mass, not just one as in a single ball, or a straight line of balls. The two-ball mass is now enough mass not only to stop the CB, but "bounce" it back. Make it a six-ball pyramid, and the CB's energy is moving even more balls, and getting even more "bounce" (or as Newton would put it, "equal and opposite reaction"). Make it a rack of 9 or 15 balls, and it gets to be a very significant effect.

-Andrew

 

[CaptainJR]

You're right, jsp, in that you caught me in an over-simplification, but you also made one of your own.

If you freeze two balls together, and then place the cue ball so that it's directly lined up with the dead combo, then yes, hitting a stop shot on OB1 will send OB2 away and leave CB and OB1 in place, just like the Newton's balls (I think that's what that toy is called). No bounce, no amplified effects of draw.

If you freeze three balls together, though, and hit into the front ball, the two back balls move away, meaning the CB is moving two balls' worth of mass, not just one as in a single ball, or a straight line of balls. The two-ball mass is now enough mass not only to stop the CB, but "bounce" it back. Make it a six-ball pyramid, and the CB's energy is moving even more balls, and getting even more "bounce" (or as Newton would put it, "equal and opposite reaction"). Make it a rack of 9 or 15 balls, and it gets to be a very significant effect.

-Andrew

Yes, to all this, but the point was that when using a power stroke you don't need to hit as low on the cue ball to get a lot of draw.

Question.... fairly sure about this but I'd like to hear someone say yes of no. I believe it also allows you to be more accurate. If you are trying not to hit off to the side at all and the cue ball is struck 1/4 tip off to the side (by mistake) and a full tip below center it going to go more off line than a cue ball struck 1/4 tip off to the side (by mistake) and only 1/2 tip below center?

So if this is true and you remember that you don't need to go as low on a power stroke it will help you be more accurate with the shot. This is very important on a power stroke because the speed of your stroke is more likely to be off plus the receptiveness of the pocket isn't as easy.

 

[JamisonNeu]

My method of training

Get on the oldest dirty table you can find and try the things written here if you find one that works best for you. Go to a nice table and you will see the ease of it compared to old equipment.

 

[Cameron Smith]

Get on the oldest dirty table you can find and try the things written here if you find one that works best for you. Go to a nice table and you will see the ease of it compared to old equipment.

I have always we believed that practicing under the most difficult of circumstances is very helpful for anything you are learning to do. I believe that you should learn to shoot straight before you buy an expensive cue, and practicing on a tough table is along those lines.

 

[jay helfert]

A more powerful stroke

Okay Wahchek, here comes pool secret #23. Please don't tell anyone. OK?

When you begin your practice, for the first 15-20 minutes just throw balls on the table and pound long shots at the pocket. I mean pound them, hit them at your maximum controllable speed.

I don't care if you make them or not. Just keep firing long shots at the pockets (all corner shots). Every once in a while, you will burn one in. Did I say hit 'em hard? Well hit 'em harder. That's still too soft.

After 15-20 minutes back off about 20% on the speed of your stroke. Voila, everything is going in, and you feel your stroke getting better and stronger.
See how easy it is to make those balls now.

Do this every couple of days for a week or so, and you will have developed your stroke. But remember, that's our little secret. OK?

 

[Deadon]

Okay Wahchek, here comes pool secret #23. Please don't tell anyone. OK?

When you begin your practice, for the first 15-20 minutes just throw balls on the table and pound long shots at the pocket. I mean pound them, hit them at your maximum controllable speed.

I don't care if you make them or not. Just keep firing long shots at the pockets (all corner shots). Every once in a while, you will burn one in. Did I say hit 'em hard? Well hit 'em harder. That's still too soft.

After 15-20 minutes back off about 20% on the speed of your stroke. Voila, everything is going in, and you feel your stroke getting better and stronger.
See how easy it is to make those balls now.

Do this every couple of days for a week or so, and you will have developed your stroke. But remember, that's our little secret. OK?

Or go to the gym....