almost free stroke trainer

[ShootingArts]

I have been considering various ways to work on my stroke at home since the nearest real pool hall is twenty miles away and I don't own a table these days. That twenty miles doesn't sound too bad but it can take anywhere from thirty minutes to several hours to travel each way. The days when it is a three or four hour drive to practice bite!

One thing I have been working on is a puck designed so that I could practice on any smooth surface. With pucks on my mind I noticed some one and a half inch PVC pipe heavy wall end caps in one of my parts bins. These were almost exactly the same outside diameter as a cue ball and have a straight section 1-3/8" tall, safely above the 1-1/8" needed for a center ball hit to practice. They proved to slide great on a smooth surface. Checker pool is alive and well on the bayou.

Hu

 

[kaznj]

Tom 'Dr Cue' Rossman showed me this. Put on a pool clove so you don't get burned from rubbing up against the cloth on the pool table. Now stroke back and forth as if shooting a shot on the rail. If your hand loses contact with the rail you are not keeping your stroke straight. You don't need an expensive gadget to practice keeping your hand straight.

 

[Mark Avlon]

Tom 'Dr Cue' Rossman showed me this. Put on a pool clove so you don't get burned from rubbing up against the cloth on the pool table. Now stroke back and forth as if shooting a shot on the rail. If your hand loses contact with the rail you are not keeping your stroke straight. You don't need an expensive gadget to practice keeping your hand straight.

How 'straight' is your stroke when you're shooting and your grip hand doesn't rub the table? Do you consistently and accurately contact the cue ball where you intend?

Why not use the simple, consistent pendulum stroke? With the pendulum stroke, you don't move the shoulder or need good timing, which minimizes flaws in the stroke. You also do not need devices when practicing it. Simply watch the vertical movement of the tip during the backswing and forward stroke, and check your finish position.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Put on a pool glove so you don't get burned from rubbing up against the cloth on the pool table. Now stroke back and forth as if shooting a shot on the rail. If your hand loses contact with the rail you are not keeping your stroke straight. You don't need an expensive gadget to practice keeping your hand straight.

Are you supposed to keep the back of your hand touching the rail or the knuckles at the bottom of your grip under the stick? One of those will tend to teach a piston stroke and the other will tend towards a pendulum stroke. I think the results will be very different for the two.

 

[BigRigTom]

Well guys I paid $150 for a stroke trainer over a year ago and it was money well spent. I know that is rather expensive but I now have a pretty damn good stroke and I give that thing the credit.

It tones the muscle memory and reminds you of where your hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder etc etc etc need to be to get that nice smooth pendelum stroke that everyone talks about.

I get it back down every once in a while just to make sure I am in stroke before going to play in an important match or tournament.

If I could get gadgets to tune up the mental focus and positive attitude I would buy that those I guess.
I may just be a sucker for the gadgets.

 

[Purdman]

Stroke Trainer

I will lend you one if you pay the freight. Send it back in a couple of months.
Purdman

PS: There is one condition, you must send me your grandmothers Gumbo recipe!

 

[kaznj]

Sorry, I was not very clear. Your thumb should be rubbing against the rail. Not knuckles on the table bed. Keep the thumb in contact with the rail as practice your stroke.