I've been playing for just over a year, and I think I've developed a lot as a player. I've heard from experienced players that they don't notice me having any bad habits, and they say that I have a really nice stroke and form. However, I have noticed a few bad habits of mine as well as weaknesses in my game that I would like to work on. A few notable facts about myself are that I'm a solid collegiate B player, I'm 6'3, and I never use a bridge extender. (unless the cue ball is frozen against something in the middle of the table, which is like 1/5,000 shots) Also, I normally play on 9ft tables.
My draw is fairly inconsistent. Sometimes when I try to draw the cue ball for position, I just end up doing stop shots. My banking and kicking is quite poor. Normally I can get away with instinctive shots for 1 rail kicks even with english, but I'm not too accurate with anything else. I know how speed and english affect how the cue ball bounces off of the rail, but I just can't see any angles. Because of this, I've reverted to using masses if I'm just blocked by a ball a foot or two away, and jump shots when possible. Also, for about the last two months I've been playing at least 3 hours every week day, and my game has dramatically improved.
Do you guys know of any good drills that would help me with seeing angles with kicks and banks? I've been working on my draw with a drill that I came up with. I pocket a ball in the side pocket and draw it into the other side pocket. I can draw that distance easily now about 75% of the time. Tomorrow I might try to draw the long way across the table.
Oh, one more thing. When I started jumping I used the dart method, but I wasn't very consistent with that. I'm a lot better holding the jump cue as a normal cue and arching up over the cue ball for the necessary angle. One problem with this though, is that it's hard for me to see angles sometimes. I can easily hit the object ball, but sometimes it doesn't go anywhere near the pocket. Maybe I just need to get better at jumping.
I tried recording myself today at a pool hall, but the videos mysteriously disappeared from my SD card. Anyway, I'd be more than willing to upload a video of me playing a few racks for critique on my form/break/stroke/etc if anyone wants me to.
EDIT: Forgot to post this.
I play with a Cyanide Poison with the standard venom shaft, and I'm pretty happy with that. My break cue is a Fury Jump/Break cue, and I had the phenolic tip chipping on me. I had that grinded down and put on a sarin break tip on it instead. I'm not happy with my jump break cue at all. I'd like to sell it and buy the Poison VX Jump/break. I have shot with the VX, and I really like it. Do you think it's worth it for me to switch break cues? I have a feeling everyone is just going to say it's up to me. I guess what I'm really asking is, would I notice a difference between a botched Fury Jump/Break and a Poison VX Jump/Break in the quality of my break?
My draw is fairly inconsistent. Sometimes when I try to draw the cue ball for position, I just end up doing stop shots. My banking and kicking is quite poor. Normally I can get away with instinctive shots for 1 rail kicks even with english, but I'm not too accurate with anything else. I know how speed and english affect how the cue ball bounces off of the rail, but I just can't see any angles. Because of this, I've reverted to using masses if I'm just blocked by a ball a foot or two away, and jump shots when possible. Also, for about the last two months I've been playing at least 3 hours every week day, and my game has dramatically improved.
Do you guys know of any good drills that would help me with seeing angles with kicks and banks? I've been working on my draw with a drill that I came up with. I pocket a ball in the side pocket and draw it into the other side pocket. I can draw that distance easily now about 75% of the time. Tomorrow I might try to draw the long way across the table.
Oh, one more thing. When I started jumping I used the dart method, but I wasn't very consistent with that. I'm a lot better holding the jump cue as a normal cue and arching up over the cue ball for the necessary angle. One problem with this though, is that it's hard for me to see angles sometimes. I can easily hit the object ball, but sometimes it doesn't go anywhere near the pocket. Maybe I just need to get better at jumping.
I tried recording myself today at a pool hall, but the videos mysteriously disappeared from my SD card. Anyway, I'd be more than willing to upload a video of me playing a few racks for critique on my form/break/stroke/etc if anyone wants me to.
EDIT: Forgot to post this.
I play with a Cyanide Poison with the standard venom shaft, and I'm pretty happy with that. My break cue is a Fury Jump/Break cue, and I had the phenolic tip chipping on me. I had that grinded down and put on a sarin break tip on it instead. I'm not happy with my jump break cue at all. I'd like to sell it and buy the Poison VX Jump/break. I have shot with the VX, and I really like it. Do you think it's worth it for me to switch break cues? I have a feeling everyone is just going to say it's up to me. I guess what I'm really asking is, would I notice a difference between a botched Fury Jump/Break and a Poison VX Jump/Break in the quality of my break?
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