arm question

[pooljunkie0082]

keith, i would like to say think u for anwsering me so quickly last time, but now i have a different question. my question deals with the arm and stoke. throughout my pool life i have always been told that my shoulder, elbow, and wrist need to be lined up with the cue. that u want to have a straight line all the way through. this is visible in almost all pros, but there a couple, counting urself that are not like this. now myself i am not as straight as i was told i need to be. now my question is how important is it to be inline. is that the ultimate goal we all need to strive for. not being inline, i like to say that i am a good player, able to hold my own and give all the top dogs in my areas a good challenge. i have talked with other players and have been told that if it aint broke dont fix it, but im not sure if its broke. i know that the straightness of ur stroking arm has come into question, so u have past expierence of this. another question i have is that if a straight stoking arm is a necessaity, then wat kind of things can i do or pratice to straighten myself out. i have been told to use a coke bottle on a table and stroke through it, and also while on the table to put to balls along the rails and just keep shooting them, drawing and following them. i would love to get some insight from u. thanks again, david c..

i would like to open this to all az members, not just keith. so if nebody has had past expierence or comments i would love to hear them.. thanks david c.

 

[Keith McCready]

David, it's not the easiest question in the world to answer, but I'm going to do the best I can.

Anybody who stands straight up on a cue-ball and has a straight deliverance stroke, I know I got 'em. I believe you have to be more flexible with your back hand on the cue stick than in your forward stroke. If you watch Efren play, he's got some side-winder himself. He is very flexible with his hand on the back. He works his hands all over the back end of the cue stick when he's getting ready to hit a ball. I try to do it the same way, but in my own way.

I try to use my hands from the middle part of the cue stick all the way to the end of the cue stick to try to feel the cue's balance points. Where I grip the cue is the most important thing, but I experiment with all my "feels" to get all my grips right, and that goes in with going all the way back on the cue stick and going all the way forward and then coming all the way back and then going a little bit forward and then setting myself and releasing my shot.

When I'm giving instructions, I always preach that. You will see if you do that, you will have better results with all your shots as well as contacts from the cue-ball to the object ball.