break has gone to crap..what do you do

trob

trob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In the last months my nine ball break has gone to shit for no reason. I can't even drop the wing ball consistently with the magic rack!! :eek: What are some things you guys do when your break just seems to go to hell for no reason. My normal break on a bar box is to line up the cue ball to go straight through the one ball and wing ball position..Hitting it at about 80 percent speed. If the wing ball didn't drop it at least rattled in the hole. Right now it's not even coming close. I started breaking from the spot a bit but it's still not very consistent. any suggestions?
 
how many practice racks have you hit this month???..

I mean rack and break over and over until you own that stroke? keeping a record so you know what your % is for squatting the rock?

have you ever practiced your break???

I have a few hours a week scheduled for breaking racks..but that's just me


if you don't work on it... start...

if you do work on it... double your time at it..

I mean if you are only going to practice 1 shot why not start with the only 1 guaranteed to come up every single game
 
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Lately I've been spending about 15 minutes a day at the end of my practice routine.
 
When the break frustrates me I try to hit them harder........picture your ex's face on the 1 ball. If that don't work I go back to a smarter approach and break from the side rail and really focus on lightening my grip and try to get a nice follow through.
 
I went thru the same thing earlier this month. I wasn't hitting the ball great and my break suffered. I dont hit the rack all that hard, although some would argue that I do. I found out last night that if you hit the ball about 70% and square, I break from the box, its much more effective. I'm horrible with advice, but I would try what I did. I didn't think it was going to work, but it did.
 
Usually when my break isn't working it mostly has to do with not getting a good solid hit on the head ball. Reexamine your fundamentals. Maybe hit a few breaks from closer to the headspot to get that solid hit feeling again then adjust how you want.
 
Have me back over to show you how its done !:grin: lol ... If I have problems dropping balls I sometimes take alittle speed off the break cause alot of the time the wing balls are bouncing out of the pockets..
 
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Do what I'd do. Blame it on the break cue, tell your wife that you HAVE to have a new break cue or you'll NEVER win another game, then go and buy yourself a nice, custom playing cue. Your wife will never know the difference :wink:.

Maniac (snuck a few things in "under the radar" in his lifetime)
 
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All good advice so far.

When my break has gone awry, I back off a little bit and slowly bring my self back to speed again.
 
An oldtimer gave me the best break advice I ever got:

"Loosen your grip!"

Works like magic. With the resulting relaxation (which spreads right through the grip, wrist, forearm and elbow-related musculature), you'll instantly get more ball action and contact point accuracy with half the effort.

Arnaldo
 
Lighten up on your grip

Lighten up on your grip using 2 fingers only and let the stroke go by itself swing from the arm not your hand hand should be loose as a goose let the hand cock by itself on the forward stroke!!!!!!!!
trob said:
In the last months my nine ball break has gone to shit for no reason. I can't even drop the wing ball consistently with the magic rack!! :eek: What are some things you guys do when your break just seems to go to hell for no reason. My normal break on a bar box is to line up the cue ball to go straight through the one ball and wing ball position..Hitting it at about 80 percent speed. If the wing ball didn't drop it at least rattled in the hole. Right now it's not even coming close. I started breaking from the spot a bit but it's still not very consistent. any suggestions?
Click to expand...
 
arnaldo said:
An oldtimer gave me the best break advice I ever got:

"Loosen your grip!"

Works like magic. With the resulting relaxation (which spreads right through the grip, wrist, forearm and elbow-related musculature), you'll instantly get more ball action and contact point accuracy with half the effort.

Arnaldo
Click to expand...

This is good advice. When you're trying to wind up and hit them hard is the time that tension wants to creep in and make you tighten up. You have to make a conscious effort to stay loose. Tension is the enemy of speed in pool, golf, baseball almost anything like that.
 
You have to practice the break as much, maybe more depending on its strength in the whole scheme of things like any other part of your game.

What I do is rack the balls (left to right) 1, 2, 3 etc. You can keep track of where each ball goes from where they are positioned in a rack. Start from your usual break spot, hit 10 and make a note of what balls went down, CB final position and if the spread was really good, average, poor etc. Look out for breaks that make a wing ball consistently and a predictable 1 ball path and if you have a predictable shot on the 1. Then move the CB 1 ball closer to the centre of the table and repeat. Try it from both sides.

Then look at the notes you made and find the best 3 break positions. Break from those positions trying out different speeds, whilst still making notes. After all that look at your notes and pick the most consistent break. It can be very tedious and time consuming but it is worth it. I think the break in 9 ball is the most important shot.

If all else fails....SMASH THE CRAP OUT OF THE BREAK!
 
loosened the grip up today and focused on the head ball with better results. I think I was pushing to hard trying to figure out what the hell was going on and started forcing it instead of just letting it happen.
 
I struggled with my 9 ball break and I shortened my stroke and moved my back hand forward a little and stroked as level as possible. I concentrate on hitting the cue ball and one ball as solid as possible and it's made my break better than ever. I used to break with a long stroke thinking i'd get more power, but I wasn't hitting the cue ball and one ball solid consistently so the change I described has helped me a lot.

James
 
Use your left hand to accellerate your cue at impact.

trob said:
In the last months my nine ball break has gone to shit for no reason. I can't even drop the wing ball consistently with the magic rack!! :eek: What are some things you guys do when your break just seems to go to hell for no reason. My normal break on a bar box is to line up the cue ball to go straight through the one ball and wing ball position..Hitting it at about 80 percent speed. If the wing ball didn't drop it at least rattled in the hole. Right now it's not even coming close. I started breaking from the spot a bit but it's still not very consistent. any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Break from a few inches right of center, and cue the ball a half tip right of center. Still aim straight at the one ball and when you go through the cue ball I want you to fold your left (bridge hand) hand towards the one ball. Use your left hand to accellerate your cue at impact.

When you do this for power you can stop trying to get it from your body. This increases accuracy and that is more important than just hitting the call hard. 'The Game is the Teacher'
 
Was it that rock-solid before it went to shit?
Any chance it's always been flaky?

If it's only recently that this happened, and you feel your old break was fine,
you just need to figure out what changed.

Different table than usual? Different ballset? New cue? Sprain or strain your back or arm? There's always a reason. It may be you just don't have any drive or incentive to hit 'em properly, and you're just expecting the autopilot to take care of it.

Some pool skills demand a little more conscious effort than others, I think the break is one of them.
 
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