a reason for miscue/mis-aim- ?

[evergruven]

Hey man, there is nothing wrong with a tight grip and there are ways to make it work....starting out loose and in a different part of the hand than where you finish just isn't one of them . If you are going to play around with grips (something I suggest everyone do early on and then just to play around as an exercise once in a blue moon even when experienced) check out my TLDR post in the Thumb Straight Down thread either here in instructors or main forum. There I go into different grips and why they work (stabilizers used). Play around. Hopefully one clicks for you. But FWIW, Bob's advice on contact around the cue throughout is a solid starting point for many successful grips, esp those that close tight bc the cue is already in contact with the hand and the other fingers meet it there rather than the fingers lifting the cue into that position like you were doing in the vid.
Good Luck

I think the next step for me is to see if I'm tightening up on other "power" shots, break, and follow
not saying there's anything wrong with a tight grip, but aesthetically I just don't like it for myself
let the games continue...

 

[bbb]

Hey man, there is nothing wrong with a tight grip and there are ways to make it work....starting out loose and in a different part of the hand than where you finish just isn't one of them . If you are going to play around with grips (something I suggest everyone do early on and then just to play around as an exercise once in a blue moon even when experienced) check out my TLDR post in the Thumb Straight Down thread either here in instructors or main forum. There I go into different grips and why they work (stabilizers used). Play around. Hopefully one clicks for you. But FWIW, Bob's advice on contact around the cue throughout is a solid starting point for many successful grips, esp those that close tight bc the cue is already in contact with the hand and the other fingers meet it there rather than the fingers lifting the cue into that position like you were doing in the vid.
Good Luck

What is TLDR?

 

[boogieman]

What is TLDR?

Too Lazy Didn’t Read.

 

[FranCrimi]

I think the next step for me is to see if I'm tightening up on other "power" shots, break, and follow
not saying there's anything wrong with a tight grip, but aesthetically I just don't like it for myself
let the games continue...

I recall a time when I was experimenting with a looser grip, and at a WPBA 9 ball tournament, I broke and sent my pool cue flying through the air like some weird underhand javelin toss and on to the next table, which luckily, was empty. When I break, my follow through is upward and out of my bridge hand. It was a beautiful throw -- my cue soared through the air over my table, another 6 feet between the two tables, and landed perfectly flat on the next table, remarkably with no damage, but it scared the heck out of me, not to mention the crowd.

After that incident, I bought a rubber sleeve for the butt that you see often used by carom players, and it allowed me to stay looser on break shots. So be careful when experimenting with getting looser on power shots. You're grabbing the cue for a reason when you're moving it fast like that.

 

[boogieman]

I recall a time when I was experimenting with a looser grip, and at a WPBA 9 ball tournament, I broke and sent my pool cue flying through the air like some weird underhand javelin toss and on to the next table, which luckily, was empty. When I break, my follow through is upward and out of my bridge hand. It was a beautiful throw -- my cue soared through the air over my table, another 6 feet between the two tables, and landed perfectly flat on the next table, remarkably with no damage, but it scared the heck out of me, not to mention the crowd.

After that incident, I bought a rubber sleeve for the butt that you see often used by carom players, and it allowed me to stay looser on break shots. So be careful when experimenting with getting looser on power shots. You're grabbing the cue for a reason when you're moving it fast like that.

Oh my, that would scare he heck out of me too!

 

[Bob Jewett]

I almost only ever miscue whilst drawing the rock, trying to identify the reason(s?) why using video
one thing I notice upon video review is that I'm gripping my cue tight upon impact with the cue ball
I'm guessing this is less than ideal, since the rest of the time I utilize a pretty loose grip- ?
and if the tight grip is no bueno, I wonder why? cos I'm missing my aiming point?

Perhaps you have answered this before, but I'm curious. Have you ever gotten in-person feedback from a competent instructor on your fundamentals? Trying to get help in this forum even with a video is a very slow, error-prone process.

 

[evergruven]

Perhaps you have answered this before, but I'm curious. Have you ever gotten in-person feedback from a competent instructor on your fundamentals? Trying to get help in this forum even with a video is a very slow, error-prone process.

hi bob, appreciate you following up, and good timing! I'm getting my first ever proper lesson on sunday, from JJ!
he's gonna be in the pnw for the northwest cup event, so the local hall snagged him for a few days of lessons
as an instructor, can you tell me what I can do to be prepared as possible to get the most out of that experience?
it's a two hour lesson fyi, and I definitely want to work on my fundamentals..

 

[garczar]

You grab the fk out of it. Stop doing that. You're welcome.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... can you tell me what I can do to be prepared as possible to get the most out of that experience?
it's a two hour lesson fyi, and I definitely want to work on my fundamentals..

Try to figure out beforehand which shots or situations you have trouble with. Such self-analysis is hard but you might have a problem that fits.

(Example of a bad reply I get frequently: "If the cue ball is frozen on the end rail and the object ball is almost on the far rail, I miss it." So do the champions -- missing that ball is not the problem.)

 

[evergruven]

Try to figure out beforehand which shots or situations you have trouble with. Such self-analysis is hard but you might have a problem that fits.

(Example of a bad reply I get frequently: "If the cue ball is frozen on the end rail and the object ball is almost on the far rail, I miss it." So do the champions -- missing that ball is not the problem.)

thanks bob, makes sense. I've already got blind cuts on my list!
especially aiming at the outside of the object ball..for some reason those shots throw me (zing?)

 

[3kushn]

I recall a time when I was experimenting with a looser grip, and at a WPBA 9 ball tournament, I broke and sent my pool cue flying through the air like some weird underhand javelin toss and on to the next table, which luckily, was empty. When I break, my follow through is upward and out of my bridge hand. It was a beautiful throw -- my cue soared through the air over my table, another 6 feet between the two tables, and landed perfectly flat on the next table, remarkably with no damage, but it scared the heck out of me, not to mention the crowd.

After that incident, I bought a rubber sleeve for the butt that you see often used by carom players, and it allowed me to stay looser on break shots. So be careful when experimenting with getting looser on power shots. You're grabbing the cue for a reason when you're moving it fast like that.

WOW!!
I've played around with throwing the cue, but never achieved this kind of action.
Maybe I need a lesson.

 

[Tennesseejoe]

Identifying the problem CAUSE should come before trying random fixes. In this situation I use a Rempe cue ball to determine if I am hitting the cue ball too low, or low and off center, or mostly off center, by examining the chalk marks on the cue ball. You can also use a numbered ball to do this.

Since you have a video system, I suggest a rear recording to see the back of the cue movement. This will give you much more information about undesirable cue movement than the side view. As observed by other posters, wrist twisting could be a cause but then again maybe not. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Try these two suggestions and let us know the results. Maybe one of the instructors will be able to help solve your problem.